Announcements
Overview
An Announcement is an activity that plays a recorded message as part of a call flow. Each announcement is connected to a recording from your Recorded Sounds library, and once the message has played the call moves on to the next activity you have configured.
Announcements are how you put information in front of a caller before anything else happens: an outage message, an office hours message, or a note about fees before a caller is connected.
The Announcements page
Open 'Announcements' from the phone system page.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Name | Your label for the announcement. |
| Next Activity Action | What happens once the message has finished playing. |
| Next Activity Value | The specific destination, such as the voicemail box or ring group. |
| Actions | 'Manage' opens the announcement. |
Use the search box to filter the list.
Adding or editing an announcement
Click 'Add Announcement', or 'Manage' on an existing row.
- Name. Your reference for the announcement. It appears in the list and wherever the announcement is used.
- Recording. The recorded sound played to the caller, chosen from your Recorded Sounds.
- Next Activity Action. Where the call goes once the message finishes, for example a voicemail box, a ring group, an auto attendant, a virtual extension or a day/night condition.
- Next Activity Value. The specific destination for the action you chose. The gear icon beside it opens that destination's own settings.
Click 'Save', then apply your changes to the phone system.
A recording with no sound file
If the recording you select has no sound file attached, the page tells you so. Upload a sound file against that recording, or use its system dial code to record one from a handset. See Recorded Sounds.
Announcement usage
When you open an existing announcement, the Announcement usage panel lists every place it is currently used, including the day/night conditions and auto attendant menus that call it, and whether it is used on a keypress or as a timeout destination.
Check this before you change or delete an announcement. It is the quickest way to see what else you are about to affect.
Common uses
Emergency and information updates
Set the first activity on a call route, such as your main number, to an Announcement. The message plays before the call continues on to reception or a menu.
To update the message later, use the system dial code attached to its recording and re-record it from a handset. No portal change is needed.
Keeping an emergency announcement in place
Leave the announcement in the call flow permanently and record a silent one second message when there is nothing to say. When you do need to tell callers something, you only have to re-record it rather than rebuild the call flow under pressure.
Auto attendant keypresses
An auto attendant keypress can send the caller to an Announcement. For example, pressing 4 for an after hours service plays a message about call out fees, then the announcement's Next Activity Action connects the caller to the right group.
Office closed messages
Create an announcement that states your business hours and set its Next Activity Action to Hangup. Attach it to a day/night condition as the first activity on a call route.
Calls arriving outside hours hear the message and are then disconnected, rather than ringing an empty office.