Call groups can play a critical role in call centers that consistently experience high call volumes, though the benefits they bring and the best times to use them are often misunderstood.
First of all, a call group—which is sometimes called a ring group—brings multiple phone lines or extensions together to handle incoming calls collectively. This is done to provide a more efficient distribution of calls among team members, ensuring that incoming calls are both answered quickly and routed smoothly to the right person or department.
A call group is often confused with a hunt group, which is a tool or feature of a phone system that distributes calls based on predefined rules. Unlike call groups, hunt groups don’t offer simultaneous ringing or dynamic call distribution features—they simply send incoming calls to a group of users until one of them is available or all of them have been tried.
Anyway, if you run a high-volume call center, there are a few key reasons why call groups should be a key feature of your phone system and overall strategy.
Improves efficiency: Call groups ensure that calls are distributed evenly among team members, ultimately reducing missed calls and improving responsiveness.
Elevates customer experience: Call groups can route calls to the right agent or department so that callers are promptly connected and led to what they need. This can significantly impact the overall customer experience.
Boosts productivity: Call groups simplify incoming call handling, which allows team members to focus on their specific areas of expertise and nail down what they’re good at.
How Call Groups Work
To set up a call group, you’ll need to add it to your phone system’s backend configuration.
The first step is to assign a unique extension to each member of the intended call group. This serves as an identifier that allows your VoIP phone system to route calls to each specific agent.
The next step is to set up your Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system so that its menu options will send callers to the call group whenever they choose the right department or service that applies to it.
Keep in mind that business hours and employee schedules need to play a role in your configurations. To reduce hiccups, you need to be sure that your system routes calls to agents based on availability. For example, calls outside of business hours can be directed to voicemails and other contact points so that callers aren’t left waiting for a call group that has nobody available to answer.
Next, you need to choose a ring pattern for your call group. Your options will usually include the following:
- Simultaneous—All call group phones ring at the same time, so the call goes to the first agent who picks up.
- Sequential or Linear—Phones in the call group will ring in a sequence, with each call being directed to the next available agent in a pre-set order.
- Round-Robin—Each call is directed to the next agent in a revolving order. This creates an equal distribution of calls among group members rather than always going to the first available agent in the same fixed order.
- Least Recent—The system will direct the call to the agent who has been idle the longest. This promotes a fair workload distribution.
- Fewest Calls—The system will direct the call to the agent who has handled the fewest calls, which helps optimize workload distribution.
- Random—Calls are routed to any available agent in the group at random.
There’s no single best ring pattern to use, so the kind you pick should depend on the nature of your business and its priorities.
For example, businesses that need quick response times may opt for a simultaneous ring time, whereas those that want to build team cohesiveness might prefer a round-robin pattern. Meanwhile, a random ringing pattern can add an element of unpredictability to the equation, which can promote a higher level of focus among agents by encouraging them to stay on their toes in case they need to answer a call.
7 Scenarios Where Call Groups Are Ideal
Call groups can be a great solution for many contact centers, but there are a number of scenarios in which they really shine—especially against hunt groups.
1. Multilingual Support
For companies that need to handle calls in different languages, creating call groups based on each one can be extremely effective and even essential.
To set up a call group for multilingual service, you can configure your call center IVR system with language prompts that direct callers to press a number for their preferred language—such as “For English, press one. Para español, oprima el dos.”
By being routed to a call group based on different languages, callers can get quick and accurate help in their preferred language, ultimately improving their experience.
Keep in mind that you can also manage multilingual calls when you don’t have multilingual speakers available, as ring groups offer voicemail boxes for callers to leave messages. This way, an agent who speaks the caller’s language can respond to the message and get back to them when they’re available.
2. Overflow Handling
In scenarios of peak call volumes, call groups are essential for managing overflow.
Setting up a call group to handle overflow calls ensures that calls are spread among available agents more efficiently during busy times. This prevents overwhelming individual agents.
You may have used a hunt group to deal with overflow situations before, but remember that a call group is probably a better solution. For example, since hunt groups use pre-set rules, they can lead to delays and uneven call distributions during high-traffic times.
Alternatively, call groups have simultaneous and distributed ring patterns, which gives them a more effective and fair way to manage overflow. They also ensure that every call is handled promptly without favoring any agents.
3. Specialized Departments
Call groups are an ideal solution for businesses with many specialized departments.
For example, when you implement distinct call groups for different departments, your phone system can efficiently direct callers to experts who can answer their questions on the first try.
Hunt groups, in comparison, lack the precision needed to handle specific departments. This can cause delays in call answering and potentially misrouted calls, leading to a more negative customer experience.
Meanwhile, since call groups are customizable, they can be tuned to meet the needs of larger businesses with multiple departments, ultimately leading to more satisfied customers.
4. Time-Sensitive Projects
Call groups also shine when you use them for time-sensitive projects and campaigns.
Traditional voicemail-based systems and alternatives like hunt groups tend to be too slow when time is of the essence.
However, due to their dynamic call distribution and simultaneous ring pattern features, call groups can be perfect for when you’re managing incoming calls on a deadline.
5. Remote Work Support
If you’ve configured your phone system to account for agents working in different time zones, then using call groups can efficiently route calls to agents based on both their availability and their location. As a result, it behooves you to use call groups when working with remote teams.
Keep in mind that hunt groups are also an option for routing calls to remote teams, but call groups are usually more precise and offer much more targeted call distribution capabilities. They’re also more scalable to handle the complexities of large, distributed organizations.
At the end of the day, a call group can promote better collaboration between remote team members and ensure calls get to the right agents no matter where they are.
6. Customer Feedback Lines
When you use a call group for customer feedback lines, you can be sure that agents will answer every call.
Many call centers use a single-line setup or a hotline for feedback—but these tend to be inefficient and provide poor coverage, which can lead to missed feedback opportunities.
With a call group, however, you can bring in a systematic and organized approach to handling customer feedback that can lead to better customer relationships and help you gather valuable business insights.
7. Emergency Response
In extremely urgent scenarios, you don’t want a call to be mishandled. This makes call groups the best choice for situations that call for rapid and coordinated emergency responses.
You can configure a call group so that multiple team members get alerted about calls simultaneously. This alone increases the chances of a fast and effective response.
Alternatively, choosing a hunt group for emergency scenarios can be risky. Unlike call groups, hunt groups don’t have simultaneous ringing or targeted routing features, which can slow down or even stall emergency response efforts.
Thus, the simultaneous ringing and dynamic call distribution features of call groups make them an essential tool for call centers dealing with urgent cases.
Call Groups Are a Must-Have
Although call groups can be helpful for any call center, they’re practically essential for modern call centers that deal with high call volumes.
First and foremost, they ensure that incoming calls are efficiently distributed among team members, which minimizes wait times and quickly directs callers to the right agent or department. This alone creates a better overall customer experience, which is critical for competitive businesses.
Secondly, call groups also boost team productivity by letting agents concentrate on their areas of expertise without slogging through a sea of misdirected calls.
After that, the fact that call groups can provide multilingual support, help manage overflow during peak calling periods, and support specialized departments and remote teams makes them a no-brainer.