What is automated call routing? Benefits and options

Your business is growing, which is great — but more customers mean higher call volumes and a greater risk of missing a call. When no one answers the phone, customers may turn to your competition or become frustrated and leave negative reviews. Automated call routing can help you keep those customers and build a reputation for great service.

In this article, you’ll learn what automated call routing is, how it can help your business, and strategies to make sure every call is answered.

What is automated call routing?

Automated call routing is a system that automatically directs incoming calls to the right team member or department. It works by using phone keypad selections along with rules you set up, like routing pricing questions to your sales team. 

You may also hear it referred to as an auto-attendant, phone tree, or automated answering system. 

Benefits of a call routing system

Here are three key benefits of call routing systems for your small business:

Better customer experience

Providing excellent service is key if you want your business to keep growing. Automated call routing improves the customer experience with:

• Reduced wait times. Instead of waiting on hold until a rep can route their call, customers are quickly connected with someone who can help them.
• Better first call resolution. Customers’ issues are more likely to be fixed on the first try when you automate call routing. Callers reach an available team member in the right department instead of waiting for a call back.
• Personalized interactions. Reps from any department can access customer data and call history in your phone system or CRM. This means they can instantly pick up where the last interaction left off and avoid asking customers to repeat information.
• 24/7 availability. Routing after-hours calls to an answering service helps customers even when a live rep isn’t available. AI answering services capture important call details to make follow-ups easier.

More efficient operations

Automated call routing reduces call transfers and callbacks, which decreases call handling times. This means your team can handle more calls without needing to add staff. 

Lower costs and better use of resources

Using automated inbound call routing means you don’t have to hire a receptionist just to route calls. Options like ring groups distribute calls equally between reps in each department. That way, no one gets stuck wading through a long call queue while callers wait on hold. 

You save money, optimize workflows, and increase customer satisfaction. It’s a win-win-win. 

How does automated call routing work?

Here’s how you can use call routing to handle high call volume:

• Set up call flows for your main number and any department-specific numbers. Use different paths to send customers to reps during business hours, to an answering service, or to a voicemail message after hours.
• Configure a phone menu to filter out spam calls and help real customers reach the right departments.
• Create menu options to route calls to the right destination. This could be a ring group, a specific teammate, or a nested menu option. You can also direct callers to automated self-service options.

Quo, formerly OpenPhone, has a visual call flow builder that makes it easy to create a phone tree. Simply drag and drop routing options based on customers’ selections. You can easily update or change your call flow when you add teammates, departments, or new services.

5 automatic call routing strategies to work more efficiently

Use these five types of call routing strategies to build an intelligent call routing system:

1. Start simple: Phone menus/IVR

A phone menu with interactive voice response, IVR for short, is a system that routes callers to the right place based on what they say. Customers either press a number or say a keyword, and the system connects their call.

Use phone menus or IVR systems to:

• Provide audio recordings of basic information like business hours or address so reps don’t have to spend time answering FAQs
• Handle more phone calls than a rep could route manually
• Send calls to specific departments, such as finance, sales, HR, or customer support
• Connect customers with experienced reps who can solve their problems on the first try

As your business grows, you can add sub-menus to direct customers to the most relevant person or information. For example, you may create a sales sub-menu with options like “If you have a question about your account, press or say one. If you need help with an order, press or say two.”

💡 Pro tip: Streamline your main menu with 3-4 options. Callers often become overwhelmed with too many choices and press “0” to reach a live rep.

2. Add structure: Ring groups

Ring groups determine the order that incoming calls reach team members. They increase the likelihood that callers will connect with a person quickly rather than waiting on hold or being sent to voicemail.

Using ring groups is helpful if you have a small team and want to make sure everybody handles an equal number of calls. They can also help you send callers with complex issues to your most experienced reps first. Here’s how it works:

• Simultaneous ring groups ring all reps at once, so whoever is available can take the call.
• Round-robin ring groups distribute phone calls evenly between reps. It does this by ringing different people first each time.
• Custom order rings reps with the most expertise first before moving on to junior reps. This helps you route based on skill set.
• Single user rings the same rep each time to handle specific issues.

