Investors will find mutual fund company interactive voice response units easy to use, but the functionality of these touch tone prompt systems is still limited.
Mutual fund research company Dalbar recently ranked mutual fund company IVRs and found that functionality rarely goes beyond account balances and unit prices. Of the 15 mutual fund companies evaluated, none scored higher than 45% in functionality based on Dalbar’s evaluation criteria.
“A good IVR provides a compelling reason to using an automated service option instead of speaking to a live rep,” said Kevin Lam, a research analyst at Dalbar and author of the report. “Expanded functionality will be key for firms looking to reduce high costs of servicing routine inquiries with service representatives,” said Lam.
According to the rankings, Talvest Fund Management provided the best functionality. However, Franklin Templeton had the best overall IVR system.
Dalbar found that most mutual fund IVRs are easy to use. Navigation strengths of industry systems include:
- being able to return to the previous or main menu quickly and easily;
- providing the option to reach a live representative (usually by pressing ‘0’); and
- a clear and friendly voice on the IVR.
Dalbar offers these examples of how IVRs can be made more functional:
- include the ability to order duplicate statements or tax forms;
- add the capacity to provide return and yield information;
- include the cabability to look up historical balances so that the client can find out what his or her balance was on any specified date; and
- add the option to obtain Web- and mailing addresses, as well as fax numbers and other important telephone numbers.
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