Making and receiving calls in ContactPad
How do I make an outbound call?
Making an outbound call using ContactPad occurs in two stages:
Vonage Contact Center dials your phone, and your state changes to Busy Outbound. You must answer this call.
When you answer the call, Vonage Contact Center dials the number you provide.
To make an outbound call, perform the following steps:
In ContactPad, click Make Call . Your state changes automatically to Ready (Offline). In this state you are temporarily removed from any of the inbound queues you serve, giving you time to look up the contact number you wish to dial or read through your notes to prepare for your outbound call.
A new dialog box with the address book appears. For information about the address book and what it contains, see ContactPad address book.
Press Return or click Dial. An interaction card appears in ContactPad. The interaction card represents and contains information about the interaction and all channels (or parties) involved in the interaction.
Your telephone rings, and when you answer you hear ringing until you are connected to the target number.
In the following example, an agent made an outbound call to +441234567890 and was connected to the target number 49 seconds ago.
For more information about interaction cards and the information they contain, see Interaction cards in Overview of ContactPad.
Outbound call failures
When you make an outbound call, you might see receive error messages in the ContactPad message panel. These messages help you understand why calls have failed, so you can try another number, or arrange a later callback.
You can receive one of these three error messages:
Unable to place call to agent. Please try again This error occurs if your line is already in use, your line has a fault, or your telephone number is incorrect.
Unable to place call to dialled number. Please try again This error occurs if you have provided an invalid number. Check the number you want to dial, ensuring that you provide the correct national or international code.
Unable to place call - dialled number did not answer This error occurs if no one answers the phone after a configurable length of time — between 15 seconds and 3 minutes.
If messages persist, report a fault on your phone line to your Supervisor.
How do I answer an inbound call?
When you receive a call through the ContactPad you can make use of Vonage Contact Center's call control features; you can put the call on hold, consult with someone else, transfer the caller elsewhere or even control the call recordings.
When you receive an inbound call, the following things happen:
Your state automatically changes to Busy Inbound
An interaction card appears in ContactPad. The interaction card represents and contains information about the interaction and all channels (or parties) involved in the interaction.
In the following example, an agent received an inbound call from +441234567890 1 minute 22 seconds ago.
For more information about interaction cards and the information they contain, see Interaction cards in Overview of ContactPad.
The call control buttons — End interaction , Release channel , and Hold — appear in the interaction card.
Your phone starts to ring
If enabled for your account and in your browser, a web notification also appears. For more information, see Call notifications in ContactPad.
If you answer your phone, you are connected to the caller and the Consult button becomes active. If you cannot accept the call right now, you can reject it. For information about rejecting a call, see the How do I reject an incoming call? section later in this page.
You can now perform one of the following tasks:
End the call. For information about ending a call, see How do I end an inbound call? later in this page.
Put the caller on hold. Click Hold to put the caller on hold. The caller hears on-hold music or beeps and the Hold button changes to a Retrieve button. Click Retrieve to speak with the caller again.
Consult with a third party — another agent, number, short code, queue or interaction plan — about this call, and, optionally, transfer the call to that third party. For information about consulting with a third party, see How do I consult with and, optionally, transfer to a third party? later in this page.
How do I reject an inbound call?
Before you are connected to a call, you can reject it. To reject a call when you receive an inbound call, click End interaction in ContactPad. The inbound call is then returned to the queue and routed to the next available agent.
After rejecting an inbound call your state automatically goes into Ready (Blocked). You remain in the Ready (Blocked) state for the time configured in Agent No Answer Timeout (Unexpected) in User Admin. For more information, see Configuring individual users.
How do I consult with and, optionally, transfer to a third party?
While on a call, you can consult with another agent, short code, external number, interaction plan, or queue about the call.
Warm and cold transfers
A transfer can be one of two types:
Cold transfer: you transfer a call directly to a third party without connecting to the third party yourself first.
Warm transfers: you initially connect to a third party before transferring the call. Generally, you will communicate with the third party while connected to them and then perform the transfer. For example, you may pass on information about the caller to the person you're transferring them to.
The type of a transfer used depends on which features are enabled for your account.
For more information, see Warm and cold transfers in ContactPad.
To consult with a third party about your current call, start by clicking Consult . A new dialog box with the address book appears. For information about the address book and what it contains, see ContactPad address book.
What happens next depends on which features are available for your account:
If you are connected to the third party, the active call control buttons change.
Release channel , End interaction , Alternate , and Transfer — become active.
To end the consult connection, click Release channel . The active call control buttons change again. Retrieve and Consult — become active.Unsupported bulletList
To alternate between the caller and the consulted agent or number, click Alternate . You can alternate as many times as you require.
To transfer the caller to the consulted agent or number, click Transfer or hang up your telephone. The call is transferred.
How do I add another party to an existing call (conference call)?
While on a call, if enabled for your account, you can add another participant to the call, for example another agent.
To add a third party to an existing call, perform the following steps:
Click Consult to call the person you want to add to the conference (the consulted party).
To add the original party back into the call to make the call a conference call, click Retrieve . All three parties can now hear each other.
You can now perform one of the following tasks:
Disconnect the consulted party and return to a two-way call with the original party. Click Release channel .
Connect the consulted and original parties, and leave the call. Click Transfer or hang up your phone. The consulted agent now controls the call as described.
When you are in a conference call, DTMF call control is unavailable. If enabled for your account, you and your customer can, however, use DTMF tones while in a conference call. The tones will play to all parties on the call. If you need to use DTMF tones in conference calls, contact your account manager.
How do I end a call?
At the end of a call, you can end the call in one of three ways:
You, the agent, can click End interaction in ContactPad
You, the agent, can hang up
The caller can hang up
For general assistance, please contact Customer Support.
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