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Set up a transfer and your agent can put a caller through to a person: straight through, or after telling your colleague what the call is about. This is the action customers most often wish they had switched on sooner, because it is what stops a caller who wants a human feeling stuck.

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Before you start

  • The phone number that should receive transfers, and a second number as a fallback.
  • A decision about the handover style, from the three below.
  • Ten minutes, and somebody available to answer your test transfer.

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The three handover styles

The contextual summary is the one worth the extra few seconds. Your colleague picks up already knowing who is on the line and what they want, which is the difference customers notice.

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Steps

1

Add the transfer action to your agent

Open your agent, go to Actions, and add a transfer action.
2

Set the number to transfer to

Enter the number that should receive the call. Add a fallback phone number as well, which is used when the first number cannot take the call.
3

Choose the handover style

Pick one of the three above. If you choose a warm transfer with a message, write the message now.
4

Decide when transfers are allowed

Leave it as any time, or attach a set of availability hours so your agent does not ring a mobile at midnight. Outside those hours it takes a message instead.
5

Tell your agent when to use it

Add a line to your instructions naming when to transfer, for example when the caller asks for a person, or when the call is urgent. An action with nothing in the instructions may never be used. See Write what your agent says.

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You will know it worked when

  • You ask your agent for a person on a test call and your phone actually rings.
  • On a warm transfer, you hear the summary or the message before the caller is connected.
  • The call record shows the transfer and its outcome.

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What happens when nobody answers

The transfer falls back: your agent tries the fallback number, and if that also fails it returns to the caller and follows your instructions. Write what should happen in that case, because “the transfer failed” is a moment the caller experiences as silence otherwise. The common failure reasons are worth knowing: the receiving phone rang out, it went to voicemail, or the person declined the call. All three look the same to the caller and different on the call record. See An action did not run.

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What else you can do here

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FAQ

Yes. Add a transfer action, set the number, and tell your agent when to use it. It can put the caller straight through, or explain the call to your colleague first.
A cold transfer connects the caller immediately with no explanation. A warm transfer tells your colleague what the call is about first, either with a message you wrote or a summary of that specific call, so they answer already knowing.
Your agent tries the fallback number you set, then returns to the caller and does whatever your instructions say. Set the fallback and write that instruction: an unanswered transfer with no plan is experienced as silence.
Yes. Attach availability hours to the transfer action and your agent takes a message outside them instead of ringing somebody. Your agent still answers the call itself around the clock.
Yes, and most small businesses do. Use a number that will not change hands, and remember the person receiving it hears a call from your Brilo number rather than the caller’s.
Only if your instructions say so, and they should. A caller who has asked twice for a human and been refused is the worst experience this product can produce. See When a caller asks for a person.
No. The minutes your agent was on the call count once. See What counts towards my usage.
Usually the receiving number rang out, went to voicemail, or declined. The call record distinguishes these, so check it before changing settings. See An action did not run.