JP2003169147A - Client response system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a client response system as an active interactive automatic voice response (IVR) system in which a conventional passive IVR system can be utilized for customer relationship management (CRM). <P>SOLUTION: The system is provided with an information database 42 storing information, an attribute database 41 for storing static and dynamic attribute data (such as the date of birth, address and transaction records or utilization history in the past, for example), for each registered client and an IVR server 12. When a client who performs access is specified, the IVR server 12 retrieves the attribute database 41 by a retrieval part 24 while using that specified client as a key, a message suited to that client (the message of service function such as greeting of the birthday and a message for sales promotion of articles or services) is selected by a judging part 25 and sent to that client as an IVR prompt. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatic voice response (I).
Regarding a customer response system using a VR (Interactive Voice Response) system, in particular, a message for sales promotion as well as returning an answer to a question from a user (customer) who is typically a general consumer to the user. A customer response system that sends a message to the user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various kinds of contact points between customers such as consumers and companies, but broadly speaking, companies such as direct mail and opt-in mail can be used for customers and other consumers. There is one that the side sends one-sided, and one that provides some information to the customer from the company in response to some access from the customer to the company, such as a call center. Among them, when the customer accesses the company for some purpose, the service level is improved and CRM (customer relationship management; It is known as an empirical rule that there is a high possibility that it will lead to improvement of relationship management) and provision of products / services (services). It has become clear that how a company responds to customers who access it is important as a corporate strategy.

Therefore, recently, CTI (Computer Telephony Integration; Computer Telephony I)
information, such as that of a company that stores customer attributes and past transaction records in a database by various methods, or a specific customer has accessed the company by different access methods, as represented by ntegration) and CRM. Are aggregated in the same database using various middle software. However, under the present circumstances, such a customer attribute database in a broad sense is used for improving the service level and CR.
There is no explicit statement about how to improve M and provide the next products / services. At best, it is only used for listing as a one-way access target from companies such as direct mail. .

As a method of dealing with a company when a customer accesses the company for some purpose, a person in a call center has been dealing with it for the longest time, but this method requires a high labor cost and 24 There is a problem that it is difficult to maintain the time operating system. Therefore,
Introduced an interactive voice response (IVR) system, and during the business hours of the company, the IVR system was made to respond temporarily and IV
For atypical queries that cannot be dealt with by the R system, a method of secondarily responding by humans has come to be adopted. Outside business hours, IV regarding limited content
The R system is fully compatible. However, this method has a problem in that the service provided by the IVR system leads to deterioration in service. That is,
In the early IVR system, the user (customer) selects the item or the target by pressing the push button of the telephone. However, this selection method requires a large number of selection targets or an atypical pattern. Since it is troublesome to make inquiries, it is not easy to use depending on the type of industry and service contents that introduce such an IVR system. Also, such systems tend to give the user the impression that they are truly mechanical.

An example of an IVR system for performing input using a push button of a telephone is a telecommunications carrier that provides a mobile telephone service. IVR here
When you connect to the general / fee guide by the system, the following message will be played.

[Thank you, this is the ○○ customer center, the voice response menu has been updated, please check the menu number before selecting. If you follow the guidance, you can also choose to talk with the operator. Payment of usage charges and unpaid charges 1; Data communication such as e-mail and Internet, and web services 2; Price plans, special discount services, optional services 3;
For address change 4; For theft and loss procedures 5; For the latest information 6; For other inquiries 7; For those who wish to call the operator
0; Please press 8; to ask again. If you know the shortened number, enter # and the number. Regarding the malfunction and operation method of the mobile phone, please call 113 from our mobile phone and 0xxxx-x-xxxx from the ordinary phone. Pressi
ng 0 will connect you to the English operator, tha
nk you. ”

[0007] In this way, a voice message of less than 2 minutes is played as a whole, and if the user confirms the content on the document, he / she will not understand it even if he / she listens as a voice message. Become. as a result,
After listening again about twice, since it is known that "0" is the operator, there is a tendency to push "0" for the time being. One of the reasons this example is confusing to the user is that there are too many options. If there are 8 or 9 options, it becomes difficult for the user to remember.

As described above, there are some problems in the early type IVR system. Therefore, a system incorporating voice recognition into the IVR has appeared as a remedy for this problem. As such a system, for example, NTT data is provided. Vois
There are systems that apply tage (product name) and systems provided by Nuance in the United States. All of these have utilized voice recognition so that a customer can easily obtain information by voice from an information database. For example, in the case of the above-mentioned IVR system relating to the mobile phone service, the above-mentioned problem can be easily solved by incorporating voice recognition as follows.

System: "Thank you for using this service, this is the XX Customer Center, please tell us your desired service. "User:" This month's usage charge "System:" Inquiries regarding usage charges for September, please enter the invoice number or phone number "User enters the invoice number 2568931 System:" 9 The monthly usage fee is 11,156 yen. ”In this way, using voice recognition as the entrance is considered to be effective in most cases.

[0010]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Until now, companies considered the call center as a cost center (a department that costs only money and does not generate profit), but as the idea of CRM spreads, the call center became defensive and aggressive. There is an increasing trend to change, that is, to find profit opportunities from the operation of call centers. In other words, the call center is an important department that connects companies and customers, and the idea of using customer dissatisfaction for product development or linking it to sales activities according to the attributes of customers has been born. In this context, the name of the call center is changing to the contact center.

By the way, there are various kinds of software for collecting and analyzing the attributes of customers in order to realize the CRM, but at present, the analysis data by these software is used for the sales promotion (sales promotion) activities after the next time. The basic idea is to use it. There is nothing in the company's sales promotion activities that uses the attribute data of the customer who is just calling to add information that the customer wants, and provides a thank-you word for the previous transaction. There is no one doing it. In other words, for customers who are currently contacting companies,
It does not actively carry out sales promotion activities by using the attributes of the customer. Therefore, it cannot be said that the effects of introducing CRM are sufficiently exerted. After all, under the present circumstances, how to reduce costs when replacing human-responsive contact centers with machines is being considered, while improving service levels and providing related products and services as part of CRM. It can be said that no consideration has been given to whether it will be possible to expand profit opportunities by doing so.

