Setting up the call flow builder

Tired of manually setting different call flows during business hours and after hours? With OpenPhone’s call flow builder, you only need to set up your call flows once — no manual adjustments needed. 

We’ve updated your call flow settings so that you can customize how you ring users and set phone menus after business hours. You can also easily tweak your call flow settings with the new call flow canvas. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through how you can access the new call flow builder and how you can set up and adjust your call flows.

How to access the new call flow builder

The call flow builder currently in beta is available in the OpenPhone on web and desktop.

To opt into the call flow builder:

  1. Navigate to Settings.
  2. Under Workspace, click Phone numbers.
  3. Select the phone number you wish to add a call flow to.
  4. Under Call flow, select Try this beta to confirm you wish to join the beta program.
  5. Under Call flow, select the sample call flow canvas and select Edit call flow.

From there, you’ll be redirected to the call flow builder.  

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Navigating the call flow builder

The call flow builder uses a new visual layout to help you design call flows more efficiently and with greater control. 

Here are the elements to pay attention to as you explore the builder:

  • Blocks: Each step in your call flow is represented in a block that you can add, replace, or modify to your needs. Calling blocks are call routing features you can add to your call flow. These include:
    • Phone menu
    • Ring users
    • Voicemail
    • Play audio
    • Forward call
  • Condition blocks are call routing features that adjust your call flow depending on whether a condition is fulfilled or not. During the call flow builder beta, business hours will be the only condition block you can use to build your call flows.

  • The canvas: This is the visual layout where you can arrange your call blocks and structure your flows. 

Adding blocks

Adding call blocks to your call flows is easy — just drag and drop call blocks into your call flows from the side panel of the builder.

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You can also add a block by clicking the + button between two steps in a call flow.

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Replacing blocks in your call flows

Want to replace a block in your call flow? Select the three-dot menu in the right corner of a block and choose Replace block to swap in a different block in the existing flow. 

You can also replace an existing block by selecting the block and selecting Replace step in the right panel of the builder. 

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Deleting blocks from your call flows isn't an option currently in our beta as we quickly expand this feature. If there’s a specific step you wish to replace, you can use the replace block option. Just keep in mind, replacing a block automatically removes any subsequent steps below it during our beta program.

Configuring call blocks

Configure your call blocks to suit your team’s preferences.

To configure a block, select a call block in your call flow canvas. The block’s settings will appear in the right panel of the builder. You can then edit these settings to suit your preferences. 

Here are the different configurations available for each call block:

Business hours

Business hours is a condition block where calls are routed one way during business hours and another way after hours. 

During the call flow beta, you’ll need to configure your business hours from the main settings page and your hours will be applied to your call routing. 

To configure your business hours:

  1. Go to Settings for your preferred phone number.
  2. Toggle the Enable business hours switch on. This will result in an expanded menu where you can edit your availability.

    Note: OpenPhone currently only supports one, consecutive time period per day. You will not be able to add multiple time periods for one day.
  3. Select the appropriate time zone and your (or your team's) daily availability by selecting the hours to the immediate right of “Every day”.
    If your team is off on weekends, you can click into “Every day” to set your schedule to “Weekdays” instead — or if your hours vary depending on the day, you can select “Custom”. Then add in your business hours.

To add a business hours block to your default call flow:

  1. Drag and drop the Business hours block after your Incoming call trigger.
  2. After you add a business hours block, the canvas will automatically create a During hours path and a After hours path. These paths are based on your business hours configuration in the previous menu. 

After adding your business hours block, you’ll need to add additional call blocks to map out your call flows further for where callers get routed during and after hours.

Ring users

Add a ring order to your call flows with the ring users block. You can set up your ring order type and duration in this block.

  • Ring order type: Choose from simultaneous ring, random batches, custom ring groups, and single users. 
  • Ring duration: You can choose a total ring duration for simultaneous ring, a group ring duration, or a custom ring duration for each of your custom groups. 

To add a ring users block to your default call flow:

  1. Drag and drop the Ring users block in the canvas. Keep in mind you can’t place it before the Incoming call trigger, Phone menu block, or Business hours block. 
  2. Select the Ring users block and select your preferred Ring order type in the right panel of the call flow builder. You can choose from All at once, In random batches, Custom ring groups, and Single user ring order types. 

Ring order types

Below are descriptions of each ring order type in the ring users block and how to set each type of ring order.

“All at once” ring order

The "All at once" ring order is the default option for the ring users block. In this option, all team members that have shared access with an OpenPhone number will be notified at the same time of incoming calls.

Once you’ve selected the “All at once” option you can set a duration for which the call rings all your users. 

“In random batches” ring order

The "random" option allows you to specify a group size (based on the amount of team members with access to your OpenPhone number). Each random group receives incoming calls based on the ring duration you choose or until someone picks up. If no one in the last group takes the call, the call moves to the next step in your call flow.

To set a “in random batches” ring order:

  1. Select the “In random batches” ring order from the Ring order type dropdown menu.
  2. Choose a batch size for your random batch ring order. 
  3. Choose a group ring duration for your batches.
  4. Your total ring duration will display below your group ring duration so you can see how long incoming calls will ring your team. 

“Custom ring groups” ring order

In a nutshell, custom ring order sends incoming call notifications based on the order of groups until someone picks up. If no one in the last group takes the call, the call goes to voicemail.

Custom ring order allows you to:

  • specify which members with shared access to your OpenPhone are part of a specific group
  • sort the ring order for each group if you want specific teammates to take calls first
  • set the ring duration for each group that receives calls

Note: Custom ring order is only available to OpenPhone Business plan users. 