💡 Pro tip: Use different ring durations for different team members. Let your most experienced rep’s phone ring longer before moving on to the next rep.

3. Set boundaries: Business hours

A visual call flow builder lets you create routing rules based on conditions like business hours or rep availability. For example, it can greet callers and play phone menu options during business hours. After hours, it can send calls to your voicemail or backup answering service.

To set this up in Quo:

• Choose the number you want to configure routing options for
• Set your business hours
• Open the call flow builder
• Drag and drop call steps for during- and after-hours calls
• Configure each step, like adding menu options or placing team members in custom ring groups

💡 Pro tip: Include an after-hours message that indicates when callers can expect a response.

4. Stay flexible: Temporary call flows

Setting up a temporary call flow lets you quickly switch to a different phone menu or message whenever you need. This could be during holidays, seasonal promotions, or even company-wide meetings. You can also switch to a temporary flow in an emergency so you don’t miss important calls when you’re unavailable.

Create temporary flows in advance so you can activate them when you need them. This is more effective than changing your call flow every time your situation changes.

💡 Pro tip: Create a “backup flow” for common scenarios, like key team members being unavailable, so you’re never scrambling to reroute calls.

5. Prevent missed calls: AI answering service

For times when you and your team can’t pick up the phone, an AI agent can ensure that you don’t miss a lead. AI agents automatically answer calls, take messages, answer FAQs, and more. You can use these “virtual team members” to:

• Handle after-hours customer calls
• Take detailed messages
• Provide information, like business hours, directions, or your return process
• Capture lead details, like name, phone number, service they’re interested in, and preferred time to meet

On platforms like Quo, you can integrate an AI virtual agent right into your call flow. You can use it to answer every call, calls during specific hours, or calls from dedicated phone numbers, like the number you use for ads.

💡 Pro tip: Spend time training your AI with common questions and answers. The more specific information you give, the more helpful it becomes with callers.

How to choose the right automated call routing software

Want to make sure you get the best automated call routing software for your business? Look for these features:

• Scalability. The platform you choose should make it easy to expand. This includes adding teammates, phone numbers, and features so your call routing strategy can grow with your business.
• Integrations. Platforms that integrate with CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce automatically sync call details. Reps can refer to this information to personalize follow-ups and provide a better customer experience.
• Features. Make sure a platform has features like a call flow builder, an AI agent, an IVR menu, ring groups. Look for backup options like call forwarding so you never miss a call.
• Reliability and uptime. Check the status page of each tool to see how often the service gets interrupted. Read reviews from current and past customers for more details on how the platform performs and the kinds of businesses it’s best for.
• Reporting and analytics. Being able to monitor real-time call data like wait times, call volume spikes, and team performance can help you refine your strategy. You can use analytics to improve the call experience.
• Customer support. Free trials help you assess the responsiveness of each platform’s customer service team. Make sure you can get help when you need it.
• Security. Choose a platform that will keep your data and customers’ information safe. Look for SOC 2 compliance, end-to-end data encryption, and personal information protection.
• Ease of use. Avoid platforms with a steep learning curve or complicated interfaces. Unless you have a dedicated IT person, using a complex platform can slow your team down.

Make automated call routing easy with Quo

To keep growing your business, you need an automated call routing process that ensures every call is answered 24/7. 

With Quo, you get call routing features built for growing businesses, along with business phone features like:

• Free calling to US and Canadian phone numbers
• Easy-to-use call flow builder for customized advanced call routing
• Call recordings, transcripts, and summaries
• Conditional call forwarding functionality
• Integrations with business apps like HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Make, and Slack
• Around-the-clock call handling with Sona

Ready to get started with better, more efficient call routing?
Try a seven-day free trial of Quo today and get your first 10 calls with Sona free.

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