These settings will have a large impact on what happens when calls come into a Group. Here is a breakdown of what each setting does.
There is a limit of 10 calls at any one time, so if you put more than 10 people into a Group Priority Box, we many not be able to call all of the people who are available.
Call distribution mode
Simultaneous Distribution
If you choose Simultaneous distribution, calls will ring all available people in each Priority Box (1, 2 or 3) at the same time before calling those in the next box, until the call is answered. The people in each Priority Box will be called for the Ring time per person. If people are set to away, they are moved down one Priority Box.
Balanced Distribution
If you choose Balanced distribution, calls will ring one person at a time. The first person will be the person from Priority Box 1 who is currently available and has waited for the longest time since they were on a call. If this person doesn’t answer, the person with the next longest wait time will be called. Once all of the people in Priority Box 1 have been called, those in Priority Box 2 will be attempted. Calls attempts will be made to each person in turn until the Total ringing time has been reached. Calls are not automatically distributed to people whose status is currently Red (on a call or busy) or Grey (offline or invisible).
Total ringing time
Depending on the Call distribution mode that you have selected, this setting decides how long the call will ring before it is sent to voicemail.
If you choose Simultaneous distribution, the total ringing time will be the Ring time per person multiplied by how many Priority Boxes you wish to ring. For example, if your Ring time per person is 9s and your Total ringing time is 18s, we will just ring people in Priority Boxes 1 and 2 before sending the call to voicemail.
If you choose Balanced distribution, this setting will limit the number of people that we’ll attempt to call before sending the call to voicemail. This prevents the call having to go through all of your people before getting the opportunity to leave a voicemail.
Ring time per person
This setting changes the time that the people in each Priority Box (1, 2 and 3) will be called before rolling to the people in the next box. We’ve found that 95% of people answer calls within the first 12 seconds that the phone is ringing. Callers typically abandon phone calls after between 25 and 40 seconds of ringing. We recommend setting this so that your total ring time is between 30 and 40 seconds (when your voicemail greeting will play).
Try people more than once
If you turn on this setting, people in box 1 will be called on the second attempt while we're also calling people in box 2. All of these people will be called again on the third attempt while calling people in box 3. This means that the boxes are cumulative. Be careful turning this on, as it can be quite annoying for larger teams. This feature is in beta because we're still figuring out the quirks, we'd love to hear your feedback on how it's working for your team.