IVR Workflows
    • 11 Mar 2024
    • 7 Minutes to read
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    IVR Workflows

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    Article Summary

    Dialpad's Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is an automated telephone menu system that allows contact center supervisors and admins to create customized flows for a personalized customer experience. IVR workflows can collect user information, access CRM systems, identify callers, and create unique routing based on individual needs. This improves efficiency by freeing up agents for complex calls and providing self-service options. IVR workflows can be easily created without coding and can be edited or copied as needed. Dialpad also offers options to disconnect, reconnect, or delete workflow steps, as well as set fallback actions in case of unresponsive steps. IVR interactions can be tracked and analyzed, providing insights into customer behavior.

    Dialpad's Interactive voice response (IVR), is an automated telephone menu system that delivers dynamic, layered voice responses to customers.
    Contact center supervisors and admins can create customized flows to create a personalized experience for their clients, and get granular on specific customer painpoints. 

    The best part? There’s no coding involved and workflows can be created in minutes!

    Let's dive into the details.  

    Who can use this feature

    IVR Workflows are available to Dialpad users on all plans and licenses.

    Self-enablement is available for companies located in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. Companies in all other locations must contact customer support to enable this feature. 

    Benefit of IVR workflows

    IVR systems allow you to customize the customer experience in real-time by:

    • Collecting crucial user information (booking numbers, account numbers, etc)
    • Accessing CRM or other systems through APIs
    • Identifying the caller
    • Creating unique routing and behavior according to the individual caller’s needs

    This enables more efficient use of Agents and, in some cases, even allows the customer to resolve their question through self-service.

    IVRs do not replace the need for a live agent, but they improve customer satisfaction while freeing Agents available to handle complex inbound calls. Not only that, they provide a self-service option that can be accessed outside of business hours. 

    Workflow steps

    Dialpad's bespoke IVR steps allow you to guide your callers through personalized steps, using your voice and verbiage, ensuring the menu selection is on brand with your product.  Add as many IVR workflows as you require, and edit them anytime!

    Workflow options include:

    • Menu - Plays the menu prompt and collects the caller's menu choice
    • Collect - Collects DTMF input (great for collecting account numbers, pins etc)
    • Play - Plays audio file prompts
    • Go-to - Moves the caller to another IVR Workflow or step inside the current workflow
    • Transfer - Transfers the call to another Office, Department, User, or phone number
    • Hang-up - Ends the current call
    • Branch - Evaluates a variable (system or workflow specific) for a condition and proceeds down a different path based on the result
    • Expert - Performs API calls, logic decisions, variables, and other advanced operations
      • Expert flows must be enabled by our Professional Services team. Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager for more information

    Learn more about each IVR step in this Help Center article.

    Enable IVR Workflows

    First things first, IVR Workflows must first be enabled at the Company level. 

    Self-enablement is available for companies located in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Companies in all other locations must contact Support to enable this feature. 

    To enable IVR workflows from your Admin Portal:

    1. Navigate to Company Settings
    2. Select IVR workflows
    3. Slide the toggle to Enabled

    Once enabled, you can create a Standard IVR Workflow.

    Create an IVR Workflow

    To create an IVR workflow, head to your Admin Settings at Dialpad.com 


    1. Select IVR Workflows 
    2. Select Create Workflow
    3. Name your workflow
    4. Select the + icon
    5. Choose if you'd like to create a workflow from scratch, or use a template
    6. Select the desired actions and routing rules 
    7. Select Publish (or Save, if you'd like to save a draft)
    Tip:
    Click and hold your mouse to move (drag) the workflow diagram across your screen (you can also zoom in and out using the preview on the bottom right).

    Assign an IVR workflow

    Once an IVR workflow has been published, you need to assign it to an office, department, or contact center.

    Head to your Admin Settings at Dialpad.com


    1. Select the desired office, department, or contact center 
    2. Select Business Hours and Call Routing
    3. Navigate to Call Routing
    4. Select Edit Call Routing
    5. Choose Open Hours Routing or Closed Hours Routing
    6. Select Other Routing Options
    7. Select an IVR Workflow
    8. Select the desired IVR workflow

    Once an IVR is assigned, you'll see the number of Entry Points appear beside each IVR workflow.

    Edit an IVR Workflow

    To edit an IVR workflow, head to your Admin Settings at Dialpad.com 

    1. Select IVR Workflows 
    2. Click the More menu beside the workflow you want to delete
    3. Select Edit
    4. Make the desired changes
    5. Select Save to save your changes
    6. Select Publish to push your edits live to connected numbers

    Save vs Publish
    Save allows you to work on an IVR flow and save the changes without activating them. This is especially useful if you would like a colleague to review the updated flow. Clicking Publish pushes the changes live to all connected numbers.

    Disconnect a workflow step

    Need to add or change a step on your workflow? No problem! We've made it super easy for you. You can insert new steps effortlessly by disconnecting, reconnecting or deleting a workflow step.

