IVR (Interactive Voice Response)

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) allows you to quickly and automatically connect your inbound callers with the correct destination.

IVRs are offered as part of the sipgate Pro Package.

 

An account Administrator can book the Pro Package in your sipgate account's settings under Account Administration --> Plans & Packages --> Overview.

 

As soon as you have booked the Pro Package, you can set up your first IVR.

 

Setting up a Single-Level IVR

  • Navigate to Account Administration
  • Navigate to IVR in the left-hand sidebar
  • Select +IVR 
  • Give the IVR a Name
  • Select a phone number from your available numbers with the + Phone Number button and click Add new IVR 
  • Upload at least one ‘Main Greeting’ by pressing "Click2Record". This is the greeting which all callers will hear when they call the number assigned to the IVR. Only one main greeting can be active at a time.
  • Assign key presses to destinations under "Key Press Assignment". You can configure up to 10 key presses (0-9 on a dial pad). Possible destinations are a User, Device, Greeting, Other IVR (see ‘How to set up a multi-level IVR) and Group.

Multiple-Level IVRs

Scenario: a national retailer with two local branches (for simplicity) wants to connect its callers to local branches:

  • if the caller presses 1, he should hear the Main Greeting of the London branch and be able to select 1 to hear its opening times, or 2 to speak to customer service in that store

  • if the caller presses 2, he should hear the Main Greeting of the Birmingham branch and be able to select 1 to hear its opening times, or 2 to speak to customer service in that store

This can be set up as follows:

  1. Create a first-level IVR as per the instructions above (‘How to set up a single-level IVR’). Assign this IVR a telephone number and a meaningful name (e.g. “First Level Customer Hotline”). The Main Greeting should say something like: ‘For our London branch, press 1. For our Birmingham branch, press 2’

  2. Create a second IVR for the London Branch with an appropriate name and Main Greeting (“For Opening Hours, press 1. To speak to a customer service representative, press 2.”). Link key press 1 to a recorded Greeting listing the London Branch opening hours. Link key press 2 to an appropriate destination (for example a group with a Call Queue)

  3. Create a third IVR for the Birmingham Branch as per the London Branch

  4. Link the first-level IVR (our “First Level Customer Hotline”) to our London and Birmingham IVRs by selecting each IVR as a destination for Key Press 1 and 2.

 

Professional Greetings

Once you have tested out your IVR flow, you may find that it does not sound professional enough. Luckily there are lots of voice recording services such as VoiceBunny who provide professional voice-over artists for your greetings.

 

Important

  • Deleting an IVR also deletes all uploaded greetings, so ensure you have a backup of these

  • Until a Main Greeting has been uploaded, callers will only hear an engaged tone and cannot use the IVR

  • If your destinations include Users or Groups, unanswered calls will follow the User or Group's Call Forwarding rules.

 

 

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