Automated response system tuning

A system comprising:

• a response server in communication with a data network and configured to access an automated response heuristic for a vendor, said data network including a data line for said vendor configured to transmit initiated communications to said vendor;
• and
• a database in communication with said response server;
• wherein said response server is configured to:
• provide, without the assistance of live support personnel, to users who initiate communications with the vendor, a series of menus according to the automated response heuristic during a plurality of initiated communications to the vendor, each of said menus including a group of selections,
• receive an input from one of the users in response to at least one of said menus for each initiated communication,
• automatically create, without the assistance of live support personnel, a record for each of the plurality of initiated communications, each said record including:
• a plurality of fields, each of said plurality of fields associated with one of said menus;
• and
• data in at least one of said plurality of fields, said data describing at least one characteristic of the input received in response to the menu with which said at least one of said plurality of fields is associated, said at least one characteristic of the input including at least one of:
• whether a user requested assistance, whether the user made a selection, whether the user selection matched the selections of a respective menu, and a duration of a time lapse before the user made a selection;
• and
• create a report about the automated response heuristic including diagnostic information about a given type of input received from the users in response to at least one of the menus, a characteristic of the given type of input including:
• a request for assistance was received in response to the respective menu, no selection was received in response to the respective menu, there was no match for a selection received in response to the respective menu, and a duration of a time lapse before a selection was received in response to the respective menu exceeded an allotted period of time.

A response server that receives user-initiated communications and applies an automated response heuristic thereto, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory having program code stored thereon that, when executed by the processor, causes the response server to:
• during the user-initiated communications, apply the automated response heuristic including automatically providing to the users a series of menus each including a group of available selections and receiving inputs from the users in response to the menus,
• for each of the user-initiated communications, automatically create, without the assistance of live support personnel, a record that includes at least one entry associated with each of the menus that was provided to the user during a respective communication, the at least one entry indicating at least one of:
• whether the user requested assistance in response to a respective menu, whether the user made a selection in response to the respective menu, whether a selection of the user in response to the respective menu matched the group of available selections of the respective menu, and a duration of a time lapse before the user made a selection in response to the respective menu;
• and
• create a report about the automated response heuristic including diagnostic information about at least a given one of the menus, the diagnostic information being based on an aggregation of entries associated with the given menu in a plurality of the records and quantifying a given type of entry that indicates at least one of:
• a request for assistance was received in response to the given menu, no selection was received in response to the given menu, there was no match for a selection received in response to the given menu, and a duration of a time lapse before a selection was received in response to the given menu exceeded an allotted period of time.