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When nobody can take a call, your agent can arrange a callback rather than ending on an apology. It takes the caller’s number and a time, and your team or your agent rings back. This is the fallback that turns a failed transfer into a kept customer.

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Before you start

  • An agent, and ideally a transfer action already set up, since a callback is usually the fallback when a transfer fails. See Pass the call to a person.
  • A decision about who does the calling back: your team, or your agent.
  • Outbound calling on Starter or above if your agent is doing it. See Plans and what they include.

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Steps

1

Add the callback action

In your agent’s Actions tab, add the call back action.
2

Decide who calls back

Your agent can make the call itself, or the callback can become a task for your team. Pick based on whether the reason for the callback is something your agent could handle: if the caller wanted a person, do not send your agent back.
3

Say when the callback happens

Set how soon after the call it should happen, and keep it inside hours when somebody is there.
4

Tell your agent when to offer it

In the Prompt tab, say when to offer a callback: when a transfer fails, when the caller asks for someone who is unavailable, or when the call is out of hours.
5

Test the whole path

Call your agent, ask for something that triggers a callback, and check the callback actually happens.

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You will know it worked when

  • Your agent offers a callback in the situation you described, using the caller’s own number.
  • The callback happens at the time agreed.
  • The call record shows both the original call and the callback.

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What else you can do here

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If it did not work

Your agent never offered a callback. Its instructions do not say when to. This is the most common cause for every action. The callback never happened. If your agent was making it, check that outbound calling is available on your plan, since it is switched off on Free. The callback happened at a bad time. Check the timing setting and your workspace time zone. See Workspace settings. Anything else: An action did not run.

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FAQ

Yes. Add the callback action and your agent can arrange one during the call, taking the number and a time. It is the natural fallback when a transfer fails or the caller rings out of hours.
Either, and it depends on why the callback is needed. If the caller wanted a person, send a person: an agent ringing back to say the same thing again is worse than useless.
Yes, and keep it inside hours when somebody is there. A callback promised in ten minutes and delivered the next morning costs more goodwill than not offering one.
Treat that as its own case and decide in advance: try again later, send a text, or leave it for your team. A callback that fails silently is the same problem as the original missed call.
If your agent is making the call, yes, which means Starter or above. If the callback is a task for your team, your plan does not matter. See Plans and what they include.
Check whether outbound calling is available on your plan, whether the time fell inside your allowed hours, and whether the number taken from the caller was usable. The call record shows what was attempted.