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Glossary · Call centre operations

What is Auto attendant?

  • Also called: digital receptionist, phone menu, virtual receptionist menu

Reviewed by Sujan ThapaliyaLast updated

Definition

An auto attendant answers inbound calls with a recorded menu and routes each caller to the right destination by keypress or spoken choice. It is the front door of a phone system: no queueing, no agents, just directing traffic before anyone is involved.
The three STIR/SHAKEN attestation levels, which underpin how auto attendant behaves in practice: A asserts both that the carrier knows the customer and that the customer may use the calling number, B asserts the customer only, and C asserts neither. A shared number pool can reach B at best, which is why number ownership keeps recurring in these definitions.
Attestation is the backdrop to most caller-ID and deliverability terms, auto attendant included.

In practice

How auto attendant actually works

The failure mode is depth. Every extra layer of menu costs callers, and by the third level a meaningful share have hung up or pressed zero. Two levels is the practical maximum, and one is usually better.

Menu order should follow call volume, not the organisation chart. The option most callers need belongs first, however senior the department that would prefer to be.

An auto attendant is not an IVR in the full sense: it directs, it does not transact. Once callers are looking up balances or booking appointments through the menu, the system doing it is an IVR.

The menu is also a data source most businesses ignore. Selections tell you what callers actually want, in their own volumes, which is usually different from what the org chart assumes — and reordering options against that distribution costs nothing and is the single most effective change available to a menu.

Worked example

A three-option menu answered in eight seconds routes better than a six-option menu answered in twenty-four, even when the six options are more precise.

Auto attendant: common questions

What is the difference between an auto attendant and an IVR?
An auto attendant directs calls to people. An IVR also handles transactions — balances, bookings, payments — without an agent. Every IVR contains an auto attendant; not every auto attendant is an IVR.
How many menu options should an auto attendant have?
Three to five, on one level where possible. Callers hold roughly four options in mind while listening; past that they stop choosing and start pressing zero.
Should the menu offer an option to reach a person?
Yes, and early. A menu with no route to a human generates complaints and repeat calls, and the callers who need a person will find one regardless — usually by pressing zero repeatedly.

Sources

  1. Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication — Federal Communications CommissionThe STIR/SHAKEN framework, the attestation levels carriers sign calls with, and the mandate requiring providers to authenticate caller ID.
  2. 47 U.S.C. § 227 — Restrictions on the use of telephone equipment — Cornell Legal Information InstituteThe Telephone Consumer Protection Act itself — the consent requirements, calling-hours limits, and private right of action.
  3. ITU-T Recommendation E.164 — The international public telecommunication numbering plan — International Telecommunication UnionThe international number format, the 15-digit maximum, and how country codes and national numbers compose.

See auto attendant in the product

An IVR (interactive voice response) system answers inbound calls and routes them using a menu, a spoken request, or data it already holds about the caller. Good IVR gets someone to the right person in one step. Bad IVR is the reason people press 0 repeatedly.

Explore ivrGet early access