OpenPhone helps you manage every aspect of your call and text communications. You can control every customer interaction from start to finish. In this article, we’ll share everything you need to have seamless call flows in your OpenPhone workspace.
What are call flows?
A call flow is a roadmap of how incoming calls are directed within a business’s phone system. It’s a sequence of events that includes an initial greeting, navigation through an interactive voice response (IVR) menu, call routing to the appropriate department, and hold times or transfers.
Call flows make it easier for you to handle incoming call volumes as your business grows. In OpenPhone, you can control your call flows with four primary features:
- Business hours: Your main hours of operation for when you’re available to take incoming calls.
- Phone menu (IVR): A curated list of options callers can choose to reach different departments in your business.
- Ring order: Recipients for incoming calls among members of your shared number.
- Unanswered calls: Backup routing options for when your team is unable to pick up the phone during or after business hours
How to set up business hours
Business hours define when your team will accept calls from customers. Set a business hours schedule so that your team has a better work-life balance during the week.
To set up your business hours:
- Go to Settings -> Phone numbers
- Select your preferred phone number to set up your business hours.
- Go to Call flow -> Business hours
- Enable your business hours and choose your hours of operation.
- Set up your after hours call flow rules:
- Send to voicemail
- Forward to another number
- Play an audio then end the call.
How to set up your phone menu
Phone menus give your customers a clear path to different departments or team members. You can reduce your call transfers and call holds with a phone menu that connects your customers to your team efficiently.
To set up your phone menu:
- Go to Settings -> Phone numbers
- Select your preferred phone number to set up your phone menu.
- Go to Call flow -> Phone menu.
- Set up your phone menu greeting message and menu options for callers.
How to set up your ring order
Ring order and ring groups allow you to choose who receives incoming calls on your team.
You can either choose incoming calls to ring every member of your shared inbox, or a custom ring group to ring select members of your team.
To set up your ring order:
- Go to Settings -> Phone numbers
- Select your preferred phone number to set up your call flow.
- Go to Call flow -> Ring order.
- Choose from three different ring order options:
- All at once: Simultaneously ringing all members of your shared inbox
- Random: Randomly ringing a select number of team members at a time, in a predetermined duration.
- Custom: A customized ring sequence of groups of people on your team.
How to set up your unanswered call flow
There will be times when all your team members are busy and can’t attend an incoming call. In those scenarios, you’ll need a call flow for unanswered calls to forward customers to another number or to let them know when you’ll get back to them.
To set up your unanswered call flow:
- Go to Settings -> Phone numbers
- Select your preferred phone number to set up your call flow.
- Go to Call flow -> Unanswered calls.
- Choose a destination to send unanswered calls:
- Send to voicemail
- Forward to another number
- Play an audio greeting and end the call
Up next: Automation basics
With business hours, phone menus, ring order, and unanswered call flows, you can fine-tune your incoming call flows the way you want. Next, we’ll show you how you can get started with automation in OpenPhone.
Check out the next article in the series: Automation basics