Activating the voice channel

Switching Talk on, which assigns you a number and makes the channel live. Set the queue limits and greetings before you finish, not after.

Switching Talk on, which assigns you a number and makes the channel live. Set the queue limits and greetings before you finish, not after.

Activate it

1. Open Admin Center, then Channels, then Talk and email, then Talk.
2. On the welcome page, click Get Started.
3. On Your number, review the number Zendesk has assigned you, then click Next.
4. On Who will answer the calls, choose Everyone, Only Me or Specific Users, then click Next.
5. On Let's try your new number, place a test call or skip it.
6. Set Maximum queue size and Maximum queue wait time. Callers past either limit go to voicemail. Save.
7. Open the Greetings tab and record what callers hear.

It rings from the moment you finish. A number is assigned during activation rather than waiting for you to buy one, so treat this as switching on a live channel and not as preparation. On a trial you are limited to that assigned number or a digital line; on a paid plan you can buy more numbers or port your own later.

The settings worth thinking about

• Maximum queue size and wait. What happens when the queue is full or somebody has waited too long. Voicemail is the usual answer. The ceiling on queue size sits somewhere between 15 and 50 depending on the account, and rises into the hundreds once omnichannel routing is on. The wait runs from 1 to 20 minutes, or up to 60 on Enterprise.
• Greetings. What callers hear on connecting, waiting and reaching voicemail.
• New live call recordings are public? Whether the requester can reach the recording from their own ticket. A privacy decision sitting quietly among the general settings.
• Agent confirmation when forwarding? Whether a forwarded call needs a key press before it connects, which stops calls landing in an empty room.
• Transcribe and summarize call recordings on tickets. AI transcripts on the ticket, and a second setting sends them to Zendesk QA.

Record your greetings properly

They are the first thing every caller hears. A greeting recorded on a laptop microphone in an open office sets a tone you did not intend.

Short, clear, and recorded somewhere quiet. It is worth the ten minutes.

Then agents

Talk being active does not give anyone the ability to take calls. Agents need voice permission and a working setup, and that is a separate step.

See also

• Adding a phone number
• Giving agents access to voice
• Setting up voicemail
• Can I change the outbound caller number
• Can I turn off automatic ticket creation for calls
• Can I turn off inbound calls