A computer-implemented method is described for optimizing prompts for a
speech-enabled application. The speech-enabled application is operable to
receive communications from a number of users and communicate one or more
prompts to each user to illicit a response from the user that indicates
the purpose of the user's communication. The method includes determining
a number of prompt alternatives (each including one or more prompts) to
evaluate and determining an evaluation period for each prompt
alternative. The method also includes automatically presenting each
prompt alternative to users during the associated evaluation period and
automatically recording the results of user responses to each prompt
alternative. Furthermore, the method includes automatically analyzing the
recorded results for each prompt alternative based on one or more
performance criteria and automatically implementing one of the prompt
alternatives based on the analysis of the recorded results.