    To disconnect a workflow step, log in to Dialpad.com and go to your Admin Settings

    1. Select IVR Workflows
    2. Select a workflow you want to edit
    3. Select Option (that’s the 3 vertical dots on the right)
    4. Select Edit 
    5. Navigate to the step you want to disconnect
    6. Select Option
    7. Select Disconnect

    Once you remove a step, you can change and update both workflow steps at the same time.
    Notes:
    You can work on multiple workflows but only disconnect one workflow step at a time. The step being edited is highlighed in red.
    Don't forget, there's no undo option. If you want to revert the changes, you'll have to reconstruct the workflow again.

    You can Save your unfinished workflow, but you can't Publish it until you reconnect or delete any disconnected steps.

    Reconnect a workflow step

    To reconnect a workflow step, log in to Dialpad.com and go to Admin Settings

    1. Navigate to IVR Workflows
    2. Select a workflow you want to edit
    3. Navigate to the step you want to link your workflow
    4. Select the icon
    5. Select Reconnect step
    Tip:
    You can reconnect a workflow step by dragging and dropping the top part to any icon in the workflow.

    Delete a workflow step

    No longer need a workflow step? Head to Dialpad.com and go to Admin Settings to delete a step

    1. Navigate to IVR Workflows
    2. Select a workflow you want to edit
    3. Navigate to the step you want to delete
    4. Select Option (that’s the 3 vertical dots)
    5. Select Delete


    If a workflow has a step above and below it, you’ll be prompted to choose how to delete it.

    1. Delete all: This will delete the selected step and the steps below it
    2. Delete this step: This will only delete the selected step

    That’s it! The workflow step will be deleted, but the changes aren’t permanent until saved or published.

    Tip:
    If you refresh or exit the IVR workflow page, the deleted workflow step will be there. But once you Save or Publish the changes, you can't undo them.

    Copy an IVR Workflow

    Save time by copying an existing IVR Workflow. 

    To copy an IVR Workflow, head to your Admin Settings from Dialpad.com

    1. Navigate to IVR Workflows
    2. Select the Options menu beside the IVR Workflow you'd like to copy
    3. Select Copy
    4. Name your new IVR Workflow
    5. Select the desired office(s), then select Apply
    6. Select Copy to confirm 
    Notes
    If you're copying a workflow to multiple offices, please be aware that:
    • The copied workflow will not follow the existing GoTo targets.
    • Once copied, transfer destinations will need to be adjusted to the correct office.
    • Media files will be copied, but may have duplications that will need to be reset in the destination workflow.

    IVR entry points

    Easily see where IVR workflows are connected by the Entry Points indicator.

    Here you'll see the number of targets each workflow is attached to — click on the number to see the list, and click on a target item to see it's page.

    Delete an IVR Workflow

    To delete an IVR workflow, head to your Admin Settings at Dialpad.com 

    First, you’ll need to remove any connected numbers from the IVR Workflow.


    1. Select the desired Office, Department, or Contact Center that is currently assigned to the IVR Workflow you need to delete
    2. Select Business Hours and Call Routing
    3. Navigate to Call Routing
    4. Select Edit Call Routing
    5. Choose Open Hours Routing or Closed Hours Routing
    6. Change the routing option to something other than IVR workflows. 

    Next, return to IVR Workflows from your Admin Settings.

    1. Select IVR Workflows 
    2. Click the more menu beside the workflow you want to delete
    3. Select Delete
    4. Confirm deletion
    Note:

    IVR workflows that have entry points cannot be deleted.

    Deleting a workflow cannot be undone.

    Fallback options

    Use a fallback action to route callers to an alternate line in the rare event that a step in your workflow becomes unresponsive.  

    To set a fallback action, head to your Admin Settings from Dialpad.com

    1. Select the desired contact center, department, or office
    2. Select Advanced Settings
    3. Navigate to IVR Workflows Fallback Action
      • You'll only see the fall back action option for contact centers, departments, and offices that already have an IVR workflow configured.
    4. Choose the desired fallback option
      • Voicemail: Sends the caller to the contact center's voicemail
      • Operators: Sends the caller to operators
      • Contact enter / department / offices: Sends the caller to a specific contact center, office, or department
      • Team member: Sends the caller to a specific team member
      • Room phone / external number: Sends the caller to a specific room phone or number
    Learn more
    Be sure to read our FAQ page for more information on IVR workflows. 

    Find interactions with IVR Workflows 

    Use Dialpad's Session History to easily find calls and interactions where users were guided through your IVR Workflows. 

    From the Call History section of your Admin Portal:

    1. Select Digital and workflows
    2. Select the Channel filter
    3. Select Voice
    4. Select Apply  

    View IVR Workflows in a call

    Want to see the exact steps your callers selected as navigated through your IVR workflow? 

    Once you've found the interaction from the Session History:

    1. Select the Ai icon beside the call
    2. Select Show internal messages

    That's it! Here, you'll see each IVR step, the media that played and the customer's selection.  


     
    Want to learn more?
    Check out Dialpad University's free courses covering our products and services, as well as insightful tips and best practices.

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