Crafting Effective IVR Scripts for Medical Practices

Recent research shows that an Interactive Voice Response system can yield a first-call resolution rate of nearly 75%. About three out of every four people who call businesses with IVR systems resolve questions and concerns the first time they contact a company through self-service solutions.

If your medical practice isn’t using IVR yet, consider doing it to begin providing patients with better customer service experiences. Ensure you develop an effective IVR script to take full advantage of your phone setup.

Your script can increase customer satisfaction by delivering clear IVR menu options and enabling patients to find a customer service representative from the right department within your practice. Find out how to craft a winning script when creating an IVR message, and read through some script examples below.

Understanding IVR Scripts

Believe it or not, Interactive Voice Response technology dates back to the 1930s when Bell Laboratories created a machine capable of mimicking human speech called the “Voder.” Since then, IVR phone systems have come a long way. Let’s begin by learning more about what these scripts are before discussing their benefits.

What Is an IVR Script?

An IVR script is a series of pre-recorded messages that a business like your medical practice can put together to guide callers through your menu options. It’ll usually start by saying something like, “Thank you for calling [company name],” before listing your practice’s different departments.

Your system can improve the experience for your patients by sending them in the right direction when they reach out to your practice. If, for example, they need to cancel an existing appointment, it’ll send them to your scheduling department. If they have an issue with a bill they received, it’ll send them to the customer service team, who can address billing queries.

Whether you have on-site staff members who deal with patients or rely on a virtual call center and call center software, an IVR system can help patients find precisely who they’re looking for. They’ll just need to listen closely to your script after connecting with your practice’s phones or call center.

Benefits of IVR Systems in Medical Settings

The CDC reports that Americans head to doctor’s offices more than 1 billion times each year. Most make these phone calls to schedule appointments.

If your medical practice doesn’t utilize an IVR system, your staff will need to field phone calls from patients all day. This can prevent them from tackling other tasks and waste time and money.

The biggest benefit of using this system is that it’ll free your employees to focus on more important things. Here are several other benefits of using these systems in medical clinics:

• Improves the patient experience by giving easy access to accurate information about appointments, your practice’s business hours, and more
• Allows patients to work out issues on their own without having to wait for a live agent to finish with other customers, answer their calls, and pull up their account information before working through their problems
• Provides patients with an estimated wait time for a live person and other waiting messages so you get callers informed about how they have the option to leave a message or take advantage of a call-back option instead of having to stay on the line for a long time

Your practice can even use your system to advise patients that you may record calls for quality assurance purposes. This alone can reduce caller frustration by showcasing your commitment to providing a top-notch customer service experience.

Key Components of an Effective IVR Script

While IVR phone systems come in handy for many medical clinics, you can’t make the most of one without an effective script. Keep the most important aspects of great scripts in mind as your practice seeks to improve the customer experience by using this system in the first place.

Greeting and Menu Options

According to a 2019 report, just over half of Americans say they’ve stopped dealing with certain businesses because they were greeted by IVR menus instead of live agents when contacting them. This might suggest that using an IVR system isn’t in the best interest of your medical practice.

However, it’s worth noting that many people aren’t against using IVR when calling companies. They’re simply not always happy with the greetings they get when contacting them.

Avoid this issue by creating the perfect introduction when piecing together scripts for your business. It should include:

• A polite greeting
• A brief introduction featuring your company name
• A series of clear message options

Here is an example of what your greeting should sound like:

• “Welcome to [company name]! Please listen carefully to hear your options. To schedule new appointments at [company name], press 1. To cancel existing appointments, press 2. For questions about billing or to make a payment, press 3. To resolve issues with an insurance claim, press 4. To request a prescription refill, press 5. To speak with a sales representative, press 6. All other callers, please stay on the line, and a live agent will be with you in a few seconds!”

You may also want to consider making language selection one of your first options, especially if you see many patients who speak languages other than English. Additionally, you should direct anyone who requires immediate assistance from a medical perspective to call 911 for help.

Simplifying Navigation

The more user friendly your medical practice’s IVR system is, the more satisfied your patients will be with it and your practice as a whole. If callers hear your script and don’t understand what to do next, they may hang up and not proceed further.

You can simplify your system’s main menu by:

• Speaking slowly when recording messages to deliver clear messages to patients
• Keeping your IVR instructions short and to the point
• Ensuring the business information included in your instructions is up to date

You should also allow patients to connect directly to a live person if they prefer not to work through your options. End your instructions by saying, “To speak with a live agent from [company name], press 0” to shorten wait times.

Aligning With Brand Voice

One of the most underrated advantages of using IVR for your medical practice is that it’ll allow you to personalize interactions with patients and make them feel welcome from the start. You won’t have to worry about a staff member or someone from a call center rubbing patients the wrong way because they’re in a bad mood on a business day.

Make sure your script aligns with your practice’s tone and values. It should feature friendly, professional language that is well suited for a medical practice.

IVR Script Examples

Patients might call your medical practice for any number of reasons. Prepare to help them do everything from scheduling appointments to making billing inquiries when they contact your office and start working their way through your IVR system. Check out some of the top script examples for medical offices.