It is an object of the present invention to provide passive I as in the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a customer response system and method as an active IVR system that can use the VR system for CRM. Specifically, not only providing the information that the customer wants, but also alerting the customer by returning useful information for the customer from the database of the customer (member) attributes, past transaction records, and usage history. (For example, "Solo Sekkan isn't it?"), Congratulatory words (for example, "It's about to be your birthday"), greetings (for example, "How was your last fishing in Izu?"), And to provide the next products and services. Enables a customer response system that forms part of the CRM on the company side, such as Tsunagi (for example, "Thank you for purchasing the last plasma TV. It seems that plasma TV will be released this weekend") It is to be.

Further, by introducing the voice recognition as described above, although the entrance to the IVR system is simplified for the user, it tends to give an impression that the user is unwilling. Therefore, another object of the present invention is to "dialogue" with the IVR.
The goal is to build an IVR system that gives the impression that the users who are talking to humans rather than machines. In the future, artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to establish a natural conversation between the user and the IVR system. However, in the current situation where artificial intelligence is under study, prompts (IVR system side) By devising the utterance content of), we try to create an IVR flow that approaches the conversation between people as much as possible.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a customer response system and method capable of instantly returning information obtained by voice by electronic mail (including a mail service in a mobile phone communication network). On the Internet, it is easy to import the browsed information to your own computer, and in the case of electronic commerce (EC) on the Internet, the order details are immediately returned by email (at least when the payment is completed) It is common to come. There is also an information providing service in which an email address of an email service for a mobile phone is registered in advance so that an email is automatically sent to one's own mobile phone by calling a specific phone number. .
However, no IVR system that replaces a human-responsive contact center provides an email reply function.

[0015]

A customer response system of the present invention is a customer response system for providing information to a customer in response to a request from the customer, and an information database accumulating information to be provided, An attribute database that stores static and dynamic attribute data for each registered customer, a voice recognition server that recognizes the voice uttered by the customer, a voice-transmittable communication network, and a voice synthesizer. In response to voice input from the customer, the information database is searched, and the corresponding information is sent as voice to the customer via the communication network. When the customer who has accessed is specified, the specified customer is used as the key attribute database. , An automatic voice response server that selects a message suitable for the customer and sends it to the customer as an automatic voice response prompt. That.

The customer response method of the present invention is a customer response method for searching an information database in response to a request from a customer and providing information to the customer, and static and dynamic attributes for each registered customer. The step of storing data in the attribute database, the step of identifying the accessing customer, the step of searching the attribute database with the specified customer as a key, selecting the message that matches the customer, and the selected message Is sent to the customer as an automatic voice response prompt, a step of recognizing the voice uttered by the customer, and a step of searching the information database according to the recognition result and sending the corresponding information to the customer as voice. Customer response method.

In the present invention, the message suitable for the customer is typically the first message (attentive function message) indicating the attentiveness to the customer according to the attribute of the customer and the attribute of the customer. Products and /
Alternatively, it comprises at least one of a second message (sales promotion function message) for promoting sales of the service.

Conventionally, an automatic voice response (IVR) system incorporating a voice synthesis / speech recognition system has been linked with only an information database. However, the customer response system of the present invention uses the IVR system as a member attribute or An attribute database that stores past transaction records and usage history is linked to an information database. That is, the customer response system of the present invention, when the customer obtains the voice information from the information database, adds it to the information that the customer wants to obtain, searches the attribute database of the customer, and searches for the products and services satisfying a certain condition. It makes it possible to convey information to customers by voice and automatically guide them to related products and services. Also, customer satisfaction (C
As part of the S; customer satisfaction) method, it is also possible to automatically convey gratitude and attentive words by voice. As described above, the present invention provides IVR
By linking and integrating the customer's attribute database with the customer, the information stored in the conventional information database is not only provided to the customer via the IVR, but the member's attribute database that meets certain conditions is defined in advance. IV
Providing a system that is supposed to improve the service level and provide products and services as a part of the CRM of the company by returning to the member with the reply contents of R, and providing information only in response to the request from the conventional customer. The purpose is to make a passive IVR an active IVR that actively provides information to customers. Further, in the present invention, such an active IVR is
At present, when researching fully automatic conversations using artificial intelligence, by adaptively changing the utterance content on the IVR side according to the utterance content of the user,
I try to get as close to human-to-person conversation as possible.

If the main functions provided by the customer response system of the present invention described above are classified into two, one is an attentive function and the other is a sales promotion function.

In general, the owner of a store (familiar store) that is often visited pays attention to the family of the customer (customer). Attentiveness is, as a matter of course, carried out in such familiar shops and luxury hotels, and is not directly related to business or profit. As a customer, as long as he is a human being, he / she wants to go to a store with a human touch, and the customer response system of the present invention allows the customer to take in the "attentive function" of the attentiveness performed in a familiar store. By increasing the approval rate, the so-called repeat demand can be reliably secured.

There is a certain pattern in this kind of attention, such as calling out "I'll be having a birthday soon" when my birthday is approaching. In the present invention, by incorporating such a pattern into the system, the machine is provided with the attentive function of influencing the emotionality of the customer.

This attentive function is established on the basis of the mutual trust relationship between the customer and the company operating the customer response system, and how much the customer trusts the company side to provide information. It depends. In other words, registering a customer's own date of birth (saying "Happy birthday" as an attentive function) is normally performed without any resistance, but the customer's family, such as the birth of a child ( As an attentive function, "Soon 1
It is thought that few customers frequently register "I'm old" or "I'm getting cold, how are you doing?"). Conversely, it is thought that few companies can be so deeply involved in the lives of their customers.

Therefore, as the attentive function in the customer response system of the present invention, as will be exemplified later, for example, the customer's date of birth and the transaction record in the past certain period (the attentive function is " Thank you very much for purchasing the ticket the other day ''), but it is not limited to this. Even in the example described above, for example, in the case of a company that handles childcare products, the customer may register the information regarding the childbirth and birth date of the child without resistance.

