Call flows and phone menus

A voice line's Call flow tab draws the flow as a tree. The call starts at the top and runs down one step at a time. Some steps split the call into branches, such as within and outside business hours, and each branch has its own steps below its label. A call ends when it reaches the bottom of its branch.

Edit the flow#

• Click a step to open it in the panel on the right and change it.

• Click + between two steps to add one there. The panel lists every kind of step with a line on what it does.

• Move up, Move down and Move to in the panel move a step, with all its branches, within its branch or to another one.

• Remove step deletes it. A step with branches asks first, because its branches go too.

There is no + after a step that ends the call or splits it, because nothing after it would run.

Click Save changes when you are done. Discard puts the flow back to its last saved state.

Errors and warnings#

The editor checks the flow as you go, and the server checks it again on save.

• Errors are in red: a message with no text, a queue or line that no longer exists, a forward number that is not complete. The flow cannot be saved until they are fixed.

• Warnings are in orange: a branch with no steps, a step no caller can reach, a queue with nothing after it. The flow saves, but callers may be hung up where you did not mean them to be.

Each problem is listed above the tree; click one to open its step. The step's card shows a red or orange dot too.

The steps#

What callers hear#

Every message, menu and greeting is either text read aloud, in a female or a male voice, or a recording you upload as an MP3 or WAV file. Text is read in US English. Pick Read text aloud or Recording at the top of the message.

Examples#

Small team, one queue. Time rule on business hours. Within hours: a greeting, your queue, then voicemail. Outside hours: voicemail with your opening times in the greeting. This is the flow a new line starts with.

Orders and returns. After the greeting, a menu: 1 for orders, 2 for returns. Each option routes to its own queue, with voicemail after each. In No choice, route to your general queue.

VIP customers first. Customer lookup on a Tier field. The VIP branch routes to a priority queue (see Call queues); Other goes to the usual queue.

Busy days. On your queue, limit how many callers wait and turn on Skip the queue when it is full. In the Queue full branch, offer a text instead with Send to SMS, so the customer is not left on hold.

After hours to a manager. Outside business hours, Forward to a number rings an on-call phone, with voicemail after it in case nobody picks up.

Not built#

Asking callers whether they want a callback instead of waiting, and forwarding calls to an agent's own mobile, are not available.