Question
Can I choose which agents get a Zendesk Talk call?
Answer
Talk uses a round-robin cycle for routing calls to agents, so there is no native way to route certain calls to a specific agent profile. Unlike in Chat and Support, skills-based routing is not available for Talk.
It is also not possible to have Talk offer the same call to all agents at one time. New calls are routed first to the agent that is available for the longest time, with the longest time elapsed since they last answered a call. If declined or missed, the call is then offered to the agent who is available for the next longest time since they last answered a call, and will continue like that until the call has been answered or ended.
Depending on your plan type, you may be able to leverage the potential workarounds below.
Group Routing
With group routing, specify that a call to a specific number is routed to a specific group of agents. This allows you to have dedicated numbers for each group of customers, so that when they call their dedicated line their calls are only offered to their own customer support agents. For more information, see the article: Routing incoming calls to groups of agents.
IVR Routing
With IVR routing, use the different options in your menu to route calls to specific agent groups. For example, if the customer presses 2 for Billing and Invoices, route that call to agent groups with the relevant knowledge. For more information, see the article: Routing incoming calls with IVR.
Single-Agent Groups
It is possible to have single-agent groups for routing calls to, allowing you to route calls to just one agent. Be aware that this could cause a poor experience for the customer, as, if that agent is not available, and no additional agent groups were selected for routing, they will be directed to voicemail or have their call ended after only a short wait time.
Omnichannel routing
Set up omnichannel routing to create unified agent statuses and direct emails, calls and messaging tickets to agents based on their capacity and availability. Admins with the appropriate Explore permissions can monitor live activity. See this article: About omnichannel routing.
12 comments
LaReine Pia
Hello! I am wanting to have one specific agent answer calls. If after x amount of rings, we want it to go to a second person. Is this possible to do for each new call? We do not want to do the round-robin feature, instead of starting the cycle again for each new call: Agent One (no answer), ring to Agent 2, and then if no answer the call would then go to voicemail. And if a new call comes in, we want it to start again at agent 1. Please let me know if this is possible to do!
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Brandon (729)
Hi @... -
Although this is not a standard workflow - you can achieve the desired routing by putting each agent in their own individual call group, and then use the multi-group routing feature to sequentially stack the agents. If neither agent answers the ticket will associate with the primary group.
Hope this helps!
Brandon Tidd
729 Solutions
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Rohan Anderson
Hey! Can you please confirm if there are subscription requirements for this feature? The "Primary Group" option is currently not showing for us ("Growth" level).
Thanks.
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Brandon (729)
HI Rohan Anderson,
If you can route to different groups, the "Primary Group" option will only visualize if you have more than one group selected. Hope this helps!
Brandon Tidd
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Chaimiao Wu
Hi Team, Do you have plan to improve your product? We really need to make all agents informed when an inbound call comes. Else, our customers have to wait for a long time in the queue.
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Brett Bowser
Our Talk team is continuously making improvements to the product based off the feedback they hear from customers so I appreciate you taking the time to share this with us :) I would recommend you share your feedback in our Feedback - Voice (Talk) topic since that's actively being monitored by our product managers.
Let me know if you have any other questions!
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Jessica C
Can you clarify this sentence? New calls are routed first to the agent that is available for the longest time, with the longest time elapsed since they last answered a call. Is it the time in an available status or the time lapsed since the last call (whether available or not) that dictates the next agent?
Does this mean that if I have the following scenario, Agent C would get the call?
Agent A: Available 320 seconds, last call 6 minutes ago
Agent B: Available 10 seconds, last call 25 minutes ago
Agent C: Available 310 seconds, last call 45 minutes ago
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Brandon (729)
Hey Jessica C -
The call gets routed to the 'loneliest' agent, ie - the agent who has gone the longest without talking to a human. In this case (assuming your number represents the time the last call ended), Agent C would get routed the call first, since they have gone 45 minutes without talking to an end-user. If they miss or decline, the call would be offered to Agent B and then Agent A. If there is a hypothetical Agent D who is on a call, and A-C miss/decline, the call will be placed in a wait queue until Agent D becomes available or max queue time is exceeded (whichever comes first). Hope this helps!
0
Bonnie
Brandon (729)
Follow up to your response to Rohan, Is there a way to set the subsequent groups in a specific order? It seems to default to alphabetical order? Also if the individual user assigned to the group is offline will it automatically assign to the next group?
Thank you,
Bonnie
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Brandon (729)
Hey Bonnie -
Good question. There isn't a way to set the specific supplemental group order, but I'm also seeing the alphabet rule hold true in my development instance, so you might be onto something there. Regardless of order though, if 'Group B' is unavailable, 'Group C' will be attempted. If no connection is made, the voicemail will be associated with the primary 'Group A.' Hope this helps!
Brandon
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Jessica C
We need the ability for an end user to be able to connect with the agent they originally spoke with without having to go through the queue, be connected with the next agent in Round Robin, and then be transferred.
Our business has a lot of repeat contacts. Is setting up each agent with a phone number in Talk the only way to do this?
0
Destiny
Zendesk Talk does indeed allow for direct agent dialing, which would permit end users to connect directly with a specific agent they've previously interacted with. However, this generally requires assigning a unique number or extension per agent, which may not be suitable or cost-effective for all businesses.
Assigning each agent with a unique phone number isn't the only way to achieve this. An alternative approach is to leverage the "Call Routing with IVR (Interactive Voice Response)" feature. With an IVR system, you can create a phone tree that routes callers to groups of agents, or, in this case, specific individuals.
Keep in mind that encouraging direct communication with specific agents can be a double-edged sword. While it can enhance the customer experience by providing continuity, it could potentially lead to uneven workloads among your agents and longer waiting times if the requested agent is unavailable.
It's also worth noting that depending on your setup if the chosen agent is not available (offline or on another call), the call would typically go to voicemail. If this is not the desired behavior, you may need to consider more complex routing setups or fallbacks to ensure customers are still helped in a timely manner.
More information can be found here Can I route Talk calls to all agents at once or to specific individual agents?
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