Configure Direct Connect Phone Line

The Direct Connect Line aims to connect inbound callers with your team members in real-time. If no one is available, the line captures a voicemail message for easy escalation within your organization, ensuring you never miss an important call.

Step 1

Navigate to Manage Account via the profile menu.

Step 2

Select Lines & Workflows from the page navigation.

Step 3

From the Lines & Workflows section, click on the phone line that you wish to configure.

Step 4

Next, choose the line type. You can opt for Multi-Workflow, Single-Workflow, Direct Connect, Cascade Connect or Interactive Voice. For this article, we will choose the Direct Connect option. Once selected, click Next. If you need assistance with Phone Line configuration, please book a training session and we'll be happy to help.

Step 5

If you're setting your phone line up for the first time, you will now be prompted to name your phone line. You can optionally provide a description for the phone line. When done, click Next.

Step 6

The Phone Line Greeting is what your caller will hear when they call your phone number and are placed into a hold queue pending a connection. You can use the default greeting or opt to record a custom greeting that provides additional information.

To set a custom greeting, decide how you would like to add a greeting. There are 3 available options for adding a greeting:

1. Create a new greeting using text-to-voice. If opting for this method of adding a greeting, you'll be prompted to type your greeting as text. We will then run the text through a text-to-speech engine and allow you to preview your greeting before assigning it to the phone line.
2. Record a new greeting. In this instance, you'll be asked to provide a direct phone number where you can be called. The application will phone you and provide step-by-step instructions on how to record, preview and save your greeting.
3. Upload an audio file. If selecting this option, you will be able to upload a pre-recorded audio file for use as a greeting on your phone line.

Choose the method you'd like to use, follow the provided instructions and finish by assigning the desired greeting to the phone line. Once done, you can click the 'play' button to verify that the correct greeting has been installed.

Step 7

At the heart of a Direct Connect Line is the ability to connect an inbound caller directly with a human being. In order to do this, we need to determine which group to connect the inbound caller with.

1. Under Recipients choose the group(s) that you want Connect Rocket to call when this line is activated.
2. Under Activation Delay choose the number of seconds that we should try to connect the inbound caller with a member of the selected group(s).

In this example, when a caller rings through to this Direct Connect Phone Line, Connect Rocket will place the inbound caller on hold while we ring all of the Contacts in the 'Operations - Supervisors' group. The first Contact in the group to pick up the call will be connected one-to-one with the caller. Any additional members who try to join the call will be advised that the call has been handled.

If we are unable to connect the caller with a member of your team before the Activation Delay period expires, we will request the caller leave a message so we can trigger a failover workflow. Connect Rocket ships with a default recording prompt but you will likely want to customize this message to improve the experience for your users. This prompt can be recorded using the same options outlined in Step 6 above.

You may to choose to record something like; "We're sorry but all staff are unavailable. Please leave a message at the prompt and a member of our team will follow-up within 15 minutes."

Step 8

Once a caller has recorded a message requesting a callback, Connect Rocket can trigger a workflow with associated actions to ensure the caller's message is escalated properly within your organization. Available actions are: notifications, conference calls and/or pager notifications. You can add one or many actions.

Adding a Notification

1. Select the group(s) that you would like to send your notification to.
2. For the purpose of this workflow, you can override the 'Off Duty' status of contacts. Tick the checkbox and the notification will be delivered to any 'Off Duty' contacts when the workflow is triggered.
3. Type your notification message. This can include URLs.
4. You can opt to add a file attachment to your notification. Any format is supported and will be uploaded to our servers. A shortened URL will be appended to your notification message. Clicking the link will allow the notification recipient to access the attachment.
5. If required, add a poll to your notification by making a selection from the dropdown menu. If you don't see any poll options, you'll need to create one first.
6. You can choose to attach a link to the captured voice message left by the caller, allowing notification recipients to hear, firsthand, the caller's message.
7. You can request a transcript of the caller's message be sent with your notification. Note that the quality can vary widely depending on call quality, background noise, etc.
8. If the line is triggered by an inbound text message, you can opt to forward the message with your notification.
9. Select the desired delivery methods for your notification. You can chose one or more of the available options. The delivery methods available to you will depend on how your account is configured.

Click Save when done.

Adding a Conference Call

1. Select the group(s) that you would like to place your call to.
2. For the purpose of this workflow, you can override the 'Off Duty' status of contacts. Tick the checkbox and the call will be placed to any 'Off Duty' contacts when the workflow is triggered.
3. Optionally, you can first try your call to all 'On Duty' contacts. If no one answers, Connect Rocket can retry the call, including all 'Off Duty' contacts in the selected group(s).
4. If you choose to add a conference introduction, the entered text will be read aloud when a call recipient picks up the conference call - providing immediate context for the nature of the call.
5. You can choose to play the voice message left by the caller when the conference call is picked up, allowing call recipients to hear, firsthand, the caller's message.
6. If you have more than one phone number, you can choose which number the conference call should be initiated from.

Click Save when done.

Adding a Pager Notification

1. Select the group(s) that you would like to send your page to.
2. For the purpose of this workflow, you can override the 'Off Duty' status of contacts. Tick the checkbox and the page will be sent to any 'Off Duty' contacts when the workflow is triggered.
3. Enter the message you wish to send via page. Valid characters include: any digit (0-9), '#' and '*'. You can add a 'w' to insert a half second pause.

Click Save when done.

Step 9

Once you have added all of your desired actions, your Direct Connect Line has been successfully configured. You can now return to the Lines & Workflows page and you will see:

1. Updated line name.
2. Line type set and identified.

If you wish to create additional workflows for this phone line, simply follow steps 7 through 8 above. If you need to make changes to the line or workflow, simply click the 'pencil' icon.