Call queues route incoming callers to a list of people in your organization and place callers on hold when everyone is busy. As people become available, callers are connected in the order they are received. Call queues can ring multiple people at the same time, or one at a time. In this article, you’ll learn how to create a call queue and customize call queue features including:
- Call distribution pattern
- Callback request
- Caller and agent announcements
- Timeout and re-routing
- Cool-down period between calls
- Call recording
- Custom hold music In addition, you'll learn about call queue management features including real-time call center monitoring tools and call queue analytics.
Create Call Queues with Telzio
On the Telzio Dashboard, you will find a page to manage your Call Flows and add Queues. First tip is to give the Queue a proper name, ie Tech Support. This helps you identify it later when you have multiple Phone Queues, and enables Queue name announcements when connecting calls to agents.
Call Distribution Pattern
The call distribution pattern dictates how calls are routed to agents. There are two options to choose from, “Call All” and “Call One-by-One.” These are also known as Simultaneous Ringing and Sequential Ringing respectively. Simultaneous ring will call all available agents at the same time and the first agent to answer will take the call. Sequential Ringing allows for incoming calls to attempt one user at a time. With this method, the Queue sends incoming calls to the agent who has been off the phone the longest. This way, you avoid having agents sitting idle while a few agents are fielding most of the calls, and you maximize the use of time across all agents.
Callback Request
The callback request provides callers with the option to request a call back rather than waiting on the phone. When initiated, a notification will be sent to the user or group of your choice. You can choose to send the notification to the following options:
- All agents
- All enabled agents
- A random agent
- A single user
- A group of users
- An email
Call Queue Announcements
Queue announcements are available for both callers and agents. The following announcements are available:
- Announce Queue Position
- Announce Hold Time to Agent
- Announce Queue Name to Agent
Timeout and Rerouting
The timeout period is an optional setting that limits the amount of time a caller can be on hold before being routed to the next action in the Call Flow. If a call has not been answered by an agent after the timeout period has been reached, that call will move onto the next designated action specified by you. You can decide the most amount of time that is acceptable for a caller to be on hold in the queue from 1 minute to 60 minutes. Once that maximum hold time is exceeded by a caller, you can route calls to another destination, whether that’s a different queue, a voicemail, a third-party answering service, or simply an announcement.
Grace Period
The grace period, or cool-down period, allows agents to wrap up their current call before taking another call from the queue. You can set how long this grace period is, between 0 seconds to 10 minutes. During the grace period, the agent can finalize their notes and prepare for the next call.
Call Recordings
Calls to the Queue can be automatically recorded and stored in the dashboard. There is currently no limit to the number of recordings that can be stored, and no expiration. However, recordings can be automatically deleted after a specified time using data retention tools. By default, recordings are only accessible by administrators, and you have the option to give access to managers with User Permissions.
Custom Hold Music
In addition to the default hold music available, you can also upload custom audio files as hold music. This means you can also customize special announcements to be played during the hold time within the audio file. You can also use the Announcements action to record, upload, or dictate a message to callers before connecting them to the queue.
Managing Call Center Queues
Once you’ve added queues to your phone system, you can utilize the following tools to manage agents and call center performance.
Agent List
The list of agents in the queue can be edited directly from the Call Flow. Any changes that are made are live instantly. Administrators can manually mark agents as available or not available from the Queue settings as needed, rather than removing them from the list completely. Agents can also set themselves as unavailable for breaks. There is no limit to the number of users you can add to your Telzio phone system at no additional cost. Related: How to Create a Hunt Group
Scheduling Call Queues
Within the Call Flow, the Opening Hours action can be used to create hours of operation. Outside of the hours, calls can be directed using any one of the other actions.
Do-Not-Disturb
Amidst the set times that agents are scheduled to take calls, they can also log in and out of call queues as needed for breaks. This can be done directly from their phone, and from the dashboard.
Monitoring Call Queues
Managers can be given permissions to monitor agents’ calls in real-time. While an agent is on a call, the manager can pick up their phone and dial in to be patched into the agent’s call. By default, the manager will be in “monitor” mode, where nobody can hear them. From there they can switch between “barge” and “whisper” modes, to either join the call or whisper to the agent without being heard by the caller.
Real-Time Reporting
The Queues page on the Telzio Dashboard provides a live display of active calls throughout all Queues. From this page, you can barge into calls, change agents’ status, and toggle between the different Queues to see info including:
- Active calls
- Hold time for each call
- Which agent the call is connected to
- Agent availability
Call Queue Analytics
The analytics dashboard can be filtered by queues, phone numbers, and dates so that you can view historical call activity over specified periods. Metrics available on the analytics dashboard include:
- Average time in the queue
- Average call duration
- Total number of calls
- Number of callers who hung up
- Calls that exceed hold time
- Top active users
- And other call queue metrics
Receiving Calls from Queues
With their Telzio User, agents can take calls from any location using their preferred device, including:
- Desk phones
- Webphone
- Mobile App Telzio works with any SIP compatible device or application, and you can bring your own device to use with Telzio if you already have IP phones.
Best Practices for Call Queues
Here are some best practices to improve your call center interactions.
Best Practice Number 1 - Enable announcements for callers and agents
Giving callers an idea of their estimated hold time will improve the waiting experience, and informing agents of the resulting hold time and which queue the caller is from will allow them to answer the call more professionally. What callers hear when they reach the queue: Your call is next in line, and will be answered by the next available representative. What agents hear when answering a call from the queue: Call from sales. Hold time: under one minute. Naming your queues lets agents know where the call is coming from and helps you identify queues in your Call Flow. Naming Queues is especially helpful for agents handling calls from different departments. For example, incoming callers might first be greeted with a menu, with options for sales, customer service, or technical support. An agent can be assigned to all three of these queues, and will hear the appropriate announcement before they answer the call.
Best Practice Number 2 - Play hold music and on-hold messages
Playing hold music will make the caller's hold time more pleasant, and it also lets them know that they are still active in the queue. With Telzio you can upload custom audio files, enabling you to play custom music as well as on-hold messages. For example, you can let the caller know about other ways of getting in contact for support (email, chat, etc.) if they've called into the technical support queue. Or, if they've called into the sales queue, you can take that opportunity to promote your product.
Best Practice Number 3 - Set a maximum hold time
On average, callers will only wait up to 2 minutes before they hang up. However, if the call is urgent, the caller will hold for much longer. Finding the best max hold time to set for your call center will require you to analyze your queue metrics. Based on our research, we recommend a max hold time of 5 minutes. Once the hold time is exceeded, you can route the call to any of the other call flow features - a voicemail, forwarding to another number, etc. You could even route the call to an announcement saying "we are currently experiencing a high number of calls, please continue holding, or reach out to us by email", and then route them back to a queue.
Best Practice Number 4 - Set a grace time for agents
The grace time is the number of seconds the system will wait before routing another call to an agent. This allows the agent to wrap up the case from the previous call, make any notes, and be prepared to take the next caller.
Support for Building Your Call Center
Our experts are standing by to answer all your questions about enhancing your caller experiences with our call center features. Whether you're an advanced or first time administrator - we can help. Small and large call centers around the world rely on Telzio for unprecedented uptime and customer service. Request a personalized demo to learn more about Phone Queues.