Menu (IVR)

Overview

A menu plays a recording and waits for the caller to press a key on the keypad. Each key you define sends the caller somewhere else: an audio player, a message box, another menu, a phone number, and so on.

This is the single most common building block. Most hotlines start with one menu as the greeting, and grow from there. In the app the building block is called Menu; the full admin page is under Advanced → IVR Menus.

How It Works

1. The caller arrives at the menu.
2. If you set a Static Intro Audio, it plays first, all the way through. Keys pressed during it are ignored.
3. The Main Menu Audio plays. The caller can press a key while it is still playing to skip ahead.
4. The caller presses a key.
   • The key matches one of your Digit Actions → the call goes to that destination.
   • The key matches nothing → the call follows When No Match Found.
5. The caller presses nothing before the menu times out → the call follows When No Input Received. If you have not set that route, the When No Match Found route is used instead.

The menu collects as many digits as the longest Digit you have defined. If your keys are 1, 2 and 3, it acts on the first key pressed. If you also define a key like 101, the menu waits for three digits.

Creating a Menu

On My Hotline you add a menu by choosing a key on the keypad and picking Menu. For the full set of options, open Advanced → IVR Menus and click New IVR Menu.

Basic Information

• IVR Menu Name (required) — how the menu is named in your admin panel and in every routing dropdown. Callers never hear it.
• Phone System Reference → Extension ID — an optional number used to reach this menu from the keypad admin. This section only appears when Show phone system reference is switched on in your account settings.

Audio Configuration

• Main Menu Audio — what callers hear when they arrive. Use the audio selector to upload a file, pick an existing recording, record from your browser, or generate text-to-speech. See Recordings, uploads and text-to-speech for all of the options.

  A menu with no audio still works: it simply waits silently for a key.

  On My Hotline this field is called Menu recording.

Menu Options

• Digit Actions — the list of keys and where each one goes. Click Add Digit Action for each key.
  • Digit (required) — the key or keys the caller presses. Only 0-9, * and # are allowed, up to 10 characters. Multi-digit keys such as 12 or 101 are fine.
  • Destination — one searchable dropdown, grouped by building block type, that asks Where should the call go? See How routing works.
  • Rows can be dragged into any order. The order is only for your own convenience; it does not affect which key wins.

More Options

This section starts collapsed.

• Static Intro Audio — played once before the menu. It plays fully, and a keypress during it will not skip ahead. Use it for announcements callers must hear.

  On My Hotline this is called Announcement before the menu (optional).

Fallback Actions

This section starts collapsed and has two boxes side by side.

• When No Input Received — where the call goes if the caller presses nothing.
• When No Match Found — where the call goes if the caller presses a key you have not defined. This is also the fallback when no more specific route matches.

Each box has the same Destination dropdown and a Clear Routing button to remove the route again.

Routing

A menu can send callers to any other building block, including back to itself. Sending a menu to itself is the normal way to repeat the greeting after a wrong key.

Number of Digits

There is no "number of digits" field on the form. The menu works it out from your keys: the longest numeric Digit you defined is how many digits it collects. Add a key 205 and the menu starts collecting three digits; delete it and the menu goes back to one.

The Digits column on the IVR Menus list reflects an older stored value and is only changed from the keypad admin menu on the phone.

Common Patterns

A front door greeting

Make one menu, point your phone number at it, and give it keys for each department: 1 to an audio player of shiurim, 2 to a message box, 0 to forward the call to your cell.

Repeat the menu on a wrong key

Set When No Match Found and When No Input Received to the menu itself. The caller hears the greeting again instead of silence.

An announcement nobody can skip

Put the announcement in Static Intro Audio and keep the options in Main Menu Audio. Callers must hear the announcement before the keypad becomes live.

A submenu

Point a key at another menu. Turn on Enable back navigation in Settings so callers can press your chosen key to step back up.

Tips

• Say the action before the key: "for shiurim, press 1" is easier to follow than "press 1 for shiurim".
• Keep a greeting under about 30 seconds. Callers who know the menu will press a key straight away anyway.
• Always set both fallbacks. A menu with no fallback simply ends the call when a caller fumbles.
• Use Access check in front of a menu when only certain callers should reach it.