Shopping and financial transactions are increasingly moving away from face to face interactions, and both online payment gateways and interactive voice response (IVR) systems are now the way that most people exchange money.

Yet, despite the prevalence of phone payment systems, many companies still get their payment IVR systems wrong.

When designing an effective IVR system for accepting payments, many companies go wrong when it comes to gathering basic card information, determining geography, giving number entry instructions, making the payment instructions smart enough, transferring calls, and using antiquated IVR systems.

It may sound silly, but most companies fail to explain the pound sign and that can make a huge difference in terms of completed IVR payments. It also is good practice to start with the amount of the payment, then go to credit card type and number.

A second mistake that often is made is asking customers to enter their address number before the street; firms such as e-complish have found that even though addresses start with street numbers, there is a higher rate of completion if the street name is asked first.

A third mistake that companies make is that they simply ask for a credit card’s expiration date. Better to specify the format of the expiration date, asking callers to enter the four digits on the card. Being vague about how the IVR system needs the expiration date can cause problems.

Being concise and efficient also is crucial. Companies need to cut to the chase when creating payment completion messages, as a long message can turn off callers and make IVR payments feel onerous.

When there is a problem with a payment, it also is advisable to alert the caller that a customer service rep is coming on the call to help process the payment efficiently. Many firms jump right to handing off the customer to an agent without adequately explaining why. Give the process a positive spin by emphasizing that an agent coming on the line will improve the payment processing.