“Landmarking” is a specific type of implicit confirmation typically used when navigating a deep menu structure. The purpose of the landmark is to help callers understand where they are in the menu structure and to provide confirmation of the most recent choice before playing the next set of options. For example,

• System: Main menu. Please select Billing, Troubleshooting, or Find a Store.

• Caller: Billing.

• System: OK, billing. Which do you need? Current Balance, Most Recent Payment, or Billing Question?

In the example above, the first menu is landmarked with “Main Menu” and the second with “OK, billing”.

As mentioned previously (see When to confirm - Basic confirmation strategies), the first rule of confirmation is to avoid confirmation when possible to keep the prompting as concise and the flow as smooth as possible. In the example above, do callers really need the landmarks? For that example, they probably don't. Callers have used IVRs for decades now, and pretty much know that the first menu is the main menu. All the caller needs to hear to know he or she has reached the billing menu is to hear the content of the options.

The bottom line is that designers should know about the technique of landmarking, but should use landmarks only when they will actually benefit callers enough to compensate for the time it takes to play them.

For an example of landmarking that benefits the caller, see Implicit vs. explicit confirmation.