Using IVR to route calls to agents and groups


You can direct callers to the right agent, group or department using Smart IVRs in the phone channels. IVRs are ideal for support portals with various departments and specializations. Since IVRs help callers navigate to the agents most likely to have a solution to their problem, they reduce call times and improve call center productivity in support teams with a large number of groups and departments. You can currently create upto 2 nested levels of IVRs.


Quick guide to set up an IVR



  • Click on Admin > Channels > Phone.
  • You will see a list of all numbers you have purchased.
  • Click on the Edit button next to the number which has to be configured with an IVR.
  • This will take you to the manage numbers page.
  • The IVR configuration can be done in the Greetings tab.
  • You can set up a whole system of Keypress options and call redirects or you can just set up a simple welcome message to be played when people call.
  • Choose Interactive voice response (IVR) radio button to set it up.
  • The Welcome message should list down all your keypress options. For example, if you want all your customers calls to be forwarded to your Support team when they press 1, and to somebody from Sales when they press 2, the message could say “Welcome to Freshdesk phone channel. Press 1 for Sales. Press 2 for Support”
  • Next you can assign the action for each key. Using a keypress option you can perform the following:

Action 
How-to
Redirect the call to an agent
Select the key, choose the action as “Call agent” and pick the agent from the dropdown.
Redirect the call to an agent group
Select the key, choose the action as “Call agent group” and pick the agent group from the dropdown.
Redirect the call to a number
Select the key, choose the action as “Call number” and enter the number to be called in the text box
Redirect the call to another IVR menu with another set of keypress options that will redirect your calls further.
  • To do this, you need to first click on the “Add new menu” option and configure the welcome message and keypress option.
  • Give a name to each menu you create and configure another set of Keypress options
  • Here you can redirect the call to another agent or group.
  • Remember to assign the “Back to Main menu” action to the last key in every menu to bring back your customers to the welcome menu when they want
  • Then, come back to the Welcome/Start menu and select the key, choose the action as “Jump to”.
  • The names of the new menus you created below will be listed in the dropdown. Pick the menu to which the calls need to be redirected when the press the corresponding key.

  • You can check if your IVR configuration works fine by clicking on Preview.
  • Click on Save to start using the IVR right away.