In the customer response system of the present invention, (the degree of trust that the customer gives to the company) = (the degree of the attribute information that the customer wants to register with the company) = (the degree of consideration that the customer wants to receive from the company) Realize one-on-one service from customer to company according to the degree. However, one-to-one service means that when various services prepared by the company are provided to customers, segments are set according to the attributes of the customers and common services are provided to customers who belong to the same segment. Means that a customer provides a plurality of services as a result of belonging to a plurality of attribute segments.

The other sales promotion function is dynamic attribute data that changes with the passage of time such as past transaction history and customer preference, and does not change regardless of passage of time such as gender and date of birth. For items that meet certain conditions in static attribute data, set the association with a specific product or service of the company in advance, and when that customer accesses this customer response system with another requirement, It is a function of recommending a specific product or service prepared in advance to the customer. In this case as well, the fact that it depends on the customer's trust relationship with the company and that the segment concept is used for one-to-one service is the same as the above-mentioned attention function.

Further, in the customer response system of the present invention, I
By devising a prompt (contents of utterance from the IVR system to the user) in the VR, the user is given an impression as if a person is responding. It is preferable to devise the prompt of the IVR for the attentive function and the sales promotion function described above from such a viewpoint. For example, when applied to a charge inquiry in a mobile phone service, the result is as follows.

[System]: "Thank you for using our service, please tell us your desired service. "Customer:" This month's usage fee "System:" Inquiries about the usage fee for September, I'm sorry for the invoice number or phone number, but can you enter it? "The customer invoice number Enter 2568931 System: "Kaneko **-sama, congratulations on your birthday. In our company, Kaneko-sama lives in Wako City, Saitama Prefecture, for 8 Mb at 1,980 yen per month.
We have started to provide ADSL of ps, please press 1 if you want more detailed information.・ ・ ・ The September usage fee for inquiries is 14,560 yen,
Please tell me if you have any other desired service. ”As digitization in modern society progresses, it is said that the stress of human beings who are originally“ analog ”is increasing. However, even digital technology can be made to feel like "analog" depending on the combination. According to the present invention, in addition to the device for the IVR prompt, the voice synthesis technology is used to prepare several types of voices, and IVR prompts corresponding to the respective types are prepared to enable communication by the customer's favorite character voice. is there. For example, when the customer registers the protagonist, actor, singer, etc. of an anime program, it becomes possible to generate an IVR prompt with the voice of the protagonist or actress. Particularly in the case of the protagonist of an animation program, it is preferable to generate a prompt with a phrase specific to the protagonist.

In addition, in the conventional IVR information provision using voice recognition, when the customer desires information that is not registered in the information database, the customer side gives a message such as "Unrecognized, please say again". It is supposed to be returned to. This is not assumed in the information database when a word that is not registered in the dictionary is input when the information provider side registers the word assumed in the information on hand in the voice recognition engine in advance. "Unrecognized", assuming it is input
This is because it is set to return messages such as. For example, in the case of a service providing fishing information,
Fish species such as horse mackerel, sardines, and black sea bream are registered in the dictionary, but whales (because they cannot be targets for fishing)
Generally, it is not registered in the dictionary. Therefore, when the customer inputs "whale", in the past, it was usual to return a message such as "Unrecognizable, please say again". However, in the "Unrecognizable, say it again" message, the customer is likely to feel a mechanical rejection. Therefore, in the customer response system of the present invention, by registering the dictionary as much as possible with the voice recognition engine, for example,
When asked about whales, it is preferable to return a message such as "Whales can be seen at the aquarium." By setting such a message to be returned, the information providing service by IVR can be brought closer to a person-to-person conversation.

As described above, in the customer response system of the present invention, the number of words registered in the voice recognition engine can be increased or I
By combining the VR prompt and the ability to select from multiple character voices using voice synthesis technology with the above-mentioned attention function and sales promotion function, IVR can be made as close as possible to conversation between people. It is possible to do so.

Furthermore, the customer response system of the present invention can be provided with a function of instantly replying information obtained by voice by e-mail or mobile phone mail in cooperation with the mail server. By immediately returning an electronic mail or the like, the customer can use the mail as a confirmation or a reminder. In a conventional contact center where humans respond, for example, a contact center for booking an airline ticket, when a ticket is reserved, a fax with the details of the reservation is automatically sent as confirmation. Has become. By using the mobile phone having the mail function in the customer response system of the present invention, it is possible to make an inquiry or place an order from anywhere, and to obtain a confirmation mail immediately after making such an inquiry or order. is there.

[0031]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a customer response system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This customer response system is roughly classified into an automatic voice response (IVR) server 12 connected to a communication network 10 including an analog telephone network, a mobile telephone network, ISDN (integrated service digital network) and the like. A voice recognition server 13 connected to the automatic voice response server 12 for voice recognition of the input voice; a database server 14 operating at the back end of the automatic voice response server 12 and searched by the automatic voice response server 12; , And a mail server 15 for transmitting a reply mail as an electronic mail or a mobile phone mail, and functions as a so-called contact center in a company. In order for humans to respond to atypical queries, etc., the automatic voice response server 12
A console (operator desk) equipped with a handset, etc.
16 are connected. The customer will access this customer response system (contact center) via the telephone 11 connected to the communication network 10. The telephone 11 here may be any telephone as long as it has a telephone function and a function of making a voice call through the communication network 10. For example, a telephone of a fixed telephone network,
Examples include mobile phones and facsimile-equipped phones. Here, the above-mentioned analog telephone network, mobile telephone network, ISDN and other communication networks capable of transmitting voice are referred to as a telephone network. As will be described later, since this automatic voice response system has a function of replying to a customer by e-mail (including a mail service of a mobile phone network), these mails such as recent mobile phones having a mail function as the telephone 11 can be used. What can receive and display is preferable.

