Setting up an Advanced IVR
Many businesses utilize IVR or auto-attendant features to help control the flow of calls, which can help reduce inbound traffic or easily route callers to the appropriate party without requiring agent interaction. IVRs can be simple, such as offering a Press 1 or 2 option for English or Spanish-speaking callers. They can also be complex, such as including a voicemail option, transfers, employee directories, etc. For more information on how to configure a simple IVR, follow these instructions. For advanced IVRs, continue with the instructions below.
In this article we'll discuss:
Creating your Main Greeting
1
Within SAS Flex, go to the
Builder icon on the left navigation panel. Then select
IVR
Blocks.
2
All of the
available IVR blocks will be listed on the left.
3
First, let's drag over the
Greeting block to the designated area on your screen.
4
Under the
Greeting tab, choose your Recorded greeting from the Recording dropdown, or type in your greeting to use our Text to Speech option.
5
Under the
Options tab, choose what will happen if there is no input from the caller after the greeting, or if there is an invalid input.
6
Under the
Logic tab, we'll need to add our various prompt options. In our example, press 1 will lead to an hours of operation recording, press 2 will lead to a direct transfer to voicemail, and press 3 will lead to an SAS agent.
7
If you want to include a list of Employee extensions, you may fill them out under the
Employees tab. This is not required, but if you choose to use it, you will also need to configure Employee Extension blocks.
8
Under the
Field tab, you'll need to name your block. We named ours
Main Greeting.
9
When you are done, click
Save.
Creating a Press 1 Option
In our example, our Press 1 option will lead to a secondary greeting listing the hours of operation.
1
From the IVR Blocks menu, select
Disconnect and drag it over to the designated area on your screen.
2
Under the
Greeting tab, choose your Recorded greeting from the dropdown, or type in your greeting to use our Text to Speech option.
3
Under the
Options tab, choose an Outcome to help classify the call in your IVR log. You can select one of the system Outcomes, or you can
create your own.
4
Under the
Field tab, you'll need to name your block. We named ours
Hours of Operation.
5
When you are done, click
Save.
Creating a Press 2 Option
Our Press 2 option will lead to an option for callers to leave a voicemail.
1
From the IVR Blocks menu, select
Voicemail and drag it over to the designated area on your screen.
2
Under the
Greeting tab, choose your Recorded greeting from the dropdown, or type in your greeting to use our Text to Speech option.
3
Under the
Options tab, choose which Profile(s) you want to be notified whenever there is a new Voicemail. You can also add an Outcome, which is how the Voicemail will be displayed in your IVR log.
4
Under the
Field tab, you'll need to name your block. We named ours
Voicemail.
5
When you are done, click
Save.
Creating a Press 3 Option
As we mentioned above, our Press 3 option will lead to a direct transfer to an SAS agent.
1
From the IVR Blocks menu, select
Transfer to SAS and drag it over to the designated area on your screen.
2
Under the
Options tab, select the SAS number you want the call to transfer to. Then select an Outcome to help classify the call in your IVR log.
3
Under the Field tab, name your block. We named ours
SAS.
4
When you are done, click
Save.
Configuring your IVR Workflow
Once your IVR blocks have been created, you are now ready to build your IVR.
1
Click the
Builder icon on the left menu navigation panel and select
IVRs.
2
Click
Add IVR. In the pop-up window, you'll need to add a name for your IVR. Then click
Save.
3
Select your newly added IVR to begin building. Your screen should look like the picture below.
4
Under
Unassigned blocks, locate your
Main Greeting, and drag it over to the designated area on your screen.
5
Drag out your other IVR blocks, and match them up accordingly.
6
When you are done, click
Save.
Congratulations! You've just built an advanced IVR. Now you'll need to assign your SAS numbers to the IVR and Script accordingly, or you can
contact support for help!
