Creating Voice Menus (IVRs)

Voice menus are a routing option allowing you to route callers based on a keypress or speech recognition. Callers can listen to a greeting explaining the menu options and then make a selection. Menu options can be used to route calls using receiving numbers, queues, smart routers, and more, or you can use them to gather information and fire pixels.

Each menu option can be automatically tagged, assigned to a specific agent, or trigger updates to a custom field.

Click here to watch the Voice Menus video tutorial. 

To get started, go to Flows → Voice Menus (IVR). This page will display all the voice menus already set up in your account. Click the New Voice Menu button to create a new voice menu.

The Menu Setup section of this page is where you will configure the voice menu name, description, schedule, after-hours actions, ability to transfer, call tags, and the Message played to the caller.

The instructions below will now appear in a step-by-step guide (wizard). Within the wizard, you can freeze/unfreeze the top portion, which 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. 

Creating Voice Menus

1) Navigate to Flows → Voice Menus (IVR).

2) If you wish to use a pre-made menu, use the Preset drop-down to select a template.  By default, Voicemail is a preset in every account.  You can make further changes once the preset has been applied.

3) Enter a name for the menu.

4) Select a schedule to control when this voice menu is accessible.

• You can leave this as Always On, and the voice menu will always be available.
• You can select one of your created schedules in the drop-down menu, which will open a new field for Default After Hours actions.

5) If you are using the softphone to handle calls and want agents to be able to manually transfer calls to this menu, you can click the toggle to allow agents to transfer calls to this menu.

6) Use the Play Message field to enter the greeting you want your callers to hear by using one of the options below.  Type in the field to use the text-to-speech engine, or you can upload or create your own audio file.

7) If you would like to automatically add a call tag to calls routing to or through this voice menu, enter the tag you want to use in the Tag this call field.

8) If you wish to adjust the input options on your menu, use the settings in the Input Controls section.

• Speech Recognition enables transcriptions, allowing callers to speak to select a menu option rather than making a keypress.
• Stop playing Message on user input allows callers to skip past your recorded Message if they already know the keypress for the option they want.  The Message will stop playing, and the caller will be routed according to the option selected.
• Maximum User Input is where you will define how many digits the caller can input.
  • For example, use a value of 1 here if your menu has options like "press 1 for sales, press 2 for support."
• Define how long the system should wait for the caller to press a number under Seconds to wait for caller input.
• Select How many times we should re-prompt the caller before giving up. We will play the first voice prompt once and then wait for the caller to press a button. If the caller does not press a button before the Seconds to wait for caller input you have defined, we will play the Message again in case they need to hear the choices again.
• Use the drop-down menu to define what action to take When the caller does not make a valid entry, meaning the caller presses a number that's not an option or does nothing.
  • Hang Up will end the call.
  • Route to Menu Item will select one of your keypress options for the caller.
  • Selecting this option will open a new field to define the Route to the menu item matching keypress. After configuring your menu items (below), you will choose one of those options here.
  • Dial Number will send the call to a receiving number.
  • Selecting this option will open a new field to Select a receiving number. Use the drop-down menu to choose which receiving number to which we should route the call.

9) Click + Add Menu Item to open the settings panel for a menu option.

10) By default, the first menu item you create will be keypress 1.  Use the field in the upper left of the menu item settings panel to adjust this as needed.

• If you are using speech recognition, you can enter the word you want to trigger this menu option here.  Only one word is allowed for each menu option.

11) Use the drop-down menu to choose the action that will occur when this option is selected.

• ​Dial Number will route the call to a receiving number.
• Tracking Number Default will use the routing configuration of the tracking number that was called, such as schedule rules or any other routing rules defined on the tracking number.​
• Use Voice Menu will send the caller to another voice menu in your account.
• Send Text Message will send the caller a text message.
• Call Agent will route the call to an individual agent (a user in your account).
• Leave Message will allow the caller to leave a voicemail message.
• Hang Up will end the call.
• Call Queue will send the call to a queue of agents in your account.
• Geo Route Caller will send the call to a geo router, where they will then be routed based on their location.
• Collect Input will prompt the caller to enter information that you can view in the Call Log and can also send the data to a remote server.
• Fire Pixel will send an HTTP GET request to a server.
• Team Directory will route to a directory in a Team Setting. 
• Routing Table will allow you to route to a routing table.
• Route Bridge will allow you to route to a route bridge.
• Lambda Action will fire the selected Lambda function.  
• Smart Router will send the call to a smart router, where it will be routed based on the rules you have set up in that router.
• Add to Dialer will add this caller to a smart dialer.
• Do Not Call will add this caller to your Do Not Call list.
• Conference Call will route the caller to a conference room.
• Salesforce Router will route to a Salesforce router in your account.

12) Each option type has its own set of additional options that can be configured.  Fill in any required fields, such as number to dial, server address, or call queue to route to.

13) If you have selected an option that will connect the caller to a receiving number or a call queue, a Call Recording drop-down will appear to allow you to control whether the call will be recorded past this point.

• Default will use the existing recording settings on the tracking number that was called.  This is controlled by the call settings configuration for each number.
• ON will enable recording for the call after it routes to this option.
• OFF will turn the recording off for the call after it routes to this option.

The Call Recording option is useful if you have a menu option routing to your billing department so that the caller's credit card details are not recorded.

14) Click the button to Add Action for more options.

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• Tag this Call will automatically add a tag to the call if the caller chooses this keypress.
• Assign agent to call will automatically assign an agent to the call.
• Update custom field will automatically update a custom field in the call if the caller chooses this keypress.
• Run trigger begins the selected trigger workflow.
• Run webhook will run the selected webhook.

15) Click +Add Menu Item to add more options as needed.

16) Select → Save Changes.

17) Click Edit Assigned Tracking Numbers to choose which tracking numbers you would like to route directly to this menu.  In the pop-up that appears, select the numbers you want to route here so that they appear in the list on the right, then click save.

Viewing Keypresses

Once you start receiving calls, you can view the keypresses entered by each caller within the call log by customizing the columns displayed to show menu keypresses. Click the Visible Columns icon in the upper right area of the call log page (Activities → Calls) and make sure the option for Menu Keypresses is checked.

In addition, you can set up notifications to go out via email or text each time a call comes in with a particular keypress. Notifications are created on the Notifications page within the Reporting menu. Learn more about creating automatic notifications here.