RoastmyIVR
Interactive voice response testing tool
October 2021 – October 2022
Overview
RoastmyIVR is a free IVR (interactive voice response) testing tool. Enter your IVR number and get a free report. A visual menu with all audio recordings, menu choices, and transcriptions, AI-driven analysis of audio, speech, and suggestions for improvement based on best practices.
IVR, or interactive voice response, is an automated business phone system that responds to callers and collects data by offering them options from a menu.
My Role
I performed the standard product designer tasks:
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Researched the field of IVR and related systems
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Suggested and tested ideas to improve CX (customer experience)
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Created prototypes
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Coordinated solution options
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Developed a design system and built screens based on it
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Wrote tasks for development team
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Tested the system and reported on identified issues to developers
The Problem
Almost all large companies use IVR to handle incoming calls. This saves a lot of resources for the company, but unfortunately the quality of the IVR is often not the best. The menu is confusing, the sound quality is poor, and the phrasing is often too long.
Solution
It was decided to improve this world by creating a tool for testing and subsequently improving IVR systems.
The development team already had a ready-made technology. My task was to give this technology a commercially successful form:
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Create a landing page that would entice people to order a free IVR test
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Develop a design for the test results that would sell services for improving IVR
Research & Mockups
The research revealed that there were literally only a few analogues to the system we were developing, and none of them displayed the IVR menu structure as a flowchart or tree. I wanted to turn a purely technical test into something visually appealing.
Here's how similar systems usually look like:
My first attempt to visualize IVR menu data as a flowchart:
After discussion with the development team, we decided to implement a tree structure instead of a flowchart because it is better suited for larger menus, easier to generate, and looks better on mobile devices.
Next, the tree went through about 10 iterations to find the best option:
I finished the tree structure design right away so that the developers could start working on it while I solved other design tasks. This is the design that eventually went into production:
Design
While the team worked on implementing the tree structure, I designed and approved the report layout. Every detail was discussed with the product managers, and some ideas were discussed with the developers. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say that over 20 layouts were created during the report design process:
From the beginning, I thought it was very important to show an overall score in the report based on all the tests performed. This way, the user could understand at a glance how good his IVR system was and compare the values after improvements had been made.
We were only able to achieve the overall score in the second iteration, which was not easy to implement technically:
Finally, a report design was created for all screen resolutions:
The details were worked out: friendly illustrations were drawn, skeletons of all pages were made, all possible states, modal windows, email messages in light and dark themes were created, a simple design system was developed, etc.
Landing Page
Everything started as usual, with a wireframe and discussion. I immediately created 2 versions:
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Simplified for a quick product launch
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Enhanced, when we get feedback from real customers and real reports
Finished design:
User scenarios, secondary pages, and all element states were also developed.
Outcomes
We received a truly unique product that is already performing numerous automated tests on a daily basis and helping to generate revenue through IVR enhancement contracts.
The project was completed on time and I am very pleased that I was able to take a rather boring technical report and turn it into something understandable and attractive with concrete metrics.
The service is constantly evolving, and the Whitefox team conducts user testing and continues to improve the product.