One of the most significant enterprise-level and small VoIP phone functions is the call screening service. It allows you to quickly identify high-value clients, block out bothersome spam calls, and boost overall productivity. But what is screening, precisely, and how does it work?
What is Call Screening?
The act of detecting an incoming caller and, as a result, selecting how best to respond to that individual call is known as call screening.
The most well-known aspect of the call screening process, caller identification, includes the caller’s name, phone number, and, in some cases, geographic location. Caller ID will also alert you if a spam caller is on the line.
At its most basic level, call screening allows agents to choose whether to accept or reject a call, pass it to another representative or department, or let it go to voicemail with the phone call screening service.
But what happens if an incoming call comes from another company phone line or a multi-family residence? How can your agents determine who is phoning, whether a family member or a firm employee? After all, your agents may see a caller from an external firm or even an internal department at your own company as a high-priority caller. Still, they will be far less inclined to interact with low-priority callers at the same place.
What Does Call Screening Entail?
The growing use of VoIP phones and significant growth in the number of accessible providers and carriers have altered how call screening services operate.
When the call comes in from a landline, the phone number is associated with a specific line. The phone system controls the precise telephone numbers that appear on the caller ID screen for individuals utilizing SIP or PRI connections.
The tough aspect isn’t locating the phone number calling your company; instead, it’s crucial to understand how these algorithms recognize the caller’s name in the screening phone calls.
Account holders’ carrier names and phone numbers are stored in CNAM (“Calling Name”) databases. The name and number of the person are based on cross-referenced between the caller’s CNAM service and the callee carrier’s CNAM database whenever an incoming or outgoing call is made.
Each receiving carrier processes these incoming calls via a calling name (CNAM) database, matching phone numbers to the owner’s name.
What to Look for in a Call Screening System?
A complex virtual office phone system enables comprehensive call forwarding, routing, and answering rules, while conventional Caller ID helps employees avoid unsolicited calls.
When agents receive an incoming call from an unknown or blocked number, today’s automatic call screening systems can deny robocalls, permanently ban a telemarketer’s or robocall number, and follow established unknown call settings with professional voicemail greetings.
Let’s look at call filtering features in more detail.
1. Call Routing
Call routing is a crucial call screening tool that connects an incoming caller straight to the relevant person or department without keeping them in wait.
Customers choose from a menu of choices read by a virtual assistant when they phone in the predetermined responding rules follow a call path based on the caller’s response.
After business hours or on holidays, intelligent call routing software is also utilized to direct calls.
2. Routing of Calls
By forwarding business calls to numbers other than the agent’s office desk phone.
When an agent works from home or on the road, calls received on their office landline phone are forwarded to their Android smartphone or Apple iOS iPhone after a specific number of rings. If the agent does not pick up their phone, the call may be moved to their home office line, a virtual phone number, or forwarded to another agent.
Each agent may choose their call routing, providing greater flexibility and faster customer response.
3. Call Filtering or Blocking
Inbound calls from specified phone numbers, area codes, and zip codes can be blocked by agents.
Auto-identification features prohibit calls from known telemarketing numbers, while anonymous call rejection stops incoming calls that do not offer caller ID information.
You can choose to play an automatic prepared message to banned numbers in addition to simply blocking the number. This minimizes the likelihood of their calling again and stops the caller from realizing they’ve been banned, depending on the message.
Only phone numbers can create an approved caller list, which prevents all other incoming calls with a call screening service.
Call filtering capabilities will operate on a landline, a desktop computer, and a mobile Android, Apple, or Google Pixel phone.
4. Do Not Disturb
The “Do Not Disturb” screen call button automatically passes calls to voicemail or other agents for a predetermined time when an agent does not want to hear incoming calls for a few hours but does not want to block calls entirely.
The Do Not Disturb function is easily turned off when the agent is ready to take calls again.
5. Text-to-Speech (TTS)
When they cannot answer the phone, they can leave a preset or personalized message for incoming callers.
Text-to-speech technology will then read the message aloud to the caller. Messages can provide alternative ways to reach the caller, provide predicted wait times, or provide tailored information.
6. Automatic Callback
Inbound callers may arrange their desired callback time, whether it’s later that day or later in the week, using automated customer callbacks. These callbacks provide convenience to your consumers and save time by reducing the need for phone tags.
Making consumers feel important and assuring them that someone will return their call is critical, especially considering that around 70% of callers who don’t respond the first time will never call back.
Advantages of Call Screening
Agents can use call screening tools to prioritize calls based on the severity of the problem and the relevance of the customer.
This improves client retention rates, saves time for staff, and speeds up the resolution process.
Screening calls also provide the following advantages:
- Phone numbers from missed calls are automatically saved.
- The rate of call center desertion has decreased.
- Getting missed calls
- Security and privacy
- Improved communication
- Self-service possibilities for customers
- Self-serve options for customers
- Self-service options for customers
Final Thoughts
The call screening service is always necessary for you because, with the help of this service, you can deal with various phone calls. You may connect with 24hvirtual to get the service.
