Enable callback for a call group

Let callers hang up and keep their place in the queue, instead of waiting on hold or giving up entirely.

Let callers hang up and keep their place in the queue, instead of waiting on hold or giving up entirely.

What the caller experiences

An announcement before the queue tells them they can press a key instead of waiting. If they do, the system reads back the number they are calling from and offers three choices: have us call that number, type a different one, or go back into the queue. Either way they keep their place, and when their turn comes the system rings them and connects an agent.

Callers who abandon a queue usually try again later, so the call arrives anyway, just at a worse moment and with a more annoyed customer.

It is not a switch

Worth saying plainly, because people go looking for a checkbox. Callback is built from a set of dialplan procedures that handle the key press, the number check, the confirmation and the outbound call, and the call group is then pointed at the first of them. We set that up; there is nothing to enable in the group's own settings.

1. Tell us which call group should offer a callback, and what the announcement should say.
2. We build the dialplan procedures that handle the key press, the number check and the outbound call.
3. We point the call group at the first of them, and record or load the announcement.
4. You test it from an outside line before announcing it to customers.

The announcement is not optional

It also means the offer is made once, up front, rather than after a caller has been waiting a while. Periodic announcements during the wait are not available, so "offer it after ninety seconds" is not something we can build today. Plan the wording for a caller who has just arrived.

Withheld and switchboard numbers are handled

If the number they are calling from does not look usable, the system asks them to type one instead, and reads it back for confirmation before accepting it. So a caller behind a switchboard is not stuck; they just have to enter a direct line.

What it does to your reporting

A callback shows up in call reporting as more than one record, and the original call is recorded as missed. That is expected: from the queue's point of view the caller did hang up. If you watch a missed-call figure, it will look worse after you switch this on, and the explanation is here rather than in your team's performance.

Decide before you offer it

Only turn this on if you will call back. A missed callback is worse than a long hold: the customer expected a call, arranged their day around it, and got nothing. The system will keep trying to reach an agent for a set period, an hour by default, before it gives up.

Callbacks can also be routed to a queue of their own rather than back into the main one, which lets a small team handle them without competing with live calls. Tell us how you want that to work and we will set it up.

See also

• Create call groups and pickup groups
• Choose a call distribution strategy