What Is a Phone Tree?

Even with the rise of texting and conversations over social media, 71% of customer conversations still occur over the phone. Email, webchat, and text have grown in recent years, but phone calls are still a crucial part of doing business.

But not every business has the bandwidth to answer every call right away. What do you do in this situation? Phone trees can be incredibly helpful if you struggle to connect callers with the right employee.

In this article, you’ll learn what a phone tree is, how they improve the customer experience, and more.

What Is a Phone Tree and How Does It Work?

Modern phone trees are automated systems that guide callers to the right number. Phone trees use menus and have callers press buttons on the phone or speak short words and phrases. Based on the caller’s responses, the automated system directs their call to the appropriate person or number.

It is common to reach a phone tree when you call a company, especially larger ones. For example, when you call your bank, it gives you options such as checking your balance, reporting a stolen or missing card, and talking to an agent. Each is a different “branch” on your bank’s phone tree.

Most modern phone trees rely on interactive voice response (IVR) technology. It is this technology that speaks the menu options and interprets the responses.

Traditional Phone Trees

A traditional phone tree had a slightly different purpose but still had the goal of efficiently spreading information. A traditional phone tree would have each person call a few other people. Then, each of those people would call a few other people. It was especially popular for things like announcing school cancellations before automation. With modern smartphones, traditional phone trees have become mostly non-existent, and the term is instead reserved for automated trees using IVR. Additionally, the rise of automation means mass communication is simple, even without a manual phone tree. 

Benefits of Phone Trees

Most companies will want to use phone trees or IVR technology because of the many benefits it offers. The following are just some of the most important benefits.

1. They Are Easy to Set Up

Phone trees are easy to set up, especially with the right phone system in place. Nearly all modern business phone systems will offer IVR and phone trees. At the longest, it may take you a day to set up most phone trees. This minimizes disruptions to your workflow.

2. There are Options for Routing Calls

Most phone tree systems give you plenty of versatility in routing calls. You can choose how many “branches” your tree will have, what to label each option on the menu, and how callers input their responses.

Additionally, you can route calls to a landline or a mobile phone, adding more versatility. The ability to route to mobile phones means you can even have an emergency or after-hours option in your phone menu.

3. They Increase Your Efficiency

From a business standpoint, phone trees are an excellent way to improve efficiency. To start, your team can spend less time answering calls, as they will only receive the calls for their department.

Additionally, the IVR system will automatically redirect and transfer callers to the appropriate department. This saves time compared to doing so manually.

This improved efficiency is especially important if your business is scaling up.

4. They Can Reduce Operational Costs

Any improvement in efficiency will, in turn, reduce your operational costs. In this way, phone trees can help your bottom line.

5. They Give Off a Professional Impression

Using a phone tree builds credibility and gives a more professional impression. For small businesses that can’t afford to hire a dedicated receptionist, having an IVR system can offer an alternative that makes your company seem more established.

6. They Can Improve Customer Satisfaction

When you have a phone tree set up, callers don’t waste time waiting for someone to answer and transfer them to the appropriate person or department. Phone trees allow callers to be transferred to the right person by giving them the options to select the appropriate “branch.”  Reduced waiting time boosts customer satisfaction.

7. They Can Include Personalization

Although not all phone trees offer this, the best ones will connect with your CRM database and make it easy to personalize your conversation with customers. Podium Phones, for example, brings up recent interactions with your customer via Podium, including conversations across channels and reviews.

8. They Let You Answer the Phone 24/7

One of the factors that improve efficiency and customer satisfaction is the fact that a phone tree lets you answer the phone 24/7. You can simply have the IVR system play a message stating your hours and giving the option to leave a voicemail. You can also offer an emergency option if it makes sense for your business. A vet or plumber, for example, may want to include an emergency menu option in the phone tree that goes to their mobile phone.

Cons of Phone Trees

Next, let’s talk about the cons. Some of your callers may feel frustrated when they can’t talk to a real person right away. As such, you have to be careful when using your phone trees and use them wisely.

Simply put, you have to make sure that you use phone trees to boost the customer experience, not throttle it.

This means you should avoid annoyingly long introductory messages. You should also make the phone tree’s menu easy to navigate. You also want to avoid having customers go through too many different steps on the menu.

Bonus: Tips to Make Phone Calls Boost the Customer Experience

Now that you have a better idea of why your business should be using an automated phone tree, here are some tips to make the most of answering calls and boost the customer experience, whether they come from automated phone trees or someone manually answering the phone. 

Use Customized Call Greetings

Incorporating customized call greetings into your phone tree and training your team to use them when answering calls can dramatically improve the customer experience. Your customers prefer personalization across every part of their journey, including talking on the phone. This becomes easier if your automated phone tree software connects to your CRM and gives your team information about the caller. 

Keep Response Time As Low As Possible

Even with automated phone trees, your callers don’t want to wait too long. So, make it a point to answer any calls your phone tree service transfers as soon as possible. 

Follow Up Quickly When You Do Miss a Call

Missed calls happen, and how you handle them will influence the customer experience. Make it easy for incoming callers to leave a voicemail. And make it a point to return the call as soon as you can. 

Try Podium Phones

Start taking advantage of the benefits associated with using an automated phone tree with Podium Phones. Podium Phones gives you the versatility and low cost of a voice over internet protocol, along with the advantages of a phone tree. It even connects with other Podium features, so your team sees information about the caller, allowing them to personalize the conversation.