This article describes how to turn on Zendesk Talk and configure general settings. Before you enable Talk, make sure to read Preparing to use Zendesk Talk to ensure your hardware and network are ready.
This article contains the following topics
Enabling Talk
To enable Zendesk Talk
- In Zendesk Support, click the Admin icon (
) in the sidebar, then click Channels > Talk. - On the Settings tab, set Enable Talk to On.
- Configure general Talk settings as described in the table below.
- When you are finished, click Save.
Talk general settings
Use these settings to configure Talk to your requirements.
| Talk setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable Talk | Turn Talk on or off. |
| Maximum queue size | Your call queue size determines how many incoming calls will be kept waiting for an available agent, whether on hold or in the callback queue, before being sent to voicemail (or an overflow number if it's configured and voicemail is off).
You can select from a range of queue sizes between 0 and 15. If you use Talk Professional or Enterprise, you can also select additional queue sizes between 20 and 50. |
| Maximum queue wait time |
Callers who wait longer than the time specified in the maximum queue wait time are sent to voicemail. Callers can dial 1 at any time to go straight to voicemail (if enabled). If voicemail is off, the caller will hear a greeting, then the call will end. Maximum queue wait time is ignored after a call is transferred. The maximum queue wait time takes precedence over the Call offering time limit setting. You can select from a range of wait times between 1 and 20 minutes (or 1 and 60 minutes if you are on a Talk Enterprise plan). |
| New live call recordings are public? | Enabling this option allows the requester to see recordings from live calls that are added to tickets. For more information, see Managing recording options in Zendesk Talk. |
| Agent confirmation when forwarding? |
When agents forward calls to their phones, this option requires agents to press a key before the call is connected to indicate that a person is answering the call and not an automated voicemail. This prevents calls from forwarding to an agent's personal voicemail if they do not answer. Forwarded calls not answered with a key confirmation are routed to voicemail and recorded in a ticket. If your agents forward calls to a phone system where personal voicemail boxes are not an issue, you can disable this option so that agents are immediately connected to callers when they answer. |
38 Comments
Hi.
We just started a voice trial and added an agent with a forwarding number, however we contact the support number we choose the call never arrives at the agent phone even if is available "via:phone". via "browser" it works.
We believe to have made the correct configurations. The response that we get when choose the phone option is that "no support agents are available", despite they are.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thank you.
If I add Talk to my service, do I have to buy credits to make calls or just purchase the service?
Hi Mari-Liis,
Welcome to the community!
Whilst it is not possible to natively configure a number to only receive voicemails, I have been able to come up with a workaround for you. Keep in mind that that this workflow is not currently supported by Zendesk, so we might not be able to help you troubleshoot if you have issues with it.
First, you will need to create a new group in Manage>People with no Talk agents in the group (e.g. 'Voicemails'). Then in the Numbers>Routing settings, set up the number to route calls to that voicemail only group. As there are no Talk agents in the group, calls will never be routed to an online agent, and users will always be prompted to leave a voicemail.
We would like to route calls from an existing number into Zendesk but roll them immediately to voice mail, and we'd get back to the customer at a later time after gathering information on their issue. Is there a way for calls to roll directly to voice mail?
Right now, the phone number we want to use is routing into my desk phone (which has its own number as well). We want to take that number off my phone and connect it to Zendesk. I'm not sure whether porting the phone number to Twilio or rerouting it to a Zendesk number would be better for us, could you please briefly tell me the pros/cons of each? We need the most cost-effective option, as support is only a part-time role in our company right now. Also, what are the per-minute cost differences between toll-free and local numbers?
Thank you!
Hi
Is there a way to schedule when to turn your phone on? I come in some mornings and totally forget to turn on my zendesk phone, but would be cool if you could schedule it just when to be on. Obviously just a 'good to have' not a 'need to have'
Hi
I'd really like to use Zendesk for making and receiving calls, but we need to use the caller ID for the company phone. As I understand it the only way we can set out own caller ID is to port our number to Zendesk? This isn't going to happen because we use the same Twilio number for other services such as SMS.
