Call routing can affect your company image

You’re busy, your customers are busy, and your team is busy. Powerful call routing ensures no one wastes time — it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Without call routing, a human would have to answer the phone and manually route callers to where they need to go. This might work well in light call volumes. But for larger businesses or even during times of high volume, call routing can reduce the burden on employees and reduce wait times for callers.

Traditional and VoIP call routing

If you’ve entered a number on your keypad, used a voice command to tell the system what you needed, entered your account number, or done anything similar, you’ve interacted with a call routing system.

In simple terms, a call routing system directs the flow of incoming calls. If it works well, it greets each caller, places them in a queue, and quickly redirects them to the appropriate party.

In the past, businesses with landlines used the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) to route calls. This traditional method of call routing would send callers through a series of terminals and physical locations until they were placed in a queue and finally able to speak to the right person.

Private Branch Exchange (PBX) A more modern alternative. Each business has its own central hub, and each user has a separate terminal and extension. While they work better than other traditional systems, PBXs are still outdated, difficult to scale, and require physical infrastructure.

Voice over Internet Protocol VoIP, on the other hand, utilizes the internet instead of physical cables and wires. VoIP uses software to connect, making it easier for businesses to manage their call routing processes, program complex queue systems, add or remove users, and make updates whenever needed.

All of this is done through a user-friendly platform that can be easily accessed through a web browser, mobile phone or desktop computer.

Call Routing for Small Business

You may think your business is too small to benefit from call routing, but the reality is that smaller businesses may see more benefits.

First, it will make you look bigger than you already are.

This gives instant trust to anyone who calls your business hotline. Best of all, it can help fill the gap when your team is busy with other tasks. If an employee isn’t at the phone, your call routing system can transfer the caller to someone else to ensure that no call goes unanswered.

Call routing is also very effective after hours and on holidays. Instead of going straight to voicemail, you can decide how to handle calls based on custom conditions you write.

Ultimately, it gives you more control over the customer experience — and it benefits your team, too. Instead of wasting time transferring calls, they can just answer the ones they can handle themselves.

Advanced call routing using IVR

Interactive Voice Response is one of the most common advanced call routing tools. It is particularly useful for large enterprises and high-volume call centers.

With IVR, callers can select from a menu of options using a keypad or voice. There are often multiple layers working together to gather information about the caller, direct them to the correct department, and even help them answer their own questions.

Overall, IVR puts callers in control and makes it easier for agents to understand their needs before they pick up the phone.

Callers tend to have a better experience because they have multiple options. Plus, IVR is faster than waiting for the next available agent—especially when it comes to making payments. Manage their bank accountslearn business hours, get your address, or get answers to frequently asked questions.

For example, a caller might:

• Select a specific department.
• Verbally state the purpose of their call.
• Browse the FAQ menu.
• If their questions are not answered, choose to call back.

Modern VoIP systems make it very simple to build and manage IVR systems. They also make it easy to manage call queues in real time or through automation. Skill-based, preferred agent, round-robin, geo-location, and last called agent are all common queue assignment strategies.

integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software makes this even more appealing. If done correctly, your IVR system can pull information about callers directly from your CRM and use that information to route the call to where it needs to go.

For example, a regular, high-ticket customer might be transferred to your sales retention team if the customer’s contract comes up for renewal.

These same call routing techniques can even be applied to text messages, emails, social media messages, and messaging apps. Combined, you get a well-oiled machine that directs every inquiry to the right place the first time.

Faster call routing isn’t always better

Many customers just want to speak to a live person as quickly as possible. But putting them directly in touch with a customer service representative isn’t always the best approach.

Well-designed call routing can provide agents with more context, helping them serve callers better and faster. While it may take a caller 30 seconds to get through to an agent, with automated system routing, they may already be working to resolve their issue before they even pick up the phone.

This also ensures that they are speaking to the right person the first time. No one likes to wait on hold or have to explain what’s going on multiple times to different people. So, those extra few seconds could save the customer from a frustrating experience.

You can even avoid human interaction altogether. The automated menu can help in various situations, such as resetting your PIN, Paymentcheck account balances, or get dates and times of upcoming events.

Wondering which IVR system is best for your business? Check out my latest roundup The best IVR system In the market.