A call queue holds callers in line, with hold music, while your agents are rung by the strategy you choose. It's ideal for support and sales lines where callers should wait for the next free person. Teams that live in the queue all day can step up to the cloud contact center with skills-based routing, with queue callbacks, live wallboards and supervisor monitoring.
Owners and admins manage queues in Admin → Settings → Settings. Switch the view to Advanced, then open Call Flows → Call queues: "Callers wait on hold while agent extensions ring (by strategy)."
Create a queue
Start
Select + New queue.
Number and name
Enter a Number of 2 to 6 digits, such as 800, and a Name, such as Support.
Choose a strategy
Pick how agents are rung. See Strategies.
Set the ring time
Ring (s) is how long each agent's phone rings before the queue tries the next. It's 20 seconds by default, and can be from 5 to 120.
Add agents
Under Agents, select each extension that answers this queue.
Save and apply
Create the queue, then select Apply Configuration.
| Error | Fix |
|---|---|
| "Queue number must be 2-6 digits" | Use 2 to 6 digits. |
| "… is already an extension/ring group/IVR/queue" | Choose an unused number. |
| "That overflow destination would create a call routing loop: …" | Choose an overflow destination that doesn't lead back to the queue. |
Strategies
| Strategy | How the next caller is offered to agents |
|---|---|
| ringall (Ring all) | Every available agent rings at once. The first to answer takes the call. |
| leastrecent (Least recent) | The agent who finished a queue call longest ago rings first. |
| fewestcalls (Fewest calls) | The agent who has taken the fewest calls from this queue rings first. |
| rrmemory (Round robin) | Agents take turns, picking up where the last call left off. |
| random (Random) | A randomly chosen available agent rings. |
The Settings list shows the short names. The Visual Flow editor shows the names in brackets.
For fairness in a busy team, leastrecent or fewestcalls is usually best. For the fastest answer with a few agents, use ringall.
Advanced options
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Overflow → | Where callers go when they can't stay in the queue, for example when it's full |
| Max callers | How many callers can wait at once. 0 means no limit, and the maximum is 999. |
| Wrap-up (s) | Breathing time after an agent finishes a call before they're offered the next, for notes. From 0 to 3,600 seconds. |
| Retry (s) | How long to wait before trying agents again after nobody answered. 2 seconds by default, up to 60. |
| Weight | For agents in several queues: queues with a higher weight, from 0 to 100, are offered to them first. |
| Hold music | Company hold music or System default. See Hold music. |
| Ring busy agents | Also rings agents who are already on a call |
| Allow join when no agents | Lets callers wait even when no agent is signed in. On by default. |
| Drop callers if all agents leave | Moves waiting callers out of the queue if the last agent leaves |
| Announce caller position | Tells callers where they are in line |
| Announce hold time | Tells callers roughly how long they'll wait |
A queue for after hours
Queues keep callers waiting as long as they're willing to hold. Put business hours in front of the queue, so callers outside opening hours go to voicemail or an announcement instead of waiting for agents who've gone home.
Skills
Skills let you staff queues with the right people, such as Spanish speakers for a Spanish line or certified technicians for tier 2 support. The Skills panel is at the top of Call queues in the Advanced view.
Create skills and tag agents
- In New skill (e.g. Spanish), type a name of up to 40 characters, pick a color, and select + Add skill.
- In the grid of agents and skills, tick each agent who has the skill, and set their proficiency from 1 to 5. The default is 3.
Deleting a skill asks "Delete this skill? Agents lose the tag and any queue routing on it is cleared."
Staff a queue from a skill
- Open an existing queue.
- In Required skill, choose the skill. The list shows how many agents have it.
- Select Staff from skill. The queue's agent list is replaced with everyone who has the skill, highest proficiency first, and you'll see "Staffed with N qualified agent(s)."
- Select Apply Configuration.
Staffing is a snapshot. When you tag more agents with a skill later, select Staff from skill again, and apply, to add them to the queue.
Change agents during the day
Supervisors with Add / remove agents or Pause agents access on the Switchboard can pause agents, or add and remove them, live. Those live changes are temporary. For a permanent change to who's in a queue, edit its Agents here.
Measure your queues
- The Wallboard shows callers waiting, longest wait, service level and abandoned calls, and lists callbacks.
- SLA alerts email supervisors when a queue falls behind.