Build a flow or phone menu (IVR)

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1. 01

   Know what a flow does

   A flow is the path a conversation takes before, or instead of, reaching a person: a greeting, a menu, opening hours, questions, a lookup in your own system, and finally a queue, an agent, a voice assistant or the end. Open Flows in the menu; it is there for administrators who can manage flows. One flow can serve Voice, Digital channels or Voice and digital.

2. 02

   Create a flow

   Under New flow, type a Name and choose Start from: A blank flow, Phone line with opening hours and a menu or Chat welcome with opening hours. For a blank flow choose For as well; a template sets it for you. Choose Create and open. The phone template sends key 1 to your first queue and, when you have a published voice assistant, key 2 to it. It plays recordings named custom/menu and custom/closed, so make or replace those first (step 6).

3. 03

   Add steps from the list

   The list on the left groups the steps: Talk to the customer (Message, Menu, Ask a question, One-time code), Decide (Business hours, Condition, Set a variable), Reach people (Route to a queue, Hand over, Voice assistant, AI agent, Book a meeting), Look something up (HTTP lookup, Take payment, Payment link) and Finish (End). Choose one to place it on the canvas. Only the steps your flow's channels can run are listed.

4. 04

   Know which steps work where

   Voice assistant and Take payment run on calls only. AI agent, Payment link and Book a meeting run in chats only. A flow for Voice and digital offers only the steps both can run. To change what a flow is for, use the selector next to its name at the top of the builder.

5. 05

   Link the steps

   Drag from the round port on the right of a step to the step it should lead to, or click the port and then the step. Each exit is named: Next, Not valid, No match, Otherwise, Open, Closed, Error, Failed or Overflow. With a step selected, the Step tab lists Where each exit leads, so you can do it all from the keyboard. Make this the start sets the first step. Tidy up lays the flow out, Fit shows all of it, and Undo and Redo (Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y) take back changes. Delete removes the selected step, as does Delete node.

6. 06

   Fill in each step

   Select a step and fill in the Step tab. A Menu has an option per key, each with a Key and a Label (up to 20 characters on a chat button), and Retries before it takes No match. Business hours needs a Time zone such as Europe/Nicosia, one or more ranges per day such as 09:00-13:00, 14:00-17:00 (empty means closed) and Days closed such as 2027-12-25. Route to a queue uses Send them to queue. Hand over goes to an agent or an extension of 3 to 6 digits.

7. 07

   Give call steps a recording

   On a call every step that speaks plays a recording from your phone system, named in Recording for voice (custom/name), for example custom/welcome. Choose Type the text instead under the field to write the words and have them spoken: see Make typed voice prompts. Waiting callers can hear their place and the expected wait from the queue itself: in the queue step, use Say the caller's place in the queue, Say the expected wait and Save for this queue.

8. 08

   Allow lookups and codes on calls

   An HTTP lookup on a call is made by the platform, not by the phone system. On Flows, under Call flow settings, list the Hosts an HTTP step may call (one per line, such as api.example.com or *.example.com). Set Codes per person in ten minutes and Codes from calls per hour, all callers for one-time codes, then Save call flow settings. To send a key or token, add it under Credentials with a Name and a Value and Save credential; the lookup step then names it in Credential to send.

9. 09

   Check the flow

   The draft saves itself a few seconds after each change, and the toolbar has Save draft. The checks run as you edit: a step with a problem is outlined, and the Publish tab lists them under Checks, with each step's name as a link to it. They find steps nobody reaches, exits that lead nowhere, loops with no way out and what a call cannot do. The badge reads No problems and the list Nothing to fix. when the flow is ready. Validate runs the checks again.

10. 10

    Test it before it goes live

    Open the Test tab. For a flow on both channels choose Phone call or Chat. Set the Caller’s number or Customer’s name and When it happens, to test opening hours. Give the answers in order: keys on the Keypad, No answer for silence, or typed messages with Add. Under HTTP answers (JSON) add a pretend answer for each lookup. Choose Run the test: the steps walked light up on the canvas and the outcome is shown. Nothing is saved, sent or dialled.

11. 11

    Publish a version

    On the Publish tab, add a Note if you like and choose Publish. The draft becomes the next version and goes live where the flow runs. Under Versions each one can be checked with Compare with draft, loaded with Open as draft, or made live again with Publish this version again.

12. 12

    Put the flow on a chat or a number

    Still on Publish, under Where it runs: for chat, choose an account or widget site in Run on and Bind. For calls, choose the Phone system, type the Phone number in international format, such as +35722000000, and choose Put on this number; publish first. The table shows each number's State: live on the phone system, waiting for the phone system or refused by the phone system. Send again delivers a waiting one. Remove under Runs on takes a flow off a chat or number.

13. 13

    See how customers use it

    Choose Analytics at the top of the builder. Flow analytics shows how many sessions the flow finished on its own (Contained), Handed over, Failed or Abandoned, a row per node with Reached and Drop-off, the Commonest paths and a Path explorer that follows sessions one step at a time. Pick a period and choose Show.