What Are Prompts and How Are They Configured?

Mark Lesiw

April 16, 2018 13:37

Prompts communicate information to callers or agents and they are an important part of any call experience. Retreaver prompts are delivered via text-to-speech (a text-based message read out by the system) or via recorded audio.

Configuring Prompts

To access Prompts edit or create a Campaign. Select the Prompt you need from the drop-down menu and click the green plus to add it.

When configuring the Repeat in your Prompts, note that it plays once and then repeats the set number of times indicated. If you have a Repeat of 2, the recording will play a total of 3 times. To only play a message once, set this to 0.

About Text-to-Speech Prompts

Text-to-speech is delivered phonetically and this should be kept in mind when crafting the message. For example: You would want to space 'a m' and 'p m' when dictating a time in a message such as "Please call back between 9 a m and 5 p m". Keep this in mind when writing prompts and always test them out.

With Retreaver, you can use Tokens to insert any call Tag into the text-to-speech message to deliver data about a caller to an agent.

About Audio Prompts

We recommend using recorded voice prompts whenever practical, especially for "caller-facing" prompts as callers typically respond better to a human voice over text-to-speech.

Click the Use Audio button to enable the use of audio recordings. Retreaver accepts MP3, WAV and FLAC audio files. Need help creating voice recordings for your calls? Check out this article: Creating voices for IVR Prompts.

Available Prompts

Pre-Connection Caller Prompts

The following set of available prompts are played to the caller at the beginning of a call, before routing to an endpoint. Note - if you are warm transferring a caller, then a number the agent dials into will treat that agent as "the caller" and the following prompts will apply to them instead. If all messages are added, they would play in the following order:

Prompt Trigger	Description
Greeting	Plays after the caller dials and prior to routing decision. This greeting may be used to provide a standard greeting to callers or in tandem with routing settings "When 1 is pressed", "When 2 is pressed", etc to create a simple IVR: Example: Thank you for calling. This call may be recorded for training purposes. Example: Press 1 for sales, Press 2 for support, then press pound.
Click-to-call Greeting	Plays only for callers who arrived in the IVR via Click-to-Call. Consider using this in combination with '1 is pressed' in your Routing Settings to make sure the click-to-call isn't reaching a voicemail.
*Key Press [0-9,#,], No Key Press, Any Other Key Press**	Plays a message according to the caller's key press. This message is used in tandem with the corresponding Routing setting. Example: You have selected "Customer Service line", please wait while we connect you with a customer service representative.
Enter Extension	Plays when an extension is required by the campaign. Example: Please enter your 4 digit Customer ID so we can route your call.
Extension Failed	Plays after the caller enters an incorrect number of digits or a combination that doesn't exist. Example: Invalid entry, please try again to enter your 4 digit Customer Identification Number or if you do not know your Customer Identification Number, please enter 1 1 1 1.
Zip Code Entry	Plays a greeting to ask caller to enter their 5-digit US zip code. The entered zip code will override any geo tag already applied to the call from the phone number or from browser tagging. Note: should be used in conjunction with a "Zip Entry too many attempts" prompt to prevent infinite prompt loops if no response is given. Example: Please enter your 5 digit zip code now.
Zip Code Entry Failed	Plays should the caller enter an invalid 5-digit US zip code. Consider repeating this message at least 2 times. Example: You have entered an invalid ZIP code, please try again to enter the five digit ZIP code.
Tag Resolution Prompt	Plays when a call endpoint (buyer) requires a tag in order to determine routing selection. Example: For English press 1, for Spanish press 2, for French press 3. Example: If you are under 65 press 1, over 65 press 2
Please Hold	Plays after greetings and prompts for additional information above, the call is automatically forwarded to your endpoint agent (buyer). Example: Please hold while we connect you with the next available agent.
Music-on-hold	Plays a message or audio while trying to connect to the appropriate agent or buyer. Configure hold music by choosing a preset genre from the drop down list, upload your own audio file, or use the Text-To-Speech option to repeat a message over and over while they are connected (including using tokens to personalize the message such as "Hang in there, [first_name]. Someone will be with you shortly.")
All Handlers Closed	Plays when matching call endpoints (buyers) are found but all are closed and/or unable to take the call because they are at a concurrency cap or similar. Example: The office is currently closed. Please call back between 9 am and 5 pm.

Special Case Caller Prompts

The following prompts are used for managing specific caller circumstances:

Prompt Trigger	Description
No Handler Answered	Plays to the caller after Retreaver rings all selected agents, none have picked up, and before the call disconnects. Example: All agents are currently unavailable, please try again in a few minutes.
No Handler Matches	Plays when using Retreaver's Tags to filter what calls a Buyer will receive and not buyers match the caller's tags. Read more about How to filter calls to endpoints based on Tags. Example: Sorry, your location or selection criteria does not match any of our agents. Thank you for calling, goodbye." Caller Previously Converted
Caller Blocked	Plays if a caller has previously requested to be unsubscribed from your campaign or has been added to a Suppression List. To allow them to resubscribe let them know they need to press 7. Example: You have previously requested to be removed from this call campaign. To resubscribe press 7.
Caller Resubscribed	Plays when the caller indicates they would like to resubscribe and if their suppressed number allows them to resubscribe (i.e. not permanently blocked), after the Caller Blocked prompt and before the Greeting prompt. Example: You have been successfully resubscribed.
Resubscribe Failed	Plays if caller attempts to resubscribe and presses anything except 7. Then hangs up.
Request Real Caller Number	For use with Static Caller Numbers this plays when the caller is calling from a listed static number, and is used to request the caller provide a real phone number. Example: Please enter your 10 digit phone number followed by the pound key
Real Caller Number Entry Invalid	Plays when the requested real caller number is not entered properly or is not valid. Example: Sorry. That number is not valid. Please enter the 3 digit area code followed by the 7 digit number then press pound.
Music-on-Agent-hold	Only available with Live Call Control feature enabled, plays to the caller when the agent places them on hold.

Agent Prompts

The following prompts are only played to the endpoint agent who is answering the call:

Prompt Trigger	Description
Whisper	Plays only to the answering agent when they receive the call. Paired with Tokens it is a great way to provide caller information to the person answering the phone. The prompt is played as soon as the call is answered, so if you have an IVR keep this in mind. Example: Incoming call about $20 off offer Example: Incoming call from prospect on product page Example: Incoming call from James Smith via web form
Press 1 To Accept	Used in tandem with Simuldial Handler Groups. When a call is sent to a group of agents at the same time, this plays plays to all agents that pick up the call asking them to press 1 to accept the call. The first person to press 1 takes the call. Example: Press 1 to accept this call.
Press 1 To Slow	Plays to any agent that is too slow to press 1. Once a call is "taken" by an agent in the Simuldial Handler Group, all others will hear this message. Example: Sorry, this call has been taken by another agent.
Click-to-call Caller Not Available	Plays when a call is initiated using the Live Agent Call Initiation feature and the lead is not available for a call back after the agent is connected to the call. Example: We're sorry, we attempted to call the lead, but they are not picking up. Their number is 123-456-7890. Please call back later.

Creating Dynamic Prompts

You have the ability to reference tag values inside of prompts, communicating a personalized experience for customers and delivering critical information to call buyers prior to routing. Reference your tags inside of your prompts using [replacement_tokens], visit our guide on Dynamic Prompts to learn more.