IVR phone tree examples for small businesses: six scripts you can copy

A phone menu, or IVR, is the first thing many callers hear from your business. A good one gets them to the right person in seconds. A bad one sends them round in circles until they hang up. Below are six scripts for small businesses that you can copy and adapt, and the rules that make them work.

Six rules for a menu callers do not hate

Offer three or four choices at most. Callers cannot remember more, and a second level of menus loses them.
Put the most common reason first. Your call log tells you what it is.
Say the option before the key. “For bookings, press 1” is easier to follow than “Press 1 for bookings”, because the caller hears what they want before the number they need.
Always say what happens if they wait. A caller who does not know they can stay on the line often hangs up.
Keep a way to a person. Zero, or simply waiting, should reach someone.
Skip the filler. “Your call is important to us” and “please listen carefully as our options have changed” add seconds and nothing else.

1. Dial-by-extension: the simplest good menu

For small teams where regular callers know who they want.

Thank you for calling [Company].
If you know the extension of the person you are calling, dial it now.
For anything else, press 0, or simply stay on the line.

Wiring: extension dialling on; 0 and no choice to your front desk.

2. A shop or trade business

Thanks for calling [Company].
For a new quote, press 1.
If you already have a job booked with us, press 2.
For accounts and invoices, press 3.
Or stay on the line to speak to the team.

Wiring: 1 to sales, 2 to the person who runs the diary, 3 to accounts, and no choice to whoever answers the phone most of the day.

3. Appointments, such as a clinic or salon

Hello, you have reached [Company].
To book a new appointment, press 1.
To change or cancel an appointment, press 2.
For anything else, stay on the line and we will be with you shortly.

Wiring: 1 and 2 to reception; if bookings and changes are handled by different people, split them. If the answer to “anything else” is usually a clinician’s call-back, send it to a mailbox that someone checks hourly.

4. Out of hours

Thank you for calling [Company]. We are closed right now.
We are open [days], from [time] to [time].
To leave a message, stay on the line after the tone,
and we will call you back on our next working day.

Wiring: use your business hours so this plays automatically when you are closed. Or let an AI receptionist answer after hours: it can say when you open, answer simple questions and take a written message.

5. Arabic and English, for the Gulf

Callers in the Gulf generally expect Arabic first, then English. Keep each language short, and use the same keys in both.

شكراً لاتصالك بـ [Company]. إذا كنت تعرف رقم التحويلة، يرجى إدخاله الآن. للدعم، اضغط صفر، أو ابقَ على الخط.
Thank you for calling [Company]. If you know the extension of the person you are calling, dial it now. For support, press 0, or simply stay on the line.

Vocivo’s main line setup builds exactly this menu, in Arabic and English, in one step.

6. Holiday closure

Thank you for calling [Company]. We are closed for [holiday]
and will reopen on [day and date].
For urgent [service] matters, press 1.
Otherwise, please leave a message after the tone.

Wiring: 1 to whoever is on call, if anyone. Add the holiday to your calendar in advance so the message plays on its own, and remember that some holidays, such as Eid, move each year.

Menu or AI receptionist?

A menu is predictable and fast for callers who know what they want. An AI receptionist is better when callers describe their needs in their own words, or when you want answers to common questions without a person. Many businesses use both: the receptionist answers, and the menu is the fallback. Our guide to AI receptionists for small business helps you decide.

Before you publish a menu

Record the greeting in a quiet room, or have it spoken for you, and listen to it on a phone.
Call it from outside and press every key, including ones you did not use.
Wait without pressing anything, and check where you end up.
Dial an extension directly, if you allow it.
Call it outside your opening hours, and on a holiday you have set.
Ask a colleague to answer, put you on hold, and check you hear hold music, not silence.