It’s important to maintain a professional balance between work and non-work hours. More often than not, we forget about that and continue replying to messages and calls even long after business hours. However, setting working hours allows you to maintain that healthy balance. It helps you present a professional image while still providing curious callers with the answers they need. Let’s take a closer look at the business hours feature.
What is business hours call routing?
Business hours call routing is a VoIP feature that allows you to redirect calls to your business number elsewhere when they arrive outside of designated hours. You can redirect calls to voicemail, set up call forwarding to send them to another number (whether a mobile number or your personal number), to another team that’s working in a different time zone, or simply have them disconnected.
When used in sync with an auto attendant, this can be a critical feature for your business. It makes you seem available at all hours (even if you are not), and it is infinitely better for your callers than having them perpetually listen to a ringing phone until they hang up annoyed.
What are business hours?
These are the hours that comprise the business day, representing the times within your working timeframe when your business is typically operational. It’s during these hours that you receive calls from inquiring customers, calls from business partners, and calls from other people you work with while running a business.
With VoIP, you can make it so you only receive calls to your business during the hours you decide to work. This means that you will not be bothered outside of your hours of business operation, unless you’ve set up a special pathway for the number that calls you.
What does the business hours feature look like?
The business hours feature is usually a simple schedule you can customize to match your company’s working hours. In MightyCall, this feature is built into your call flow editor, allowing you to determine what happens to calls during and after business hours, such as routing them to voicemail, forwarding them to a mobile number, or playing a custom message.
How to set up business hours routing in MightyCall
Setting up business hours is a very simple process. You can be in control of the calls coming your way, and not the other way around. Here’s how to do it:
- Open the MightyCall console.
- Head to the Call Flow tab.
- From there, either select an existing flow or create a new one (depending on your preference; the process remains the same for our purposes).
- Click the gray box that says “At all hours (24/7)”
- A pop-up will appear. Select “Have Business Hours”.
- Click the first drop-down to select your time zone.
- The major workdays (Monday through Friday) are automatically selected. If you want to work more (or less), select or deselect the days on which you work.
- Select your working day time slots by clicking on each time and specifying the start and end times.
- When done, be sure to click “Okay” at the bottom of the pop-up.
How does after-hours call routing work?
When you have your call routing rules set up, the system will automatically adapt to and route calls based on your business hours. It means that incoming calls to the number you set up the rules for will only go through if they arrive during the time slots you have selected.
If calls come outside of the window you have set up, don’t feel upset. You can still receive calls after you’re done working, and in turn, you can send them to different places, including voicemail greetings or another number; it all depends on your operation schedule.
Types of business hours call routing
Custom business hours
Not everyone works from 9 to 5. Some employees may operate on different schedules. However, with custom business hours, you can adjust availability so that calls are automatically routed to an alternative path when you’re unavailable.
Split working hours
Your employees may not work through the entire day. Perhaps they work in the mornings and late afternoons, or they have split availability. You can simply change the setting so that time-of-day routing can take over when you or your employees pause work for a bit.
After business hours
Sometimes you need to receive calls after work; this is when call forwarding can help. After business hours, you can use the VoIP system to create special flows and route calls to important numbers for you or your business.
After-hours routing features in MightyСall
- Send to outside numbers: MightyCall allows you to forward your incoming calls to an external number, such as a landline or a number associated with your cell phone. This is a great way to route calls after working hours, because you’ll be away from your work numbers but still accessible by other numbers.
- Forward to other teams: Some companies have teams in either different time zones or working different shifts. You can route calls to these team members, ensuring that no call goes unanswered.
- Route to voicemail: You can automatically send new calls straight to your voicemail. This is helpful when you cannot speak on the phone for a prolonged period of time.
- Play the pre-recorded audio: If you have a special sale or something new at the store, you can use this audio to inform customers about it.
Why use business hours?
This feature is used by a multitude of businesses worldwide. Some use it to organize themselves, others use it to keep their customers happy and satisfied, while some use it to deliver news, and others use it to save time for their employees. Let’s look at those reasons in more detail.
Organization
This is the most obvious reason for using this feature. Your business can organize itself easily if calls are only coming in when you want them to come in. If you have a weekly meeting that can’t be disturbed, or have set hours when you need to complete paperwork, this feature helps you carve out that time so you never need to worry about those precious moments being interrupted.
Keep your customers happy
No one likes waiting on the phone, especially when nothing is being said. Businesses that don’t use this feature ultimately force their customers to do just that: they either get disconnected immediately or ring until they figure out that you’re closed. However, this feature allows you to turn that whole idea on its head and use it to inform your customers. You can have an audio message telling them when you’re open or other helpful information.
Get the news out
Do you have something new available? Have you opened up a second location? Looking to hire some new staff, or do you have something in stock that you haven’t had for a while? Perhaps you have a limited-time sale. Whatever it is, you can use this feature to share all the good news with customers whenever you want, even when you’re not working.
Save time for your employees
Your employees, unless you work in a call center, have other things to do than answer the phone, no matter how high your call volume might get. If there are set hours when you know they can’t answer, this feature can help them focus on their task without being distracted.
Use case
Let’s say your company has teams or offices on both the East and West coasts. With clients calling from different time zones, it’s important to make sure calls are handled by someone available. Time-based routing makes this easy by routing calls based on the time of day and the caller’s location. For example, calls that come in late on the East Coast can be automatically routed to your West Coast team, where it’s still working hours. After all business hours have ended, calls can be routed to voicemail so no one is disturbed overnight. As an admin, you can easily set up and adjust these routing rules for different users or teams.
Helpful terms to know about business hours routing
- Call routing: This is the process of directing an incoming call through a preset path to its intended destination, which can be another number, voicemail, or the original caller’s number.
- VoIP: VoIP, which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, is a system that allows you to make and receive phone calls over the internet. It does so by sending digital information over the internet and then reassembling that information once it gets to its intended recipient.
- Time zone: The world is divided into twenty-four sections, one for each hour of the day. The “starting” zone is located in Great Britain and Portugal, and from there it proceeds east for the remaining 23 zones.
- Call flow: A call flow in the MightyCall system is the path calls take to get to their intended destination. These are fully customizable, and each number has one.
Ready to start using a phone system with business hours?
There’s no doubt that business hours routing is a crucial part of the operation of any modern business. Using that feature might be a game-changer for you. However, that’s not all you need, of course. You need to be able to make calls from anywhere and at any time. You need world-class security, high uptime, and a support team with a quick response time. You need MightyCall. Get calling today!