Could you tell me if it's now possible to set our own caller ID, even if it has to be a configuration at your end?
Thank you.
Hi,
Thanks for your previous reply. I've set up two groups:
First Response: Myself and Daniel (my colleague)
Second Response: Adam (Another colleague)
I was wondering whether we were able to develop it slightly.
What we wanted was a situation where myself and Daniel receive the same call, whoever gets to it first can respond. Having tried both of us it then gets passed on to Adam.
Is this possible?
Thanks,
Conrad
Hi Jessie,
Thanks for that.
Question 1
What about if I set up three groups to be the same so:
First Response: Conrad + Daniel
Second Response: Conrad + Daniel
Third Response: Adam
In this instance would it go to Conrad or Daniel, then Daniel or Conrad depending on who it didn't go to in first response, then Adam?
No problem if the groups don't work exactly like that. I'm just trying to understand the functionality as best as possible.
Question 2
Is there a way we can set it up that when someone calls they are prompted to 'press 1' to be forward to a particular department and 'press 2' to be forwarded to another.
Question 3
Is there a way we can call from our Zendesk number from a mobile rather than from the browser.
Thanks again,
Conrad
Hi there!
Is it possible to set a number to voice mail only (we receive only voicemail, no calls)?
We have few numbers where we want to receive voicemails only.
Thank you in advance!
How does the queue limit size? It sounds like it is kicking out the people with the longest wait time but I would like to just stop accepting new calls when we max out.
Also, does that include callbacks in queue?
Hi ZD team,
Is there a way to do conference calling? Having more than One Rep on the phone at a time?
Hi Emily,
Thanks for your question!
When the queue limit is reached, additional calls will go to voicemail, but callers already in queue will keep their same spot.
This does include callbacks. For max queue limit, a callback request is treated the same as a caller.
Cheers,
Is there a way to route calls to specific agents yet? Based on organisation tags or something similar?
Hi Conrad,
Here are your answers in order:
1. Voice doesn't prioritize groups in any fashion. So if any of those three groups are being routed calls from a number, each agent within those groups has the potential to get the call first. It depends on who's the "most available," i.e. who has spent the most amount of time online as well as who has taken the fewest calls in the past 24 hours.
2. There's no auto attendant functionality at this time; if you have multiple departments we'd suggest adding additional number(s) and setting the group routing accordingly.
3. There is indeed! Info can be found here: https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/203690836-Receiving-and-placing-calls-in-Zendesk-Talk#ariaid-title4
Hi there,
I posted this elsewhere but just wanted to follow up a second time.
I haven't been able to find anything on the Zendesk site about a specific problem:
When working on an email with Zendesk when you answer a call (we have it on Callbar) - how do you avoid Zendesk automatically switching to the call (interrupting your email writing)?
Thanks,
Michael @ Bulb
This article references voicemails automatically becoming tickets that contain the recording and a transcription. Is there a setting that needs to be in place for the transcription to work? Our zendesk is creating tickets off of voicemails, but I don't see the transcription anywhere.
Hi Brittany!
The "agent confirmation when forwarding" setting is hiding in Admin > Channels > Talk under the Settings page — you should see the toggle switch near the bottom of that page.
Right now it's not possible to make outbound calls through Talk from a mobile device; outbound calls still need to be made from the agent interface.
I hope this helps! Happy to help if you have any other questions on this.
Hello Chee,
So from what you are describing this isn't a feature Chat can perform. Your agent would need to activate Chat if they logged in and out of their account.
Let us know if there is anything else we can clarify for you, and if you have any other questions, please let us know.
Hi,
Is there a way you can put a preference as to which person calls are directed to.
ie. I'd like a situation where calls are automatically always forwarded first to my mobile number. Then if I can't take the call they are forwarded to my colleague.
At present it seems random as to where they go.
Thanks
Hi Chris -
It is a possibility, however that is something that your account representative will have to handle. I see that someone from your organization has already filed a ticket and that our team is currently working on this internally, so we'll continue to work with you there.