The automatic voice response server 12 automatically responds to a voice input from the telephone 11, performs processing according to the voice input, and returns information indicating the processing result and a voice message to the telephone 11. This automatic voice response server 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes an interface unit 21 that serves as an interface with the communication network 10, a voice synthesis unit 22 that converts text data into voice, and a fixed sentence storage unit 23 that holds a response message that is a standard as a CRM system as voice data or text data. And a search unit 24 that executes a search process for the database server 14, a determination unit 25 that determines the message of the attentive function and the message of the sales promotion function that should be selected in this customer response system, and the overall control of the automatic voice response server 12. And a control unit 26 for performing. The interface unit 21 receives the caller number transmitted by the caller number notification function from the communication network 10 side,
It also has a function of converting a tone signal generated by operating a push button on the telephone 11 into code data. The search unit 24 also has the function of updating the database in the database server 14 based on the customer's access to the customer response system. The customer response system has a function as a conventional IVR system having a voice recognition function, and the processing as such a conventional IVR system is controlled by the control unit 26.

The voice recognition server 13 performs voice recognition of the voice data (waveform data) transferred from the automatic voice response server 12, and returns the recognition result to the automatic voice response server 12, and actually performs the voice recognition process. A voice recognition engine 31 to be executed and a word dictionary 32 used for voice recognition
It has and.

The database server 14 is roughly classified as follows.
It includes an attribute database 41, which is a database relating to static and dynamic attributes of customers, and an information database 42, which is a database relating to product and service information. As will be described later, an example of the attribute database 41 is a portion that stores static data such as a customer ID (customer management number), a customer's date of birth, a registered telephone number, and an address, and when the customer is What route did you buy, when did you access this customer response system last time, what did you inquire about last time, when and how did you make a claim, and in what area? And a part for storing dynamic data such as whether or not the receipt of the sales promotion information is refused. The attribute database 41 is updated at any time based on the customer's access to the customer response system, and is also updated according to the record of sales made without going through the customer response system. Further, among the above-mentioned static data, data such as the customer ID and the registered telephone number of the customer are also used for personal identification and authentication when the customer accesses the customer response system. On the other hand, the information database 42 stores information on products and services provided by the company, IR (investor relations) information (information for investors), event information, and the like, and can be classified and searched for each information category. It was designed for. That is, the information database 42 here is an information database normally assumed when executing an information providing service using an automatic voice response system, and stores data (information) for sales promotion. is there.

The mail server 15 sends a reply e-mail or mobile phone mail to the customer,
It is configured to assemble a mail by embedding the information (text format) from the database server 14 into the document template output from the automatic voice response server 12, and send the assembled mail to the mail address of the customer.

That is, in this customer response system, when the customer (user) accesses from the telephone 11 via the communication network 10, the voice input of the customer is voice-recognized by the voice recognition server 13 and the recognition result is obtained. Accordingly, the search unit 24 uses the database (mainly the information database 42).
By searching for, the information desired by the customer is sent out as voice. If the retrieved information is already voice data (waveform data), it may be sent to the customer side through the communication network 10 as it is, but if the information is expressed in text format, the voice synthesizer 22 The voice synthesis is performed by and the synthesized voice is sent to the customer side. The above operation is almost the same as the operation of the conventional automatic voice response system having the voice recognition function, but this customer response system is provided with the attentive function and the sales promotion function, and the information requested by the customer is provided to the customer side. It is configured such that a voice message by the attentive function and a voice message by the sales promotion function are further added at the time of sending to the, and this point is different from the conventional automatic voice response system. Specifically, when the customer who has accessed is specified, the search unit 24 searches the attribute database 41, and purchases "Your birthday is coming soon" or "*** the other day" depending on the search result. Thank you for your choice ”and select an attentive voice message based on the customer's static or dynamic attributes and send it to the customer as an IVR prompt, and according to the search result in the attribute database 41, Among the products and services, those satisfying a certain condition are searched for, and a sales promotion (sales promotion) message regarding the searched products or services is sent to the customer side as an IVR prompt.

Next, the operation of this customer response system will be described.

The customer accesses the customer response system via the communication network 10 by the telephone 11. This access is first accepted by the automatic voice response server 12 and notified by the caller number notification.
Based on the telephone number of the attribute database 4
Search within 1 to identify which customer is accessing. The customer may be identified by voice input or push button input of the member name or member number instead of the caller number notification.

When the customer who has accessed is identified, the search unit 24 then searches the attribute database 41 using the management number of the customer as a keyword and purchases the customer's date of birth or recent purchase of goods. The history or the like is searched and passed to the determination unit 25. The determination unit 25 selects the message of the attentive function to be transmitted to the customer as a voice message by prioritizing the search results and making the determination. Actually, by setting the messages corresponding to the respective search conditions in advance and setting the priority order with respect to the search conditions, the message corresponding to the search condition having a high priority order is determined. There is. The selected voice message is retrieved from the fixed phrase storage unit 23 and transmitted to the customer via the communication network 10. Of course, at that time,
The customer's name or the like may be inserted into the message by voice synthesis, as in “Happy birthday, ****”. Then, the search unit 24 searches the information database 42 this time based on the result of previously searching the attribute database 41, and selects a candidate for the sales promotion message. Subsequently, the determination unit 25 selects the message of the sales promotion function by the same procedure as the message of the attention function. The selected message is read from the information database 42 and transmitted to the customer via the communication network 10. The message of attention function and sales promotion function is I
It is a VR prompt and is stored in advance as voice data or text data.
In the case of text data, it is subjected to voice synthesis in the voice synthesizer 22 and sent to the customer side. At the time of voice synthesis, a voice message may be generated by the voice of a character (main character of an anime program, actor, singer, etc.) registered in advance by the customer.

When the customer receives the voice message of the attentive function and the sales promotion function as described above, he or she then utters the type of information or question desired. The spoken word is sent to the automatic voice response server 12 as voice data, and is transferred from there to the voice recognition server 13 for voice recognition. In the voice recognition server 13, waveform data of words (registered words) whose words have been registered in advance are stored in the word dictionary 32, and the voice recognition engine 31 outputs the voice (waveform) sent from the automatic voice response server 12. The voice recognition is performed by matching the data with the waveform data in the word dictionary and searching for a similar registered word. The result of voice recognition is sent as a keyword from the voice recognition server 13 to the automatic voice response server 12.

