Ring groups, menus and queues

Three tools decide who answers when a number rings. Use a ring group to ring a team, a menu to let callers choose, and a queue when callers may have to wait for the next free person. Ring groups and menus live under Groups and menus; queues under Queues.

Which one do I need?

Choosing between a ring group, a menu and a queue
You want…	Use
Any of three people in the shop to pick up	A ring group, all at once
The owner first, then the assistant if the owner is busy	A ring group, one after another
Callers to choose sales, accounts or support	A menu
Callers to wait in line, with hold music, until someone is free	A queue

Ring groups

A ring group rings several extensions for one call. Choose how:

Simultaneous: everyone rings together, and the first to answer takes the call.
Sequential: one person at a time, in the order you set, for a number of seconds each.

Open Groups and menus and create a ring group.
Add members, put them in order, and set how long each rings.
Point a number at it. See Numbers and caller ID.

Menus (IVR)

A menu plays a recording and waits for a key. Each key from 0 to 9, plus * and #, can go to a person’s extension, a mailbox, another menu, or end the call. You also choose:

Extension dialling, so a caller who knows an extension can dial it directly.
What a wrong key does: a short “not a valid choice” recording, then the menu again, up to a set number of tries.
How long to wait for a key, and where the call goes if the caller presses nothing.

Keep menus short: three or four choices, with the most common first, and always say what happens if the caller simply waits. The quickest way to a good menu is Set up your main line, which builds one for you.

Queues

A queue holds callers in line, playing hold music, and offers each call to the next free agent. Only people who are available are offered calls; someone on do-not-disturb is skipped. Choose how calls are offered:

All at once: every available agent is offered the call, and the first to answer takes it.
Longest idle first: the person who has been free the longest is offered it first.
Roster order: down the list from the top, one agent at a time.

Set a maximum wait so nobody is held forever. The Queues page shows who is waiting and who is answering, live.

When nobody answers

Every person can choose where their unanswered calls go: to their voicemail, or on to another extension. See People and extensions. For whole-team cover out of hours, point your number at the AI receptionist, which can take a message at any time.