[Sigia-l] IVR best practices

[steve.schang at wachovia.com]

Does anyone know of best practices or research about designing navigation
and menu options for an IVR (interactive voice response system). The
project I am working on is redesigning menu options and navigation for a
Human Resources phone number used by employees and managers to get
information about benefits, pay, training, etc.

What is the optimal number of options to read at once?
How long (word count) should each menu option be?
How fast should the IVR "speak"?
Is there a time threshold for how long it should take a user to listen to
all the menu options on a certain level?
How many levels is too many to drill down?
What is the best way to navigate up and down different levels?
Should there always be a "0" option to talk to someone?

I can summarize offline. Thanks


Steve Schang
Interactive Design Group | eCommerce | Wachovia Corporation