When the automatic voice response server 12 receives the voice recognition result, the automatic voice response server 12 searches the information database 42 using the keyword recognized by the search unit 24. As a result, since the information database 42 returns the information corresponding to the word or phrase issued by the customer, the automatic voice response server 12
If the information is voice data, it is transmitted to the customer as it is, and if it is text, the voice synthesizer 22 performs voice synthesis and then transmits it to the customer.

The customer's voice input and the response thereto are generally repeated or hierarchically performed. For example, if a customer inputs "fishing information", "Fishing information. The customer responds with "Please tell me where you want to go fishing," and when the customer inputs "Izu", "Izu. The customer responded by saying, "Please tell me the fish you want to fish." If the customer inputs "Kurodai", "I have a lot of fish at the XX fishing port. I received a response such as "Recommended Funakaya ...", and finally the information was provided. What kind of information is provided by what kind of interaction is written in the attribute database 41, and as a result, when the customer next visits, "How was your fishing in Izu?" It is possible to send to customers.

It is possible to add the word dictionary 32 in the voice recognition server 13 so that it is possible to compile what kind of information the customer has inquired about when the customer requests information not registered in the information database 42. It is preferable to register as much dictionary as possible. With this, for example, when a "whale" is uttered regarding fishing information, instead of responding "I can not recognize", "Whale can be seen at the aquarium", the response from the customer response system Can be closer to a more natural conversation.

Further, in this customer response system, when it is confirmed that the customer who receives the information has hung up the telephone,
Alternatively, when a mail transmission request is made, a confirmation mail in which the retrieved information is described for the customer's input phrase is immediately transmitted to the customer. It is preferable that the confirmation mail includes the message of the attentive function and / or the message of the sales promotion function selected previously. In this case, the automatic voice response server 12 sends a mail sending instruction and a mail text template to the mail server 15, and the database server 14 sends the retrieved information. If you want to include attentive and promotional messages in your email, make sure the template includes the content of those messages. The mail server 15 embeds the retrieved information in a template to create a mail, and sends the mail to the customer via the Internet or the like. The destination of the email is usually the email address registered in advance by the customer. When a plurality of addresses are specified, it is advisable to send them to those addresses. It is preferable that the email conveys more detailed content and information related to the information than the content transmitted to the customer by voice regarding the information requested by the customer. In the case of the above-mentioned "fishing information", it is preferable to put the recommended boathouse map and transportation access method in the mail. It is also possible to attach a discount certificate or an electronic coupon when purchasing a product or service related to the information to an email. Furthermore, the email may include the contact information of the information provider corresponding to the information and, if the information provider has a home page on the Internet, include the URL (uniform resource locator) of the home page. preferable.

In the customer response system described above, the attentive message and the sales promotion information message are added to the information requested by the customer. These added attention and sales promotion information messages are required to have an appropriate length and appropriate content from the viewpoint of CRM. From the viewpoint of an appropriate length, it is desirable that each of the attentive message and the sales promotion information message is about one line. From the viewpoint of appropriate content, it is desirable that the attention message be followed by the sales promotion information message, and it is preferable to convey these messages at a stage when the customer can be identified.

The basic structure of the customer response system has been described above. However, the customer response system of the present invention can be combined with other systems, and the customer also uses various media. It is possible to access the customer response system. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing that a customer can thus access a customer response system using multiple platforms.

As shown in this figure, the customer response system can be connected to the web server 17, and the customer can also access the customer response system via the web server 17. When passing through the web server 17, the input word from the customer is given as text data, so that it is possible to search each database server without performing voice recognition, and the information desired by the customer and the attentive function are provided. And promotional message, text, formatted text, hypertext,
It will be returned to the customer via the web server 17 in the form of image data or the like. In that case, the automatic voice response server 12 executes the operation of the customer response system shown in FIG. 1 except voice recognition and voice synthesis.

The customer is an analog telephone network, ISDN,
Communication network 10 which is a public telephone line network such as a mobile phone communication network
The customer response system can be accessed via a landline telephone (a telephone wire-connected to the network) 71 or a mobile telephone 72 via. In addition, the customer is a PC 7
3. PDA (personal digital assistant)
nts) and other types of wireless communication devices 74, kiosk terminals 75, and POS (point-of-sale management;
s) Access the customer response system via the Internet 70 (or other network) and the web server 17 using a terminal, a web-accessible mobile phone 76, a television or video game console 77, a cable box, a web television, etc. It is possible to

Further, in this structure, a home page for each customer is provided on the web page so that the customer can refer to his home page based on his dynamic data in the attribute database 41. It is also possible.

The operation of the customer response system of the present invention will be described in more detail below by showing an example of the response between the user (customer) and the system. The customer shall access this customer response system via the telephone network as shown in FIG.

Here, it is assumed that the customer inquires the telephone company A about the contents of the invoice from the non-registered telephone. Here, a non-registered phone is a phone that has not been registered in advance for inquiries, and typically,
It is a telephone other than the telephone of the telephone number related to the billing contents of the bill.

The customer shall call a specific inquiry number such as a toll-free service in order to access this customer response system. Then, the following response is made between the system side and the customer side.

System: "Thank you for always using our service, please tell us your desired service content. "Customer:" This month's usage fee "System:" Inquiries about the usage fee for September, I'm sorry for the invoice number or phone number, but can you enter it? "The customer invoice number Enter 2568931 System: "Kaneko **-sama, congratulations on your birthday. In our company, Kaneko-sama lives in Wako City, Saitama Prefecture, for 8 Mb at 1,980 yen per month.
We have started to provide ADSL of ps, please press 1 if you want more detailed information.・ ・ ・ The September usage fee for inquiries is 14,560 yen,
If you have any other desired services, please tell us. "Customer:" Address Change "System:" Please wait for a while as we will be in charge of the person in charge. "

As in the case of the conventional IVR system, by displaying the response history in the IVR on the display screen of the terminal used by the person in charge, the person in charge takes charge of the inquiry to the customer. You do not have to check from the beginning.

