IVR Usage
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) menus introduce your business to callers and help them navigate its phone system with their phone keypad. Refer to this article to learn more about IVR.
IVRs are not limited to use by external callers only. You can create internal IVRs to allow users and departments access and manage their accounts and various features of the phone system.
When setting up an IVR you can choose from over 60 types of destinations and features. While these allow for a very sophisticated setup, the actual configuration process is not very difficult and is mostly about defining the functions of the phone's keypad 12 keys (0-9,*,#).
You also need to create, record, or upload a greeting file that provides some navigation instructions like "For sales press 1, for customer service press 2... for directory press #".
Multi-Level and Scheduled IVRs
A very basic phone system may only require one IVR with a few defined keypad destinations. Bigger organizations, however, can create more complex phone systems with a multi-level structure where the main IVR routes callers to secondary IVRs representing sub-menus, different divisions, different regions, etc. See this article to learn how to configure multi-level IVRs.
Existing IVRs
Access your list of existing IVRs from Admin Center Menu>Voice Features>IVR Menus. If the list is empty you would want to create a new IVR.
Use 
in the Audio File column to play an IVR greeting. You can drag the playhead around to skip backward or forward and change or mute the playback volume with 
.
With the mini-menu (
) on, the right of the audio player, you can Download a WAV file of the IVR greeting or change the Playback Speed.
Use the 
button to download a CSV file of existing IVRs showing name, description, and ID. Select 
to search for specific IVR(s) by name or description. You can also search by the ID from the CSV file.
Creating a New IVR
To create a new IVR select Add IVR from the IVRs list screen or Add IVR Menu from the Features Shortcut menu.
Enter the IVR Name and select Create.
You will be directed to the IVR Settings screen (see next) so you can finish setting up the IVR – recording a greeting, assigning key press options, setting the time out, etc.
IVR Configuration
Select any IVR or create a new one to show the IVR Settings screen. There are three expandable settings categories. When making changes you need to make sure to SAVE each category separately.
On the top-right you can use the arrows to select the next or previous IVR without having to go back to the IVR list.
General Settings
Name/Description: Change the name and description (optional) of the IVR.
Pin to set up IVR over the phone: When you configure IVR keys (see next), you can select an IVR setup menu feature. This will allow you to make changes to the IVR greeting over the phone simply by calling in and pressing the relevant key.
Enter and confirm a numeric PIN (minimum 4 characters) here to prevent unauthorized changes to the IVR when this feature is enabled. To remove the PIN simply enter a blank PIN.
Time out after: Here you can select how many seconds to wait before taking an action after the IVR audio file has played.
The action to take is defined in the Key Press Options (see next.)
Allow to enter extensions at any time: If disabled, callers will not be able to dial extensions or internal lines. When a user tries to reach an extension his call will be routed to the first digit he dials (so if a user tries to reach extension 113840 he will just be connected to the department, queue, or other function assigned to the 1 key.)
Key Press Options
Here is where you build the IVR by assigning destinations, features, and behaviors to the 12 keys of a phone's keypad (0-9,*,#).
For each key you want to configure select a Destination type and the Destination. If you have keys you don't want to use select Ignore key press as the destination.
There are over 60 destinations and features available, but for a simple IVR you can just use Queues, Hunt Groups, and Dial by name menu.
The mini-menu (
) lets you Go to the settings page of the selected destination (Sales Support Queue in the example) or Add new destination of the same type (new queue in the example.)
Some destinations are not for external callers but for the phone system users so they can access and manage their account remotely (like toggling Do Not Disturb on their line.)
You can also define the IVR's Time out action – the action to take after the IVR audio file has finished playing. Usually, you would select to replay the audio with the Replay IVR menu option, but any of the routings and features can be selected. The Time-out delay is selected in the General Settings (see previous section).
Greeting File
If a greeting has not been assigned to the IVR yet, you will see the option to create one by selecting Add Sound.
Otherwise, an audio player will let you listen to the current greeting. Use the mini-menu () on the right of the audio player to Download a WAV file of the IVR or change the Playback Speed.
You can Change an existing greeting or Remove it.
Adding or Changing Greeting
When you select to add or change the greeting you will see two tabs:
- Under the Audio tab you can Upload or Record a new file for the greeting. Select Save Sound to keep the file and assign it to the greeting.
You can also select an Existing Sound to pick a file from already recorded or uploaded files.
- Prefer not to use your own voice? No problem.
Under the Text to Speech tab you can type the IVR greeting and have it generated as an audio file with a voice, pitch, and accent of your choice. You can even select different languages and the text will be automatically generated in the selected language.
Select Generate and Preview to listen to the greeting and if you are satisfied select Save Sound to keep it and assign it to the greeting.
Assigning and Activating an IVR
You will not find an option to assign or activate an IVR in the IVRs list or their settings. Instead, to activate an IVR you need to assign it to a phone number.
To apply an IVR to a phone number:
- Select the number from Admin Center Menu>Phone Numbers.
- Expand the Routing and Forwarding options.
- For the Default Calling route select IVR menu in the Route To field.
- Select the IVR you want to apply to the number in the Destination field.
