Set up hold queues for call centers

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Overview

With Phones Pro, you can set up a hold queue where callers are placed on hold until a customer service representative (CSR) is available to take their call. You can also choose a fallback option if the hold queue limit is reached or if no agents are available during business hours.


Who uses this feature

  • Administrators

  • Applies to all business types

Feature configuration

  • To get started with Phones Pro, request a demo on our Pro Products page, or reach out to your Customer Success Manager (CSM) or Pro Account Manager.

Things to know

You can set your business hours for call centers in Dialpad. You can choose the hours during which operators or agents receive calls.

Open call routing settings

  1. Go to the top toolbar and click Phones Pro to open the embedded dialer.        

    Note: If you don't have the embedded dialer enabled, sign in to your Dialpad account and skip to step four.

  2. In the Phones Pro embedded dialer, click the Wrench icon. User interface of Phones Pro showing call options and contact center status.Phone Preferences opens.

  3. Click View Dialpad SettingsSettings for embedded phone features including visibility and auto-collapse options.Your Dialpad profile opens in a new tab.

  4. In Dialpad, go to Admin Settings > Call Centers. If you have multiple call centers, click the call center you want to set routing rules for. Menu displaying 'AI Contact Centers' option with a highlighted selection for user interaction.

  5. Click Business Hours & Call Handling. The section expands.

  6. In the Call Routing section, click Edit Call RoutingSettings for business hours and call routing options in a contact center interface.The Call Routing screen opens. Call routing options for open hours, highlighting agent selection and routing type.

Set up a hold queue

In Hold Queue, you can see the hold queue's size, including wait time, greeting, and the hold music. To set this up:

Settings for hold queue size, wait time, and announcement interval for callers.

  1. Under Hold queue size in the Maximum queue size field, enter the limit of callers you want waiting in your hold queue.        

    Note: When you reach your queue limit, calls are routed to your fallback option.

    For more information, see Phones Pro and Dialpad outage standard procedure.    

  2. In the Maximum queue wait time field, enter the longest time in minutes and seconds you want callers to wait in your hold queue.

  3. In the Hold announcement interval field, enter the call duration time when the caller hears the hold greeting message.

  4. Go to the Hold greeting dropdown and select the greeting message you want callers to hear while they wait in your hold queue. This greeting plays once before the hold music begins.

You have three options to set a hold greeting:

  • Select an existing MP3 from the dropdown list

  • Record a greeting from your computer

  • Upload a greeting from your computer

Select a hold greeting

In the Hold greeting section, select an existing MP3 from the dropdown menu.

Selecting a hold greeting for callers with options displayed in a dropdown menu.

Record a hold greeting

  1. In the Hold greeting section, click Record a greetingInterface for selecting and recording hold greetings for callers in a phone system.

  2. In the Record Your Greeting pop-up, enter a name for the greeting.

  3. Click Start recording and record your greeting after hearing the tone. Interface for recording a greeting with a start recording button and name field.

  4. After you're done recording, click Click to finish recordingUser interface for recording a greeting with a clickable finish button.

The system saves the hold greeting, and it appears in the list of greetings.

Tip: After creating a new recording, you can:

  • Click the Play icon to play the recording.

  • Click the Edit icon to edit the recording.

  • Click the Delete icon to delete the recording.

Options for setting a hold greeting for callers, including play and delete buttons.

Upload a hold greeting

To upload a recording in mp3 format from your computer:

  1. Click Upload mp3.

  2. Select an mp3 file from your computer to upload. After the upload is complete, you can see it in the list of greetings. Select and upload a hold greeting for callers before hold music starts.

  3. In the Hold music field, select the music callers hear when they are on hold.        

    Note: When a caller is placed into the hold queue, they hear the greeting message followed by hold music.

