Auto Attendant and IVR Menus
Press one for sales. Most businesses that install a menu should not have one, and the ones that should need it to be shorter than they think.
Request a quoteA menu is a tax on every caller
An auto attendant answers the call and offers options. It is genuinely useful when a business has departments that are meaningfully different — a service desk that is not sales, a parts counter that is not accounts — and when a real proportion of callers know which one they want. Under those conditions it saves everybody time, including the person who would otherwise transfer every call by hand.
It is a mistake when it is installed to sound larger than you are. A twelve-person business with one menu of five options makes every caller listen to twenty seconds of choices to reach a room where anybody could have helped them. That is a cost paid by every single caller so that nobody has to answer a phone. A hunt group would have been faster for the caller and cheaper for the business.
If you do need one, the design rules are short: no more than four options, put the most-used first, always offer a route to a person, and never build a second level unless the volume genuinely justifies it. The recording matters as much as the structure — a clear, unhurried voice recorded properly rather than a mobile in an open-plan office. And whatever the menu says, every branch has to land somewhere that is actually answered.
Getting it right
Four options maximum
Callers stop listening after four. Anything longer means the last option is rarely chosen.
Most-used first
Order by real call volume, not by the org chart. Sales is not first because sales asked.
Always a route to a person
A menu with no way through to a human is the most reliable way to lose a caller for good.
Different after hours
The closed-hours greeting should say when you open, not offer options nobody can answer.
Professionally recorded
Studio-recorded prompts, consistent voice. Not a mobile recording made in an open-plan office.
Every branch answered
Each option lands on a group rather than a single desk, so no choice becomes a dead end.
Who we work with
We are independent of any single network or vendor, so the recommendation follows the requirement.
Telephony platforms
Hosted, on-premise or Microsoft Teams — the right answer depends on the building, not on what we prefer to sell.
Network and vendor names and logos are the trademarks of their respective owners, shown to describe the services SCG Solutions supplies.
Do you actually need one?
- Yes, if departments are genuinely different and callers know which they want
- Yes, if one team is being interrupted constantly by calls meant for another
- Probably not, if fewer than twenty people work there
- Probably not, if the reason is to sound like a larger company
- Definitely not, if the menu would have five or more options
- Never, if any branch would ring somewhere nobody reliably answers
Auto Attendant and IVR Menus — Common Questions
How many options should a menu have?
Four at the most. Callers stop absorbing choices after about four, so a fifth option is rarely selected and mostly adds waiting time for everyone. If you genuinely have more than four destinations, that is usually a sign the menu is being asked to do the job of a receptionist or a hunt group.
Should we have a menu at all?
Only if departments are meaningfully different and a real share of callers know which they want. If fewer than about twenty people work there and most of them could help most callers, a hunt group answers faster and costs less. Installing a menu to sound larger than you are taxes every caller for no benefit.
Can callers still reach a person?
They should always be able to, and it is worth saying so in the greeting. A menu with no route to a human is the most reliable way to lose a caller permanently, and it is the single most common complaint about business phone menus. Pressing zero, or simply waiting, should reach somebody.
Do we need a professional recording?
It is worth it. Prompts recorded on a mobile in an open-plan office are immediately recognisable and they are the first thing a new caller hears about you. Studio recordings keep one consistent voice across the greeting, the closed message and any holiday message, which is what makes it sound deliberate.
What should the out-of-hours greeting say?
When you open, and how to reach you in the meantime. Offering options nobody can answer is worse than saying you are closed, because it implies somebody is there. If there is a genuine emergency route, that should be the only option offered outside working hours.
Can we change the menu ourselves?
Yes — greetings, options and destinations are all editable through a portal without raising a ticket, which matters for holiday messages and unexpected closures. It is worth making sure more than one person knows how, since menu changes are always needed at short notice.
More Telephony Solutions
- Evonex Hosted Telephony
- Microsoft Teams Calling with Fuse 2
- Microsoft Teams Calling Costs: Direct Routing vs an Operator Licence
- SIP Trunking
- On-Premise Telephony & NEC Phone Systems
- SIP Trunking vs Cloud Telephony
- Gamma Horizon Hosted Telephony
- Evonex vs Gamma Horizon
- The Big Switch Off — PSTN & ISDN
- Switching Business Telecoms Provider
- Business Telecoms Contract Renewal: What to Check Before You Sign Again
- Bundling Phone, Mobile and Internet: Is One Supplier Actually Cheaper?
- Contact Centre Solutions
- Call Recording for Business
- Number Porting: Keeping Your Number When You Change Supplier
- Out-of-Hours and On-Call Call Routing
- Hunt Groups and Call Queues
- Phone Systems Across Multiple Sites
- Alarm, Lift and Emergency Lines After the Switch Off
- Call Analytics and Reporting
- Seasonal Capacity: Paying for Your Peak Only in the Peak
We will tell you if you do not need one
It happens often. Tell us how many people you have, what they do and what callers usually want, and we will say whether a menu earns its place — or whether a hunt group answers faster and costs less.