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IVR (Interactive Voice Response)

An IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is an automated telephone system that guides callers through a menu by pressing keys on their phone. It is often used by businesses to route calls to the appropriate department without requiring an employee to answer immediately.

The sipcall IVR offers the following functions:

  • Voice menus
  • Business hours
  • Holiday settings
info

You can find our IVR video tutorial on Youtube.

1. Activate the sipcall IVR​

The IVR is activated when the sipcall voice/faxbox is set up. This means that the product "voice-/faxbox" must be enabled on the desired phone number to use the IVR. Once your sipcall voice-/faxbox is activated, you can use the IVR. Please note that the IVR runs on a single phone number, and that number will only be used for the IVR function. Other settings on this number will be ignored.

2. Access IVR​

Select the corresponding phone number where the sipcall voice-/faxbox option is enabled and choose the function "IVR".

3. Define Holidays​

In the "Manage Holidays" menu, you can restrict a single day including specific hours or define a period using a "From Date" and "To Date." For each holiday, a separate announcement can be uploaded, and a separate action can be defined. You can choose to end the call after playing the announcement, forward the caller to a specific number, or direct them to an IVR menu.

4. IVR Menu​

You can create a new IVR menu using "Add Menu". Define a name for the new IVR menu and click "Save."
The star icon defines which IVR menu is the primary menu. Any non-primary menus will only be used if linked within the primary menu (e.g., through a key press or the "Inactive" setting).

The image below shows an overview of the current menu named "Business Hours". Each menu must be edited separately and has the same layout.

Assign a custom name to each menu.

Active Times​

Specify on which weekdays and at what times the IVR menu should be active.

Announcement​

Here, the desired announcement can be uploaded, which will be played during the previously defined "active times".

Audio Formats
Which audio formats are supported?​

mp3, wav, au - up to a maximum of 1.5 MB - are supported.

What is the ideal sampling rate for the announcement?​

The ideal configuration is: PCM8000 (8000 Hz), 8 Bit, Mono

Key Inputs​

Define which actions should be executed when a key is pressed on the phone. The available keys are 0-9. Each row allows uploading a sound file that will be played before the action ("play before action"). The following actions are available:

  • Disabled: Nothing happens when the key is pressed.
  • End Call: The call is terminated.
  • Forward: Define a destination number to forward the caller. The destination number must be entered in the national format (e.g., 0442005000).
  • Voicemail: Direct the caller to voicemail. To configure and personalize voicemail, temporarily change the "sipcall voice-/faxbox settings" to "Voicebox", make the necessary changes, and then switch back to "IVR".
  • Menu: Specify that pressing a key should forward the caller to another IVR menu. The menu must be created in advance to be available in the dropdown list.
  • Call queue:: Routes the call to your call queue .

Timeout​

Define how many seconds should pass after playing the announcement before an action is executed if no key is pressed.

Inactive​

Define what action should occur outside of the defined "Active Times."

tip

Would you like to directly forward calls to a queue during business hours and have the call terminated directly after a message outside of business hours? Then check out our Negative IVR scenario in the video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sTUTeRUqxI

5. Test IVR​

You can now test the IVR by calling the IVR number for free from other SIP phones.