Ensuring Calls Are Answered using Buyer Group Routing Behaviors

Phone calls going unanswered are a challenge for many businesses, they cost companies revenue, reputation and customer experience. So how do you make sure each call to your business is answered, and how do you ensure each and every call from your leads, customers and partners will be answered when they call?

The best way to address this challenge will depend in part on the resources available in your organization. Is there one person answering calls or one hundred? Even when you have a small number of people answering the phones, Retreaver provides options for elegantly handling every caller who tries to contact you by using the concept of Buyer Groups.

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"Continuous Ringing" Routing Behavior

Retreaver will try to connect with the first matched and available agent on a campaign, if they do not answer, then Retreaver will move on to the next agent and then to the next agent until the call eventually gets answered. This is the default routing behavior of all Retreaver campaigns.

Continuous Ringing Setup

1. Add buyers to your account (note: continuous ringing requires at least 2 buyers).

2. For each buyer set the following fields:

   • Timeout — This is how long you want Retreaver to attempt the agent before moving onto the next. For continuous ringing, you want to provide the person answering the phone with enough time to answer the phone, while not making the attempt so long that the caller hears a lot of ringing across multiple routing attempts.

     By default all buyers come with a 30 second timeout, however we recommend a timeout of about 12 seconds, this is enough time for 3 rings to be heard by the caller before moving onto the next agent if the first available but not answering.

   • Priority — If you want the agents to be sent the call in a prioritized order, set the first agent's priority as 1, the next as 2, and so on.

3. Create a Buyer Group:

   • Add all the buyers to the group.
   • Set the behavior to dial buyers separately. [ This behavior comes standard for all newly created buyers and buyer groups ]

4. Update your Campaign:

   • Edit your campaign's Routing Settings.
   • Insert your newly created Buyer Group into your campaigns routing settings.

When a call is initiated, Retreaver dials the Buyer Group and considers the available Priority 1 buyers. The first buyer is dialed, if they answer then the call is connected, if they do not answer within the Timeout window, then the next buyer is dialed until an eventual match is made.

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"Simultaneous Dialing" Routing Behavior

All the available agents in a Buyer Group will be dialed at the same time. The first to pick up the call will be connected.

Simultaneous Dialing Setup

1. Add buyers to your account (note: simultaneous dialing requires at least 2 buyers).

2. For each buyer set the following fields:

   • Timeout — This is how long you want Retreaver to attempt the agent before moving onto the next. For simultaneous dialing, you want to provide the person answering the phone with enough time to answer the phone, while not making the attempt so long that the caller hears a lot of ringing across multiple routing attempts.

     By default all buyers come with a 30 second timeout, however we recommend a timeout of about 12 seconds, this is enough time for 3 rings to be heard by the caller before moving onto the next agent if the first available but not answering.

   • Priority — If you want the agents to be sent the call in a prioritized order, set the first agent's priority as 1, the next as 2, and so on.

3. Create a Buyer Group:

   • Add all the buyers to the group.
   • Set the Behavior to Simuldial Buyers.
   • Set the Priority and Weight as though the group is a single buyer.

4. Update your Campaign:

   • Routing Settings — Use the Buyer Group in your dial routing.
   • Greetings — Add the following extra prompt messages to communicate to your buyers that they either A) got the call or B) were too slow to pick up:
     • Press 1 to accept.
     • Press 1 too slow.

When a call is initiated, Retreaver dials the Simuldial-enabled Buyer Group and considers the available buyers all at once. The first to accept the call will be connected, all other buyers attempting to accept the call will receive the "Press 1 too slow" prompt message instead.

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"Call Me Back" Routing Behavior

Used on its own or in tandem with either "Continuous Ringing" or "Simultaneous Dialing" routing behaviors. This behavior is built for capping the time spent ringing on the caller's line, then presenting a message back to the caller offering a call back when an agent becomes available.

Call Me Back Setup

1. Set up your call Buyer Group(s) for Continuous Ringing.

2. Create a new campaign called "No Buyer Found Campaign Redirect".

   This campaign will be routed into if no buyer was available from your initial campaign. It will store the "Call me back" message prompt and agent contact logic:

   • Routing Settings

     • 1 is pressed set to end.
     • 2 is pressed dial voicemail number.

   • Prompts

     • Add a "Greeting" prompt: "All our agents are currently busy. To have an agent call you back as soon as available, please press 1. To leave a voicemail, press 2"
     • Add a "1 is pressed" prompt: "Thank you. An agent will call you back as soon as possible"

   • Conversion Criteria

     • Set conversion criteria to Timer and 5 seconds.

   • Webhooks

     • Add a Webhook and set to fire on Non-conversion - If outbound call meets seconds timer and is highest matching timer
     • Set the Timer to 5 seconds
     • Set the URL to post a message to your agent system, via SMS, Zapier action or otherwise.

3. Inside of your original campaign modify the routing settings as follows:

   • Routing Settings
     • Modify your "When nothing is Pressed" routing setting, then choose "dial" and add your Buyer Group, they will be dialed as normal.
     • Include a "When no buyer answered" routing setting, then choose the "redirect to campaign" action and set it to the campaign you created in step 2 above.

Now if your original campaign does not have an agent or buyer available to answer the call, the caller will be routed into the "No Buyer Found Campaign Redirect" campaign which will play the "Call me Back" prompt and notify any desired agents that an incoming call was missed and is requesting a call back.