Playing an announcement when a call is picked up

You may want an automated greeting to play when an agent picks up a call. This might simply be a standardised welcome or might be used to impart important information. The greeting can either be read by a robot, or recorded as a sound file.

This setting works for queues when agents are working with Omni, or if they are working inbound in either the Outbound or Talk interfaces. The announcement is not played if the agent is working in the Mobile or External interfaces.

This uses the LeadML applet, which is only available if you have access to Advanced Flows, available from the LeadApp store.

Create the flow

In your Admin account:

1. Go to the Inbound page.
2. Go to the Flows subpage.
3. Click the Create call flow button. 

4. Type a Flow Name. Make sure the name you choose communicates the purpose of this flow.
5. Click the OK button.
6. Drag the LeadML applet to the Call Start area.

In the LeadML applet you can use either the <say> or <play> verbs to make your announcement.

• The <say> verb lets you specify text to be read by a robot. Follow the syntax:
  

  <say>Type your announcement here.</say>

• The <play> verb lets to play a sound file to play. Follow the syntax:

  <play>URL of file to play</play>

7. Type the LeadML instructions.
8. Click the Save button in the top left.

Use the flow in a queue

Now that you have defined what you want said or played when an agent picks up a call, you need to update the queue to play it. These instructions assume you are updating an existing queue. You can also set this option when creating a new call queue.

In your Inbound account:

1. Go to the Inbound page.
2. Go to the Queues subpage.

3. If necessary, search for the queue you wish to update.
4. Click the Edit button to the right of table for that queue.
5. In the Settings section, click the Announcement when agent picks up the call drop-down list and select the flow you created before.

Note that all flows will be shown in this drop-down list, but the only valid flows for this option are ones which only contain the LeadML applet, and that applet must only contain the say or play verbs.

6. Click the Save button in the top right.

When the announcement plays

When the agent picks up, the announcement will be played to both the agent and the caller (unless the agent is using the mobile or external interface as noted above). While the announcement is playing, only the agent in on the call, the caller is not connected until the announcement is finished.

This means that:

• During the announcement the caller and agent cannot hear each other, as they aren't both in the call until the announcement ends.
• If call recording is active, the agent is on the call and can be recorded during the announcement. The caller is not part of the call yet, and will not be recorded if they talk during the announcement.