What is a Menu?

A menu is a feature of contact center software applications and interactive voice response (IVR) systems that allow users to navigate and select from a range of options in a user-friendly way.

Menus can be found in virtually all Windows and Apple OS applications. Without them, the software would be unusable to the average user. Menus enable users to command the application to perform a variety of functions. For example, menus in Microsoft Word are used for changing fonts, copying and pasting, and adding tables, among many other options. Menus can affect the usability of software applications and, because of this, they need to be well-designed and use established conventions when possible (for example, putting the "Save" command within the "File" options).

IVR systems are another area where menu design is critical. A guaranteed way to frustrate a caller is to lead them into a wilderness of confusing menu options with no apparent way out. Part of the design process should therefore include an analysis of the best way for customers to interact with the IVR menu. The traditional method – using dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) – is to have callers select menu options by pressing numbers on their phone keypad. A newer method uses automatic speech recognition (ASR), which enables callers to speak their menu choices.