How to set up a keypad phone menu (IVR)

Step by step

Create the menu workflow

1. Open Automation › Workflows and click Create Workflow.
2. Choose Start from Scratch (or, to save time, Select a Recipe and look for the IVR recipe, which comes with the blocks already in place).
3. Click Add New Trigger and search for Start IVR.
4. Under Phone Number, pick the number (or numbers) this menu should answer and click Save.

Ask the caller what they need

1. Click the + below the trigger and add the Gather Input on Call action.
2. Choose Say Message (type the text and the system reads it aloud) or Play Message (upload your own audio file with the menu, for example "Press 1 for appointments, 2 for the front desk").
3. Under Number of Loops, set how many times the menu repeats while waiting for a key.
4. Turn on Match Conditions and create one branch per option: name the branch (e.g. "Pressed 1") and, under On Key Press, enter the key.
5. The None branch catches callers who don't press a valid key: use it to repeat the menu or send them to the front desk.
6. In the advanced settings you can limit how long to wait for a key (5 to 30 seconds) and stop gathering as soon as a key is pressed.
7. Click Save Action.

Route each option

1. In each branch, click the + and add Connect Call.
2. Under Connect Call To, pick the users who should answer or Add Custom Number for an external phone. You can have up to 10 destinations ring at the same time.
3. Optionally turn on Detect Voicemail (so the call isn't connected to an answering machine), Record Call, and adjust the ring Timeout (10 seconds by default).
4. For a "leave a message" option, use the Record Voicemail action; to say goodbye and hang up, use End Call, which can say or play a closing message.
5. Click Save, then Publish.
6. Call the number from a cell phone and go through every key to confirm the destinations.