Can I automate call routing to a specific phone number by time of day?
Yes, if your account allows it, add an overflow number when you configure business hours. This way, if customers call when all agents are busy or outside business hours, you can automatically route overflow calls to an alternate number.
If you cannot use an overflow number, you cannot automatically route calls based on a specific set of business hours. Zendesk Talk is set up so you can apply one set of business hours schedule to a phone number. Talk is also set up to automatically route calls to voicemail if a call arrives outside the applied schedule.
If you have a schedule set up for business hours, within Zendesk, for example, 8:00 am until 5:00 pm, and apply that schedule to a specific Talk number, any calls that arrive outside this schedule route straight to voicemail for that number. For more information, see Routing calls based on business hours.
As a workaround, update the greeting to include a message about business hours, indicating something to the effect of the below.
Our normal business hours are 8:00 to 5:00.
If you're calling outside this timeframe and need immediate assistance, please press 3. From there, you can have that number route to a different number or forward the call to an external number. Below are some resources to assist with setting this up.
- Creating a custom greeting and assigning it to numbers
- Route incoming calls with IVR: Creating an IVR menu