IPA Phone Tree/Menu Expansion
We're about to go live on IPA after using i-tiva for the last several years (& Teleforms before that). We've got about 140K patrons who prefer receiving their library notices by phone over e-mail, so we're keen on keeping that playing field as level as possible.
At the same time, we're hoping for as seamless a user experience as possible & also interested in making sure these users can, when needed, connect to a human being. As it stands, IPA does not currently have a menu option to connect to live help or an "operator."
In either case, this would be our telephone reference team, who is generally available 9 AM - 6 PM. Ideally, we'd have a scenario where customers might call IPA, have an issue of some sort with their account (e.g. be unable to renew an item for whatever reason) & then choose a menu option to connect to this reference staff. During their off hours, the menu option would either be suppressed or go to a recording suggesting the customer call back during business hours.
This idea will be reviewed by the product management team for consideration in an upcoming release.
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Karen Davis commented
If customers run into an issue while calling into IPA, having to hang up and look up an additional number to call will be frustrating. Being able to reach a library staff member while in IPA is great customer service.