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If you phone a bank or an airline
say,
which has a complicated phone
menu
you often have to go through
several
layers of menus by entering
numbers. If you knew that you were
after the 3rd option of the 2nd
sub-sub-menu of the 3rd sub-
menu of
the 4th top-level-menu item, you
could
just dial "4323" and you'd be
right there, without having to sit
through all the menu
choices.
These menus could
either be published on the
company's
website, or they could be published
on a separate website based on
having pieces of the menu structure
submitted by members of the public
(i.e. you'd submit an online form
saying that "4323" gets you to the
"change of address" call centre).
(?) Auto-dialing Extensions
http://www.rjsjr.com/hacks/nokia/
[Klaatu, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
(?) Cornerstone bank
http://www.cornerst....com/phonemenu.html
Almost like this [hippo, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]
gethuman.com
http://www.gethuman.com/
Q: What do I need to do to actually talk to a real person at company X? [jutta, Oct 19 2007]
PleasePress1
http://www.pleasepress1.com/uk/
Someone's done it! - only 12 years after I posted the idea! [hippo, Jul 13 2015]
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Annotation:
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I agree with the idea. In fact I work in a call center and we try to tell our customers the fast way through. Some (most) companies force feed advertisements to you while you wait for your option. |
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If you have a Nokia cell phone, you can accomplish this with the "p" and "w" functions <link>. As you dial the number, press the " * " key 3 times to insert a "p"ause or 4 times for a "w"ait. You dial the number and insert a "w"ait. You then press the send to navigate your way through the IVR without ever looking at the keys. |
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So, if you call your bank to check your account balance on a regular basis, program the number, insert a "w"ait, then a "1" for "check account balance", a "p"ause then your account number. |
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I agree that a main menu function would be very helpful. I once call AT&T wireless and found myself hopelessly lost in "Employee Benefits" without a way out. |
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This is a nice idea. One possible reason it's not done is that websites can usually replace phone navigation systems entirely (for opening hours, bank balances, reservation systems, that sort of thing), so companies are likely to asume that if you're there you don't need to know how the other system works. This isn't always the case, though, and it may be desirable anyway to be able to print the menu tree and carry it about for when you have a phone but no internet access. |
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Fair point [Monkfish] although I've
found that they tend to set up the
web site to cater for relatively
simple transactions. If you want to
do something a bit more
complicated, you have to phone
someone real, which you can only
do by navigating the phone menu
maze. |
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WIBNI call centres simply standardised their menus ? e.g. one standard for banks, one for 'phone companies? it's not like they actually differentiate their products. |
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A passive listing does introduce the opportunity for the web site to get out of sync with the phone tree. Perhaps if the web site "tree" were more active and helpful... |
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If you have a simple or very common transaction, you should be able to deal with it online, period. If the web site determines that it cannot help you, it should suggest a number to dial and what option to choose, based on what you've told it so far. |
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Phone trees these days are starting to diverge from the number-pushing variety to the voice-recognizing variety. It would be much easier if callers could just say "Accounts Payable" instead of pressing 4-2-3. That would also make it less likely that the phone tree and web site would get de-synchronized. |
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Philosophically, a phone tree should be designed to be user-friendly to callers without Internet access; this should really obviate the need for an online chart. If it doesn't, it's a sign that something's wrong. |
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I voted for this, as it would be useful, but I have a better idea: Pass a law making telephone menus illegal, thus giving back jobs and reducing an incredible amount of tension and rage in a company's customers. |
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I think Amazon does this one better by having you called back by a customer service rep. |
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This seems far superior to me than dialing anything: I don't have to sit on the phone, don't have to navigate a phone menu or IVR, I can choose exactly what category of issue I need help with, and the rep can be prepared with account information. |
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