How to set up an IVR phone menu for a small team
An IVR, or auto attendant, answers a call with a greeting and a short menu — press 1 for sales, 2 for support — and sends the caller to the right person.
Plan the menu first
A menu that works is short and has a way out. Decide these before recording anything:
- Three or four options at most, in the order callers ask for them
- Who answers each option: one person, a ring group that rings several at once, or a queue
- Business hours, and what callers hear outside them
- Where an unanswered call goes: voicemail for the team, or a colleague
- One option that reaches a person, for callers whose question fits no option
Write the greetings
Keep the greeting under fifteen seconds and name the options before their numbers: "For sales, press 1." Record one greeting for business hours and one for when the office is closed.
Build it in Orbit V-Gate
Orbit V-Gate, the phone system behind YunZheng Voice, starts a phone system from a template and lets you change every part of it afterwards in the console:
- Small office: reception and a second extension, a sales ring group, a support queue, a main menu and business hours
- Reception and departments: a reception extension, sales, support and accounts, a main menu with direct dialling
- After-hours voicemail: two extensions ring together in business hours; outside them callers hear that the office is closed and leave a message
- Contact centre: support and billing queues, a supervisor and two agents, and a main menu
- Conference line, Personal number, or Blank to start from nothing
Give people their extensions
Assign each extension to a person's email address. They answer in YunZheng Voice in the browser, on a desk phone or in a phone app, and all of them ring together. Voicemail, call history and queue sign-in are in the same place.
Test it
Call the number the way a customer would: in hours and out of hours, each option, and the case where nobody answers. Then check that the voicemail arrived and the missed call is in the history.
Try it
Make and take calls on your extension from any browser, listen to voicemail, and keep a number of your own that rings every device you choose. Free for personal use.
Open Voice About YunZheng Voice
More guides: What is a SIP address?