To set a “custom” ring order:

  1. Select the “Custom” ring order from the Ring order type dropdown menu.
  2. Add the number of ring groups you wish to have in your ring order.
  3. Within each ring group, select the users you wish to receive calls under “Users”.
  4. Under “Ring order” you can either choose for any of these calls to be dialed at random or in batches (like random ring groups). If you wish to have only part of that group receive calls, you can select “In groups” to specify how many users in that group will receive incoming call notifications.
  5. Add the ring duration for each ring group.

“Single user” ring order

With this ring order type, you can skip ringing a group and dial a specific member of the team. This option is great for small teams where individual team members handle a specific function. 

To set a “single user” ring order:

  1. Select the “Single user” ring order from the Ring order type dropdown menu.
  2. Select your preferred team member from the ‘User to ring’ dropdown menu. Note that only the users who have access to your shared number will be displayed.

Phone menu

The phone menu call block lets you add a phone menu to your call flow. You can adjust your phone menu greeting and keypad options in this call block. 

Add as many menu options as you need. Callers can navigate the menu using voice commands or keypad options. 

To add a phone menu block to your default call flow:

  1. Drag and drop the Phone menu block into the canvas. You can either have a phone menu after an Incoming call trigger or after a Business hours  condition block (during or after hours). 
  2. Select the phone menu block and edit your custom menu greeting and menu options in the right panel of the builder.
  3. Click Change greeting to set a greeting message. You can set the greeting by uploading an audio file, recording yourself, or doing text to speech. If you need inspiration on what to include check out our auto-attendant scripts guide!
  4. Click Add keypad option to add up to 10 different options that callers can navigate by pressing a number on the keypad. To the right of each option, you can also enter a keyword so that callers can select an option based on that word. 
  5. Once you’ve chosen how many menu options you want, you can customize the path of each of these menu options. By default, the call flow builder will add a Ring users block after each menu option. To edit these blocks, select them and click Replace step in the right panel of the builder to choose a different call block. You can choose from these other phone menu options: Voicemail, Ring users, Play audio and route to default action, and Forward call 
  6. By default, if a caller stays on the call without selecting a phone menu option, the call flow builder will default to a Voicemail block. Select the Voicemail block and click Replace step in the right panel of the builder to replace this option with another default option, including Ring users, Play audio, Forward call, and Repeat the menu.

Add different phone menus during your business hours and after hours. Use two different phone menu blocks to offer custom experiences to your callers.

Voicemail

Need to send callers to voicemail in a call flow? Add the voicemail block. Here’s how you can add a voicemail block to your call flow:

    1. Drag and drop the Voicemail block to the canvas. You can only add the voicemail block after the ring users block.
    2. Select the voicemail block in the right panel of the builder to edit your settings.
    3. Upload your voicemail greeting in the Voicemail greeting section:
      • If you have an existing audio file you want to use, "Upload a file". We support MP3 or WAV files. If you need to convert yours, try a free audio converter like this one.
      • If you want to record your own audio, select the "Record" option and do it right in OpenPhone.
      • If you have a voicemail script (or a rough idea of what you want to tell callers who get to voicemail), select "Text to speech" to turn text into a professional voiceover.

         4. Toggle the Transcribe voicemail switch on for voicemail transcriptions.

         5. Toggle the Profanity filter switch on to filter your voicemails for profanity.

Play audio

Play an audio message or greeting for callers with the play audio block. With this option, callers won’t have the option to leave a voice message so this block can be useful for relaying information such as directions to a physical location without your team needing to take a call. 

Here’s how you can add a play audio block to your call flow:

  1. Drag and drop the Play audio block to the canvas. You can only add the play audio block after the ring users block.
  2. Select the Play audio block and edit your audio file in the right panel of the builder.
  3. You can choose to Upload a file, Record audio or use a Text to speech file that you can enter directly in the block. 
  4. After the audio plays, your call flow will either automatically route to your default action if you’re using a phone menu or will immediately end the call if you aren’t using a phone menu. 

Forward call

Need to forward a call to an external answering service or a backup forwarding number? Use the forward call block. 

Here’s how you can add a forward call block to your call flow:

  1. Drag and drop the Forward call block to the canvas. You can add a Forward call block after your Incoming call trigger or after the Ring users block. 
  2. Select the Forward call block and edit your forwarding number in the right panel of the builder.
  3. When you pick a forwarding number, you can choose from:
    • Shared OpenPhone inboxes in your workspace
    • Specific contacts
    • Other numbers (Keep in mind this must be a US or Canadian local number) 

Publish changes to your call flow

Every time you add a new block or make a change to an existing block in your call flow, you’ll be prompted to Publish changes in the call flow builder. If you don’t publish your changes, modifications to your call flow will not be saved.

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Forwarding all calls

You can program your standard call flows in our Default call flow. If you want to forward all your calls to a backup forwarding number with its own call flow, you can use the Forward all calls call flow. 

1. Select the dropdown arrow next to Default call flow and select Forward all calls

2. Choose your backup forwarding number and select Create new call flow. Keep in mind this must be a local US or Canadian phone number. 

That’s it - you’ve now activated a new forwarding call flow. You can toggle between your Default call flow and your Forward all calls call flow as you need. 

Learn more about the call flow builder

The call flow builder can get you up and running with your call flows quickly and efficiently. If you already have existing call flows set up in your account, they’ll migrate over to the new builder seamlessly.

Want to dive deeper? Learn how to improve your customer experience with the new call flow builder for more tips and best practices.