Appointment Scheduling

Here is a script that would work well when providing your patients with appointment scheduling menu options through your business phones:

• “Thank you for calling [company name]! To schedule a new appointment, press 1. To reschedule or cancel an existing appointment, press 2.”

Billing and Payments

Here is a script that will effectively provide your patients with billing and payment assistance through your telephone system:

• “You have reached the billing department at [company name]! To check your billing information, press 1. To make a payment over the phone, press 2. To make payments online, please visit our company website at [URL]!”

General Inquiries and Office Hours

Here is a script your medical practice can use for patients calling to ask general questions about your regular business hours, the location of your office, contact details, and other inquiries:

• “Thank you for calling [company name]! For our office business hours and location, press 1. For all other inquiries, press 2.”

Top Strategies for Crafting IVR Scripts

The script you create for your medical practice will serve as the first introduction to your clinic for many people. For this reason, you should use the best strategies when crafting an IVR script. Take a look at these and put them to good use.

Keep It Simple

While you want to deliver enough information to your patients to answer their questions and address their concerns, you don’t want to bury them with so much information they feel overwhelmed. Keep your script on the simpler side and use concise language to avoid confusing patients.

Also, avoid using jargon in your script. It’s another way to cause patients to hang up without enjoying a positive customer experience.

Make It User Friendly

If your medical practice caters to a younger crowd, your patients might not encounter any issues with your system, even if certain aspects are more complicated than they should be.

On the other hand, if your practice has older patients, remember that at least some won’t be quite as tech-savvy. For example, this recent report revealed that tech literacy is still a foreign concept to a large percentage of people over 65. Strive to make your system easy for them to navigate.

You should also provide patients of all ages with the option to talk to a live person by pressing 0 throughout their journey if they get lost or require technical support. To avoid long wait times, let them know they can visit your company website for additional resources.

Accessibility is another crucial issue. For instance, those with certain disabilities and impairments may require text-to-speech options when trying to reach your practice. Keep this in mind to determine whether your target demographic might require this option to reach you comfortably.

Implement Regular Updates

Once you create a script and begin using it as part of your telephone system, you’ll likely start getting customer feedback immediately. Some people will say, “I love how easy it is to use!” while others will point out aspects of your system that confused them.

Gather as much feedback as possible and use it to refine your script and tinker with your system setup. You might find small changes you can make to ensure your system is every bit as intuitive as it should be. As the saying goes, the customer is always right; in this case, it might make all the difference in the image you convey.

Offer Exit Options

No matter how simple it is to use your business telephone system or how effective your script is, some patients will undoubtedly struggle to find what they’re looking for. Always provide a way for people to get a live person on the phone and create a transfer script letting them know to stay on the line with your office or call centers to obtain help.

Common Mistakes To Avoid in IVR Scripts

All it takes is one small mistake to turn a positive patient experience into a negative one when it comes to your telephone system and IVR script. Avoid making the following mistakes to keep your patients happy.

Overloading Patients With Options

A phone usually features ten numbers on its keypad, so you might be tempted to use all of them for IVR prompts. This can cause two major issues:

1. It can confuse patients and cause them to forget which number to press to reach the right department.
2. It can make your script too long and make patients dread having to sit through it whenever they contact your office.

Stick to the essential categories and include only a few main menu options. This will keep your script short and put patients in a better position to find the department they need without having to access troubleshooting guides.

Lack of Personalization

If your script is generic, customers might also be frustrated. It won’t sound like you put much time or effort into creating a script that helps your practice form meaningful connections with customers.

To increase customer engagement, personalize your script so it captures the attention of patients and engages them. You might even want to go as far as to use caller ID and data from previous customer interactions to offer customized greetings and options.

Even if your practice outsources customer service to call centers, this type of script will make patients feel like they’re part of your practice’s family.

Enhancing IVR Phone Systems With Weave’s Call Tree Solution

Want to take your medical practice’s phone system and IVR script to the next level? Weave’s call tree solution can help you maximize your investment.

Integration With Practice Management Software

Weave can help your practice integrate appointment scheduling, billing and payments, and customer records with your practice management software. You can utilize Weave’s digital forms and reminders to streamline patient interactions.

Customizable Call Trees

Weave can also help you create personalized and efficient call tree systems by tailoring your IVR scripts to meet your practice’s needs. This will keep the lines of communication open between your patients and staff members and help with call routing.

Continuous Improvement and Technical Support

Keeping your customized call trees up and running will require you to make regular updates and secure technical support services. Weave is always committed to delivering ongoing customer updates and assistance to medical offices that need such support.

Call Weave for More Information on How We Can Help Boost Customer Satisfaction

Establishing an easy-to-use IVR system and creating an effective IVR script can connect your medical practice and patients like never before. Use the best strategies for crafting a script to begin putting one together.

Let Weave show you how we can help you enjoy the benefits of using our customized call tree solutions. Get a demo to improve the communication between your medical practice and your patients once and for all, and see what separates us from other providers.