Call Queues

Queues are used to route callers to a group of agents.  Callers who are routed to a queue will wait on hold for an agent to answer based on a series of rules you define in the queue settings. Queues are available in the following plans: Sales Engage, Enterprise, Growth, and Connect. 

Click here to watch the Queues video walkthrough. 

Queues are very flexible, highly customizable routing tools.  At a minimum, a queue must have at least one agent assigned and must be connected to any feature that can route calls to a queue. Callers can be routed to a queue from a tracking number, bother queues, voice menu options, smart routers, FormReactor submissions, smart dialers, or no-answer routing rules on a receiving number.

Call queues offer routing options such as:

• Simultaneous routing dials each agent in the queue at the same time or in groups based on the weighting provided. The first agent to answer gets the call.
• Round robin rotates between each agent evenly so they all get the same number of calls.
• Sticky routing tries to route the caller back to the same agent who was first connected to the caller. This option can lead to excellent customer service and establish great customer relationships.
• Weighted routing lets you set a weight for each agent to adjust for different skill sets and capacities for each agent.
• Smart Routing can distribute calls based on attributes of your callers such as their location, history, demographics, or other custom fields, such as account ID, that you create in the software.

Once your queue has been created, it can be configured with the following advanced options:

• Hold music (to replace the default ringing tone)
• Custom waiting messages
• Tags that are applied when a caller is routed to the queue
• Scheduled routing
• Prompts for the agents answering calls
• No answer routing
• Post-call options (including post-call surveys)
• Advanced agent rules (limits on calls agents can take, devices that can be used to answer, billing individual users for queue calls, and allowing agents to toggle availability in a queue)

Agents

To create and use call queues, an agent is a user in your CallTrackingMetrics account.  Agents can be assigned to multiple queues in your account, and their availability can be determined by schedules assigned to their profiles.

You can configure many options in a call queue without assigning agents, but the queue will not work unless there is at least one agent assigned to the queue.  To add an agent to your account, follow these instructions for adding a user to CTM.  Although there is a user role named "agent," any user can be used as an agent in a call queue.

Each agent can choose how they prefer to answer the phone (by using the CTM softphone or by using their own receiving number).  To allow an agent to receive calls without using the CTM softphone, you will need to add a receiving number to their profile (when creating or editing a user, enter this number in the Receiving number field in the Agent Contact section of the page).

Creating a Basic Queue

This section will walk you through the setup required to have a working queue. Once your initial queue is saved, refer to the additional information after this section if you wish to configure other options for your queue.

Following the queue set-up wizard, you will end up with a queue that:

• Is reached directly from one or more tracking numbers (the caller dials a tracking number, and then the queue immediately begins to dial agents)
• Plays the default US ringback tone for the caller while they wait for an agent to answer
• Routes to one or more agents
• Allows 18 seconds for each agent to answer(this needs to be lower than Seconds to Answer in No Answer Routing), but will keep ringing each agent until the call is answered or until no answer routing occurs
• Automatically hangs up if the call is not answered within 30 seconds

These options can be changed or customized as needed after the basic setup is completed. Navigate to Flows → Queues.  You will be directed to a new queue settings page if you do not already have a queue in your account.  Otherwise, click New Queue in the upper right corner.

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The instructions below will now appear in a step-by-step guide (wizard). Within the wizard you can freeze/unfreeze the top portion that contains explanations of the current step below by clicking the freeze panel icon in the upper right corner. 

For our more experienced customers we have added an Exit Wizard button that when clicked will end the wizard session and resume set up in the long form setup. 

If you wish to never use the wizards we have also added an option to turn them off within the Account Settings page under Behaviors. 

1. Enter a name and description for the queue.  If you plan to use multiple queues, a good description is a helpful way to remind yourself what each queue does. Click Save & Continue.
2. Configure your Waiting Message. If you do not want to configure a Waiting Message at this time, click the Skip button. Otherwise, click Save & Continue.
   
3. Configure your queue Routing. Click Save & Continue.
4. Configure the Connecting section. This is where you will choose the Caller ID shown to agents and enable prompt agent to accept call, which is helpful when an agent is answering via Receiving Number. Click Save & Continue.
5. Configure the Connected section. Click Save & Continue.
6. Configure the No Answer routing. Here, you will set up how your calls route if no agents in the queue can answer. The Seconds to Answer for No Answer routing should be higher than the Seconds to Answer per agent. Click Save & Continue.
7.  Configure the Post Call section. Click Save & Continue.
8. Assign Numbers. This is where you will assign the Tracking Numbers you want to route to the queue. Click on Edit Assigned Tracking Numbers, then click on the numbers in the Available Tracking Number column to move them to the Assigned Tracking Number column. Click Save Changes, then click Save & Continue.
9. Assign Agents. Click on Edit Assigned Agents, then click on agent names in the Available Agents column to move them to the Assigned Agents column. Click Save Changes, then Save & Continue. 

• • • • Note: You can stop here if you want to route to this queue by another method (other than a tracking number).  Once the queue has been configured and saved, you can select it as a routing option from any other routing feature (other queues, voice menu options, smart routers, FormReactor submissions, smart dialers, or no-answer routing rules on a receiving number).

Adding an Agent to Multiple Queues

1. Navigate to Settings > Manage Users.
2. Click on Edit next to the user you want to add to a queue.
3. Scroll to the Queues section in their User Profile and click on Edit Assigned Queues.
4. Select each queue you wish to add them to by clicking on them in the Available Queues column.
5. Once they have been added to the queues, those queues will be in the Assigned Queues column. Click Save Changes.

Queue Routing Options

The Routing section offers several settings you can use to determine how calls are distributed to the agents assigned to the queue when the queue is available, and what to do when the queue is not available.

For more details on queue routing, see the full article here.

Queue Connection Options

The Connecting and Connected sections give options for handling how agents are connected to calls for this queue, including agent prompts, connection beeps, and hangup settings.

For more details on queue connection options, see the full article here.

No Answer Routing

The options in the No Answer section of queue settings determine what happens to calls that are not answered by the agents assigned to the queue.

For more details on no-answer routing, see the full article here.

Ringback Options and Waiting Messages

By default, when a caller is routed to a queue, they will hear the standard US ringback tone while waiting for a call to be answered by an agent.  You can customize this experience by selecting a different audio file to play in place of the ringback tone or by adding waiting messages to the queue.

For more details on ringback and waiting messages, see the full article here.

Advanced Agent Rules

Agent routing rules allow you to customize when agents are dialed in a queue.  With these rules, you can:

• Assign queue-specific schedules to an agent
• Assign caller locations (by area code) to be routed to an agent
• Limit an agent’s calls by hour, day, week, or month
• Assign weights to determine the order in which agents are dialed
• Route calls to an agent based on tags
• Customize recording and agent prompt settings

For more information on agent routing rules, see the full article here.

Billing and CPS

For more details on calls per second, see the full article here.