Set up hold music

You have two options to select hold music:

  • Select an existing MP3 from the dropdown list

  • Upload an MP3 from your computer

To upload a music in MP3 format from your computer:

  1. Click Upload mp3.

  2. Select an mp3 file from your computer to upload. Interface for selecting hold music with an upload option for MP3 files.After the upload is successfully complete, you can see it in the list of music. Interface for selecting hold music with upload option and track details displayed.

Enable a delay greeting

A delay greeting is a greeting played during a hold queue.

To enable a delay greeting, select Enable delay greeting.

Settings for enabling delay greeting and recording options for callers on hold.

You have three options to set a delay greeting:

  • Select an existing greeting from the dropdown list

  • Record a greeting from your computer

  • Upload a greeting from your computer

Select a delay greeting

Select an existing MP3 from the dropdown menu.

Dropdown menu for selecting delay greeting audio track in call settings interface.

Record a delay greeting

  1. Click Record a greetingSettings for enabling delay greeting and options to record or upload audio files.

  2. In the Record Your Greeting pop-up, enter a name for the delay greeting.

  3. Click Start recording and record your greeting after hearing the tone. Interface for recording a greeting with a button to start recording.

  4. When you're done recording, click Click to finish recordingUser interface for recording a greeting with a clickable finish button.

The system saves the delay greeting, and it appears in the list of greetings.

Tip: After creating a new recording, you can:

  • Click the Play icon to play the recording.

  • Click the Edit icon to edit the recording.

  • Click the Delete icon to delete the recording.

Upload a delay greeting

If you have a recorded MP3 greeting on your computer, you can upload it:

  1. Click Upload (.mp3).

  2. Select an MP3 file from your computer to upload.

After the upload is successfully complete, you can see it in the list of greetings.

Settings for enabling delay greeting with options to upload or record audio.

Advanced hold queue settings

Use the advanced hold queue settings to route calls to different agents.    

Note: Only administrators have permissions to make changes here. Advanced seats can view advanced settings; standard seats do not have access to the advanced settings.

  • When you enable the Allow callers to be placed in your hold queue when no agents are available option, callers are waiting in your hold queue even if no agents are on duty. Remember to set a hold queue limit to avoid long wait times.

  • When you enable the Allow existing calls to stay in queue after call center has closed option, agents can answer calls that were in your queue before the call center closed. Remember that callers still respect the maximum queue wait time defined earlier.

  • When you enable the Let callers know their place in the queue option, callers know their order in the hold queue.        

    Note: This option is not available when you select a maximum queue wait time of less than 2 minutes.

  • When you enable the Allow callers to exit the hold queue to voicemail by pressing option, the callers can enter the number from the dropdown menu to exit the hold queue.

  • When you enable the Allow callers to request a callback when the queue has…or more calls by pressing option, you can set a threshold to request a call back and define the number the caller presses for a callback.

Settings for managing call queue options in a customer service system interface.

Set fallback options

You can only see fallback options if you select the Route Calls to Agents option as the Other Routing Options option does not display it.

Set fallback options that determine what happens to calls when no agents are available or on duty during business hours.

  • Directly to voicemail—The caller hears a voicemail greeting and agents can receive email notifications when voicemails are left.

  • To a message (no voicemail)—Record or upload a custom message for callers to hear.

  • To another department, office, call center, or geo. router—Choose another department, office, call center, or geographical router to send calls to.

  • To a team member / room phone / number—Choose another team member, room, phone, or number (including outside Dialpad) to send calls to.

  • To an automated response menu—Options include dial by name directory, dial by extension directory, forward to a department, forward to a person or number, leave a voicemail, recorded message, and disabled.

Options for handling calls when agents are unavailable or the queue limit is reached.

If you select To an automated response menu, you can set a record greeting by following the steps in the Set up a hold queue section. If the automated response menu repeats twice without a response from the caller, the call ends. You can change this by selecting one of the options from the dropdown menu as the default.

Dropdown menu showing options with 'Menu Option 1' highlighted for selection.

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