In the example shown here, is assumed to be an inquiry from an unregistered telephone number. If you have a registered fixed-line or mobile phone, you can identify the customer who is inquiring based on the caller number, so "Kaneko **-sama, thank you for always using, Please tell me the service. ] Allows the system to respond. of course,
For services that require identity verification, it is necessary to perform identity authentication according to the service content. Since existing methods can be appropriately used for the personal authentication, their contents will not be described here in detail. In any case, the automatic voice response server 12
Uses the customer management table in the attribute database 41 to identify from which customer the access is made, assembles a response message according to the identified result, and responds to the customer. Here, "Mr. ****, thank you for always using it, please tell us your desired service. The portions other than "***" in "" are fixed phrases, so the automatic voice response server 12
In, the human voice is recorded in advance in the fixed sentence storage unit 23 and saved as a voice file. Regarding "***", the text data is converted into voice by the voice synthesizer 22. Alternatively, if the customer has previously selected one from a plurality of characters (the main character of an anime program, an actor, a singer, etc.), the part stored as text information in the standard sentence storage unit 23 In combination with the "***" part, the voice synthesis section 22 performs voice synthesis so that a voice message is generated by the voice of the selected character.

In the part (3), the voice recognition engine 3 of the voice recognition server 13 incorporated in this customer response system.
1 is the key word from the voice of the customer <this month> and <
Usage fee> is recognized, and it is determined that the inquiry is about the usage fee in September. As a result, the automatic voice response server 12
Returns the standard phrase "Inquiries about the usage fee for September, please invoice or phone number, can you enter it?" To the customer. If there is a voice recognition error here or if it is different from the purpose of the inquiry, the customer rephrases it as <No>, <No, invoice content>, etc., and at that time, the process of re-recognizing With the start of, the apology message for the first recognition error is returned to the customer, such as "Excuse me, the contents of the invoice, please tell me the invoice number or phone number." Specifically, it is determined that the first recognition is incorrect by recognizing a keyword word such as <different>, <no>, <invoice content>, and the first recognition is performed. An apology message for the error is sent. There are several types of apology message that can be prepared, and if the customer's voice input is, for example, only <No>, "Sorry, can you please tell us your desired service again?" ”Is output, and if the desired service is included like <No. Invoice content>,“ I'm sorry, invoice content, invoice number or phone number, but sorry. Would you like to enter? "As a standard message. If the recognition error is repeated a predetermined number of times, for example, the recognition error is also the second time, for example, "Sorry,
Didn't hear well, would you like to connect to the operator? You can select your desired service from the service menu below. It sends out a fixed text message that conveys a service menu such as.

As described above, since this customer response system is intended to substitute a machine for a standard inquiry or order that can be handled by a machine without lowering the service level, it is constructed so that the customer does not feel stress. There is. In addition, since the introduction of voice recognition is only to improve the convenience of the customer, in the case of the above example, in the case where the push button such as the input of the invoice number can be entered more quickly, it is not the voice recognition but the telephone recognition. 0-9,
By using push buttons such as # and *, the most stress-free means for the customer is used, and the system as a whole has the least stress for the customer.

As is clear from the above description, the flow or scenario of the automatic voice response should be specifically determined for each industry and company to which this customer response system is applied, and the example shown here. Is not a limitation of the present invention.

Congratulations on "Kaneko **-sama, it's your birthday," in the above example. Part uses the customer attribute data stored in the attribute database 41. Therefore, messages such as "It's about to be a birthday" are of course targeted at customers who have already registered as members. And if you compare the customer's birthday in the database with today's date, and your birthday arrives within two weeks, for example, "Kaneko **-sama, congratulations on your birthday. ”, Etc., is sent to the customer. Again, "Congratulations, it's your birthday, congratulations. "of"****"
Since the other parts are fixed phrases, the automatic voice response server 12 pre-records a human voice in the fixed phrase storage unit 23 and saves it as a voice file. "**
For “**”, the text data is converted to voice by the voice synthesizer 22. Alternatively, if the customer has previously selected one from a plurality of characters (the main character of an anime program, an actor, a singer, etc.), the part stored as text information in the standard sentence storage unit 23 In combination with the "***" part, the voice synthesis section 22 performs voice synthesis so that a voice message is generated by the voice of the selected character.

Congratulations on your birthday, ****. The sending of the voice message corresponds to a part of the attentive function in this customer response system.

By the way, after the message celebrating the birthday in the above, "In our company, Kaneko-sama started offering ADSL of 8 Mbps at a monthly fee of 1,980 yen to Wako-shi, Saitama prefecture. Would you like to press 1 if you wish? Message continues. The addition of this message corresponds to the sales promotion function of this customer response system. Here, the attribute database 41
To determine whether or not this customer has set a refusal of receipt of the sales promotion message. If the refusal of receipt has not been set, the information database 42 is searched to expand the company-wide campaign. I am trying to add such a message about the service. In addition, AD
SL (asymmetric digital subscriber line)
The communication service by the ubscriber line) is a service in which the service providing area is limited. Therefore, when adding a sales promotion message regarding ADSL, the attribute database 41 is searched and the residence of the customer is the area providing the service. Check if there is, and if it is outside the service area, add another promotional message.

In the above example, the voice recognition engine 31
Recognizes the keyword <address change> from the voice of the customer and connects to the operator according to the pre-definition as IVR.

As described above, the customer response system of this embodiment does not define the reply flow in IVR in a unified manner. Rather, the combination of an automatic voice response system, voice recognition / speech synthesis, push buttons, phone number notification, etc. is used by the company's C
The purpose is to improve service levels and provide the following products and services as part of RM. Therefore, this customer response system should be added or changed according to the type of industry or the contents of products or services that the company intends to provide.

In the example shown below, it is recorded in the attribute database 41 that the customer who has registered the attribute purchased the CD (compact disc) of the artist B, while the video of the artist B is recorded next month. It is assumed that the product will be released, and it is assumed that the sales promotion of the video of artist B is already associated with this customer on the information database 42 and the attribute database 41. Is shown. The customer can
Call the reference number for toll-free services.

