Answer and make calls

Calls ring in the helpdesk tab of your browser. There is nothing to install, but the browser needs your permission to use the microphone.

Get ready to take calls#

1. Open the helpdesk in an up-to-date desktop browser, on a computer with a microphone and speakers or a headset.

2. Turn on the phone in the helpdesk and allow the microphone when the browser asks. If you blocked it before, allow it again from the padlock or site settings beside the address bar, then reload.

3. Keep the helpdesk tab open. Calls ring in that tab only, and you stop being rung within a minute of closing it.

You are rung when your phone is ready, you are not on another call and your wrap-up time has passed. Who is rung, and in what order, is set on the call queue; see Call queues.

Answer a call#

An incoming call shows a banner with the caller's name, or their number when no customer has it yet, and the line they called. Answer it or decline it. A declined call goes on to the next available agent while the caller waits.

Once you answer, the call's ticket opens. When the caller has an open call ticket on the same line, or one with activity in the last three days, the call joins it; otherwise a new ticket starts. The caller is matched to a customer by phone number, and a new customer is created, named by the number, when nobody has it.

The call bar#

While you are on a call, the call bar stays on screen as you move around the helpdesk:

After a call, the ticket shows the call with its outcome, who answered, how long it took, and its recording and transcript when there are any.

Call a customer#

Open the customer's ticket and use the call button to call the number on their profile, or a number you type. Your browser phone rings first and picks up on its own, then the customer's phone rings. The call goes out from the line you pick, so the customer sees that line's number.

A call to a customer without a ticket starts one.

Calls into and out of the helpdesk#

• Into the helpdesk. To keep a number you already publish, ask your current phone provider to forward its calls to your helpdesk number. Moving the number itself to the helpdesk is not available.

• Out of the helpdesk. A Forward to a number step in the call flow rings an outside phone, such as an after-hours mobile. During a call, Transfer can send the caller to an outside number too. See Call flows and phone menus.

When calls do not ring#

• Is voice on for the helpdesk? Settings > Channels > Voice says so when Growth Dept has not switched it on.

• Is your phone ready, and the tab open? The live calls page lists each agent as ready, on a call, in wrap-up or not ready.

• Is the microphone allowed? Check the browser's site settings, and that the right headset is chosen in your computer's sound settings.

• Does the queue ring you? A queue can ring one team only; check Who rings on the queue.

• Is the queue on, and does the flow reach it? Outside business hours the default flow goes straight to voicemail. Open the line's Call flow tab and follow the branch the caller takes.

• No sound, or the caller cannot hear you? Try a wired headset, close other apps that use the microphone, and reload the tab.

Not built#

Ringing an agent's own mobile when they are away from the helpdesk, listening in on a teammate's call, callback requests and spam call detection are not available.