How to improve answer rates by forwarding phone calls to a group of numbers

[stevestormoen]

This article describes a set of features in beta.
If you'd like to use this call treatment option for your Invoca campaigns, click the Contact Support button at the bottom of this article to request this feature for your Invoca account.

 
While building a call treatment for your Invoca campaign, instead of sending your phone calls to a single destination, you can instead route them to a group of phone numbers — also known as a ring group. You can then set up Invoca to prioritize and distribute calls to the numbers in that group however you'd like. If the first destination Invoca sends your call to doesn't answer the phone, we'll move on to the next number, and on through your list.

Here are a few situations where you might want to use this call treatment node:
 

• Franchise: Give the nearest local branch of your business the first chance to answer a phone call. If that branch is unavailable, you can have the phone call forward to a central contact center rather than lose the call completely.
• Call center: List all phone numbers for your call center agents. You can prioritize Invoca to send calls to your higher performing agents first, or distribute phone calls equally among your agents.
• Call center: Allow your call center agents to decline an incoming phone call. Invoca will forward that call to another agent, rather than hang up entirely.

Here's how to use it:
 

1. Log in to your Invoca account, and follow our guide to build a call treatment for your Invoca campaign.
    
2. Find the node where you want to forward your phone calls, then select the Forward to a group of numbers option.
    
3. Use the "Call next number if no answer in __ seconds" text box to customize how long you want to ring each phone number before moving on to the next. Invoca will let each number ring for the length you specify, unless that number is busy. If the number is busy, we'll forward to the next number immediately.
    
4. In the Attempt to connect calls drop-down menu, choose how you want to distribute your phone calls:
    
   • In order: Your phone calls will always go to the first number on your list first, and on down the list in order.
   • In random order: Each phone call is equally likely to go to any of the phone numbers on your list.
   • In weighted order: Use the Weight text box to assign weights to each number on your list. Invoca will prioritize higher weights above lower weights. For example, if you have one phone number weighted "1" and a second phone number weighted "2", the first number will receive 33% of your phone calls, and the second number will receive 67% of your phone calls. You can see the effective distribution from your chosen weights in the Distribution section next to each number.
      
5. If you want to limit how many numbers in your list Invoca will attempt to dial before moving on to your backup (rollover) number, choose a number from the Limit total attempted phone numbers drop-down menu. This can help keep your callers time to connect short while still prioritizing your preferred call center agents.
6. If you want to give your call center agents the option to accept or decline a call, check the Call Acceptance checkbox. When checked, after answering a phone call, your agent will be prompted to press "1" to accept the call or press "2" to decline it. If you have speech recognition enabled in your Invoca account, your agent will also be able to say "Yes" or "No" to accept or decline the call.
   
   
7. In the # of Simultaneous Calls drop-down menu, choose how many agents in your list you would like Invoca to dial at once. If you choose more than one, the first call center agent to accept the call will receive it.
    
8. Click + Add Number to add each number you want to include in your group in the phone numbers section, with the following information:
    
   • Label: Add a name to this phone number that you'll be able to remember later, such as the name of your local branch or call center agent.
   • Number: The phone number for this destination. You can click the Use Demo Number to add a dummy Invoca phone number if you'd like to test your call treatment.
   • Weight: If you chose the "In weighted order" distribution option, above, input the weight for each phone number here.
   • Enabled: When the enabled slider is active (to the right), this phone number will receive calls according to the distribution options you've chosen above. You can also click this slider (to the left) to disable a phone number from your list. Disabled phone numbers will not receive any calls and will be automatically skipped in your distribution settings until you enable the number again.
      
9. When you're finished, save your call treatment.

That's it! You've just set up your call treatment to forward to a group of numbers. Be sure to return to our guide How to understand, build, and edit a call treatment for your Invoca campaign to finish off your other call treatment nodes and test it to your heart's content. And when you're ready, go live!
 

Related:
• How to understand, build, and edit a call treatment for your Invoca campaign 
• How to route your phone calls to many different call centers using lookup tables 
• How to add speech recognition to your call treatments (IVR)