System: "Thank you for using, Kaneko **, right? Thank you for purchasing B's CD last week, how was it? Our company will release B video on the 10th of next month. If you would like more information, please press 1. ... Please tell us your desired service today. "Customer:" Event information "System:" This month's event information, "Customer:" Yes "System:" C Land will carry out a special Christmas illusion from the 15th of this month, as a special discount price per person Tickets can be arranged for 4000 yen, but how about you? "Customer:" Three people please "System:" Three adults, we will make a reservation for 4000 yen per person. Are you sure? "Customer:" Yes "System:" Are you sure? We will send it to you by email. "

After the above-mentioned exchanges, the confirmation mail is delivered to the mobile phone and / or the personal computer of the customer after the call is hung up or when the mail transmission is requested. In the confirmation email, not only the reservation content but also sales promotion information,
It also includes information about the upcoming video of Artist B.

In this example, since the customer who made the call is identified by the notification of the caller number of the call, "Thank you for using, ***
* Isn't it? First, the fixed form message is returned. Next, "Thank you for purchasing B's CD last week. How was it? ] Corresponds to the attentive function of this customer response system. here,"***
Thank you for purchasing ****, how was it? Is a fixed phrase, and "Last week, B's CD" is the information obtained as a result of searching the attribute database 41 for the customer. For this part, the text is voice-synthesized into a voice message. . In the next part, "We decided to release B video on the 10th of next month. If you would like more information, please press 1." ] Is a message added by the sales promotion function of this customer response system. Assuming that the artist B is obtained from the customer's past purchase history by searching the attribute database 41 according to the accessing customer, then the artist B is used as a keyword, and the information data holding the information about the products and services. -Searching for Base 42, pulling out information that Artist B's video will be released next month. In the information database 41, the part of "Our company will release B video on the 10th of next month," is stored in the form of voice data (waveform data) or text data. "If you would like more information, please press 1." ] Is a standard sentence and is common to all sales promotion messages, so the human voice is recorded and stored as a voice file in the standard sentence storage unit 23.

Next, in, the voice recognition engine 3
It is determined that 1 is an inquiry about the event information of this month by using "event" as a keyword. Then, the information database 42 provides the information required by the customer (here, the event information of this month). So I'm making reservations. Furthermore, the inquiry and order details are sent as confirmation emails to the registered email addresses.

FIG. 3 shows the process when the customer response system determines the IVR prompt of the attentive message and the promotional message in the above example.

In step 101, it is assumed that the customer calls a predetermined number (for example, 0120-***-***). The call from the customer arrives at the automatic voice response server 12, and the automatic voice response server 12 which confirms the call recognizes the telephone number of the caller's telephone by notifying the caller number. Then, in step 102, the customer management table of the attribute database 41 is searched to confirm whether there is a matching telephone number. If there is a matching telephone number, the process proceeds to step 103, and if it does not exist, step 1
Go to 08.

If there is a matching telephone number in step 102, based on the matching telephone number,
Since this is the case where the customer who made the call can be specified, the attribute database 41 is searched using the specified customer (for example, Kaneko **) as a keyword. Specifically, as dynamic data, the contact record table with the contact center, the purchase record table of products, and the customer table as static data are searched, and data for determining the message by the attentive function and the message by the sales promotion function is searched. collect. The collected data is temporarily stored in the determination table in the determination unit 25 for determining which is adopted as the message.

After that, in step 104, the determination unit 25 searches the determination table according to the priority order, and determines the message by the attentive function and the message by the sales promotion function. Hereinafter, an example of a procedure for determining these messages will be described.

When confirming a message by the attentive function, it is first judged whether or not there is a usage record of the customer within 10 minutes from the present time in the communication record table, and if such a usage record exists, it is given top priority (first Priority is given, and "Thank you for using the service, did you forget something?" Is selected as a message by the attention function from the voice prompt collection of the fixed phrase storage unit 23.
If the message is not selected in the first priority, the determination in the second priority is made. The second priority is whether the customer's birthday is today. If your birthday is today, the message is "Congratulations, today is your birthday. Congratulations. I'm looking forward to the birthday party. ”Is selected. If no message is selected by the second priority, then the determination by the third priority is performed. The third priority is that the customer's birthday is 10 from today.
Whether or not it arrives within a day. If the birthday arrives within 10 days from today, then search the communication record table to see if "Happy Birthday" has been transmitted for the past 10 days with today as the reference date, and if not,
Select "Happy birthday, congratulations" as the message. If no message has been selected up to the third priority, it is determined whether the product has been purchased in the last three months as the fourth priority. If you have purchased the product in the past 3 months, "Thank you for purchasing *** the other day, how was it? ”Is selected as the message.

Next, also when the message is decided by the sales promotion function, the message is selected by the determination with the priority order, as in the case of the attentive function. For example, as the first priority, information (message) of a new product or related event related to a specific field registered by the customer is selected. The second priority is when a customer's purchase history or contact history has accessed a product in a specific field for at least once a month for the past 6 months in succession, a new product or related event related to the specific field. Information is selected. As for the third priority, of the information on new products and related events that are being company-wide campaigned,
Information is selected that is not in the domain that the customer is rejecting. As the fourth priority, information on related products of products purchased within the past week is selected. It should be noted that if there is no message to be selected in any of these priorities, the option of not sending a sales promotion prompt is considered necessary. This is because, if the customer's usage of the company is low and the reliability is low, the idea that the attentive function is steadily used for reliability rather than unreasonable sales promotion is established.

Next, at step 105, it is judged whether or not the message of the attentive function and the message of the sales promotion function have been decided by the above processing, and if not decided, the routine proceeds to step 108. On the other hand, if you have decided,
In step 106, a corresponding IVR voice message is generated based on the determined message and sent to the customer, and the process proceeds to step 107. Step 1
In 07, the template is determined so that the member (customer) requesting the confirmation email regarding the sales promotion information includes the contents of the above-mentioned attentive function message and sales promotion message in the reply mail. After that, as with a normal IVR, a response may be given in response to an input from the customer.

