When your business experiences a surge in inbound calls, there are several built-in PBX tools and settings you can use to improve customer experience and reduce pressure on your team.
Call Queues allow you to manage incoming calls by placing callers in a queue until an agent becomes available. Configuring queue options correctly helps balance customer satisfaction and agent workload.
| Queue Option | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Ring Strategy | Use Ring All and leave Ring Busy Agents disabled so only idle agents receive calls. Avoid Round Robin or similar strategies, as they can make it unclear why certain agents aren’t receiving calls. |
| Agent Wrap-Up Time | Set the Wrap-Up Time as the minimum period an agent needs to complete notes before taking another call. Even a short setting, such as 5 seconds, can help. |
| Max Wait Time | A longer wait time can be acceptable if callers are aware of it. Short wait times may frustrate customers who navigate IVRs only to reach voicemail too soon. |
| Announce Position / Hold Time | Let callers know their queue position and estimated hold time early. Setting expectations improves satisfaction and allows callers to decide whether to stay on hold. |
| Press 9 for Call Back | Enables a Call Back option to save time and costs. This feature ignores maximum wait time and keeps the callback request in queue for up to 8 hours. |
| Hold Music | Use hold music to share information about callback options, alternative contact methods, or promotions. Keep messages spaced out to avoid annoyance. |
If your call volume exceeds the number of available agents or lines, you can configure Overflow Routing.
Go to the Number Routing page in your portal.
Edit your incoming number and enable the Overflow Enabled feature.
Set the overflow destination (e.g., another queue, voicemail, or extension).
This feature allows you to reroute incoming calls once a specified threshold of active calls is reached—helpful for keeping lines available for outgoing calls.
Offer answers to common questions directly through your IVR Menus or Queue Announcements.
This helps manage expectations during busy periods and may reduce the total number of calls requiring staff attention.
Automated SMS messages can enhance the caller experience by providing information such as links to FAQs or service updates.
To enable this feature:
Submit a support ticket to request automated SMS setup.
SMS triggers can be placed at various points in your call flow (e.g., when entering a queue, hearing a specific message, or after a call ends).
Note: SMS messages can only be sent to mobile numbers, so ensure any announcements clearly state this.