Thank you Destiny!
Hello David Judenne,
Thanks for your comment! I definitely understand what you're saying about wanting all customers to hear something that makes it clear they've reached the right company. I definitely feel that way when I call a number that simply has the generic "the number you have called is unavailable" voicemail. It's stressful wondering if you got to the right place!
If I understand correctly, the issue you're having is that when customers call in and the max queue or max wait time has been reached, they don't hear your initial greeting (explaining who you are) and only hear the voicemail greeting (saying "we're sorry all agents are currently busy"). Is that right?
Unfortunately it is not possible to change the routing on that specific feature. But it is possible to re-record that voicemail to be more personalized. The greeting you're looking to customize is the "voicemail on" greeting. What I would recommend is re-recording the voicemail to say something like "You've reached (our company) we're sorry no one is available right now!" This lets them know who you are and lets them know you're busy.
I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any trouble or further questions.
Hey Conrad!
You can make this work using Agent Groups and adjusting the Routing of your Voice calls in your Voice settings.
The first thing you'll need to do is create a group for yourself, and a different group for your colleague.
Then, go to your Voice settings, and from the Numbers tab, click on Routing. From there you'll be able to choose which groups Voice calls get routed to, and you can set a default group where calls will always be routed first provided agents are available.
This should get you where you want to go. Let me know if you need anything else!
Hi Daniel!
That's helpful, thank you! What happens if we have our voicemail turned off? We have callers saying that they are put on hold for a period of time, as long as 6 minutes, and then abruptly disconnected. That doesn't match our max queue time either. Curious as to why this would happen?
In the meantime we've increased our max queue size and it seems to have helped but want to understand how/ why this is happening.
Hi,
I would like to know if it's possible to always Enable Zendesk Talk for an Agent?
The reason for being, is if an Agent signs out of their Zendesk and signs into Zendesk, their Zendesk Talk is automatically turned off.
Chee
Hi,
My zendesk talk is the trial version, I wonder if I can configure the call forwarding to my personal phone with this zendesk version?
Thanks.
Hello Everyone,
I have a question about Talk and voice message. I setup working hour, so if get a call outside this schedule, I have a dedicate voice message inform we are close => good.
If got a call when we are open, if minimum one agent is available or away (not offline), then got a first message where we welcome customr to call our company support, we will forward you to an agent when available and the ngot the waiting music.I setup a limit of X min, when reach this limit of waiting time, then the call is going to a voice message inform customer that all Agent is busy and ask to call back later or leave us a message. I setup a max waiting queue of Y too.
This part is working well.
My problem are if anyone call us with a waiting queue that already reach the limit of Y, it going to the voice message directly saying that all Agent are busy... like when waiting time reaxh X min. Same if for any reason, no agent are connected on the morning or stay offline, system go to this voice message.
The problem with this voice message, as it start with : All our Agent are busy... the customer will not know that he reach our company, not good as he shoud get minimum a message like : welcome to our company...
And after can switch to the message inform all agent are online and busy.
I don't find how setup this, anyone can help me please ?
Thank you,
Hi Nicole!
You actually opt into Voice transcription when you subscribe to the service, so you'll find that option under your subscription settings. Bear in mind that only the account owner can manage subscriptions in Zendesk.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Hi,
Is there any way we can increse the queue size to go over 50?
If we set-up a transfer tier(press 1 for .. och press 2 for ..) can that help us to go around the maximum queue size off 50?
We have a bigger demand at the moment and are lossing to many calls everyday.
Kind regards
Hi Conrad!
I'm afraid it's not. The call will not ring in two locations at the same time. It'll go to the first available agent, then the next if the first agent doesn't answer. You have the option to make yourself unavailable if you're not able to take calls at a point during your day, whereupon the call will automatically be routed to the other agent in your group, provided he's available. You can also set yourself as available and opt not to answer the call, whereupon it'll be routed to the next agent.
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