If there is no matching telephone number in the above-mentioned step 102 (access from a consumer who has not registered as a member, or access from a telephone which is a member but not registered), it is selected in step 105. If it is determined that there is no message, then in step 108 a typical canonical IVR prompt (eg,
"Thank you for always using it") is selected and sent out, and thereafter, similar to the normal IVR, processing such as responding to the input from the customer is performed.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a table used for determining the message of the attentive function and the message of the sales promotion function. Here, a customer management table that stores basic information about each member (customer ID, registered telephone number, name, address, mail address, etc.), a contact record table showing access history to the contact center, A purchase history table indicating when a product (or service) is purchased, etc., and a CRM history table recording what kind of sales promotion is performed as CRM to each customer are shown. The CRM history table also records, for each customer, fields in which the customer refuses to receive sales promotion information. These tables are provided in the history database 41, of which the customer management table stores static data, and the remaining tables manage dynamic data.

As described above, when the messages of the attentive function and the sales promotion function are determined by using these tables, the static data and the dynamic data are weighted, and the receipt rejection is set in the CRM history table. After inquiring about the fields in which they are present, the message of the attentive function and the message of the sales promotion function to the customer are decided.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of the attentive function table that stores each message of the attentive function in the fixed text storage unit 23. Here, the actual voice data (waveform data) is prepared separately, and a code for such voice data is stored as a prompt code. However, the voice data itself or the text of the message is assumed to be synthesized. Data may be stored.

FIG. 6 shows the structure of a sales promotion function table provided in the information database 42 for storing each message of the sales promotion function. Again, the actual voice data (waveform data) is prepared separately, and the code for such voice data is stored as a prompt code. However, the voice data itself or the text of the message on the premise that voice synthesis is performed. Data may be stored.

Although the customer response system of the present invention has been described above, the customer response system of the present invention only assists the CRM of the company and does not replace the CRM of the company. The customer response system of the present invention makes effective use of the accumulated data when a company provides appealing products (or services) and after-care services for them and actively constructs a database regarding customers. It contributes to the utilization.

The above description is intended to show a concrete example of the customer response system according to the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

[0084]

As described above, according to the present invention, the IVR is linked and integrated with the attribute database of the customer, and the message returned from the IVR to the customer is actively activated according to the data such as the customer's attribute and past history. The change has the effect of making it possible to improve the service level and provide the next products and services as part of the CRM of the company. In addition, since the response to the fixed form inquiry can be replaced by the machine at a service level equivalent to human response, it can be useful for cost reduction and service improvement at midnight holidays and the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a customer response system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing that a customer can access a customer response system using multiple platforms.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of determining each message (IVR prompt) by an attentive function and a sales promotion function.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a table used for determining a message of an attentive function and a message of a sales promotion function.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration of an attention function table.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a structure of a sales promotion information table.

[Explanation of symbols] 10 communication network 11 telephones 12 Automatic voice response (IVR) server 13 Speech recognition server 14 Database server 15 mail server 16 console 17 Web server 21 Interface part 22 Speech synthesizer 23 Fixed phrase storage 24 Search Department 25 Judgment section 26 Control unit 31 Speech recognition engine 32 word dictionary 41 Attribute database 42 Information database 70 Internet 101-108 steps

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Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A customer response system that provides information to a customer in response to a request from the customer, an information database that stores information to be provided, and static and dynamic attributes for each registered customer. An attribute database that stores data, a voice recognition server that recognizes the voice uttered by the customer, and a voice synthesizing unit that is connected to a communication network that can transmit voice, and that includes a voice synthesizing unit according to a voice input from the customer. While searching the information database and transmitting the corresponding information as voice to the customer via the communication network, when the customer who has accessed is specified, the attribute database is searched using the specified customer as a key, and the customer An automatic voice response server that selects a message that conforms to and sends it to the customer as an automatic voice response prompt. Beam. 2. The message is a first message indicating attentiveness to the customer according to the attribute of the customer, and a second message for promoting a product and / or service according to the attribute of the customer. The customer response system of claim 1, comprising at least one of a message. 3. The customer response system according to claim 1, further comprising a mail server that sends the corresponding information and / or information related to the corresponding information as an email to the customer. 4. The customer response system according to claim 3, wherein the content of the message is included in the mail. 5. The contact information of the information provider or information linking to the information provider is included in the email.
Or the customer response system described in 4. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication network is a telephone network, and voice is input through a fixed telephone and / or a mobile telephone to output the corresponding information and the message. Customer response system as described. 7. The customer response system according to claim 1, wherein the customer performs voice synthesis using a voice of a character preset by the customer. 8. A message corresponding to each search condition is preset when searching the attribute database,
The customer response system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the message is selected based on the priority set in each search condition. 9. A web server is further provided, which accepts an input from the customer also via the web server, and presents the corresponding information and the message to the customer.
The customer response system according to any one of claims 1 to 8. 10. The customer response system according to claim 9, wherein the customer can refer to his / her own home page in the web server based on the dynamic data stored in the attribute database. 11. The customer response system according to claim 6, wherein the customer is identified by using a caller number notification function of the telephone network. 12. A customer response method for searching an information database in response to a request from a customer and providing information to the customer, wherein static and dynamic attribute data for each registered customer is stored in the attribute database. And a step of specifying the customer who has accessed through the telephone network, a step of searching the attribute database with the specified customer as a key, and selecting a message suitable for the customer, Sending the message as an automatic voice response prompt to the customer, recognizing the voice uttered by the customer, and searching the information database according to the recognition result and outputting the corresponding information as voice through the telephone network. And sending to the customer. 13. The message comprises a first message indicating attentiveness to the customer according to the attribute of the customer, and a second message for promoting a product and / or service according to the attribute of the customer. 13. The customer response method according to claim 12, comprising at least one of a message. 14. The customer response method according to claim 12, further comprising a step of transmitting the corresponding information and / or information related to the corresponding information to the customer as an email.