Maintaining consumer trust in the voice communication channel is critical. Consumers expect to receive wanted and personalized communications while being protected from spam and unwanted calls. This guide provides updated best practices for maintaining a positive caller reputation.

Why does caller reputation matter?
Throughout the industry, there are continued and increasing efforts to reduce unwanted calls to consumers. These efforts can often lead to calls being screened or blocked. This can make it difficult for your legitimate business calls to reach customers and get answered. We have compiled a list of recommendations and best practices to maintain a positive caller reputation, minimize being blocked or flagged as spam, and improve answer rates.

Trust Center
The software provides a Trust Center as a resource to engage with our customers to build trust within the telephony ecosystem. By registering in the Trust Center, our customers are able to experience increased voice call deliverability rates and higher call answer rates. The Trust Center allows customers to register their business profile, including Know Your Customer (KYC) information.

• SHAKEN/STIR: Increase trust in your calls by displaying a trust indicator like "Caller Verified” on the called party’s phone.

• Caller ID Name (CNAM): Display the name of your business on the called party’s phone using Caller ID Name (CNAM) service.
  For full details, see our related support article.

Telemarketing and Advertising Requirements & Best Practices
If the platform's Voice Services are used to place telemarketing or advertising voice calls, the following industry best practices and rules governing telemarketing calls must be followed to reduce the risk of disciplinary action by us, CPaaS providers, carriers, and/or third-party analytic providers.

If special circumstances justify deviation from these guidelines (such as a recruiting website with multiple positions or a debt collector), document your practices on your website.

1. Compliance with TSR, TCPA, Truth-In-Caller ID (US calls only)
   a. Unless an exception applies, calls covered by the TCPA must have consent from the call recipient. The level of consent that the caller must obtain prior to placing a call depends on whether the call is classified as “informational” or “telemarketing”.

   • For telemarketing calls, callers must obtain prior express written consent.

   • For informational calls, callers are only required to obtain prior express consent.
     Because the TCPA is a strict liability statute, the sender of an autodialed call can be held liable for violating the TCPA, even if the sender had a reasonable, good-faith belief that it was calling a landline.

2. b. Time Restrictions (TSR requirement): Callers cannot place calls outside the hours of 8 AM to 9 PM, local time for the called party. Some states impose stricter requirements, including no calls on Sunday or on legal holidays and different hour restrictions. Bear in mind that the area code may not be indicative of the location of the called party (e.g., someone with a Los Angeles (213) area code may have moved to New York).
   c. Repeated Calls: Telemarketers cannot engage in fraudulent or abusive behavior, including causing any telephone to ring or engaging any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy, abuse, or harass any person at the called number. Example: “Limit calls to a given number to 2 in a single day and no more than 5 in a month.”
   d. Call Content: Additional disclosures may apply where a caller will accept a sales order or charitable contribution over the phone or is marketing certain types of regulated products or services. Additionally, the TSR restricts calls with abusive or fraudulent content.
   e. Reassigned Numbers Database: Called numbers should be checked against the Reassigned Numbers Database on a regular scheduled cadence (using the date of consent or last verified Established Business Relationship (EBR)).

3. Best Practices When Placing a Call
   a. When calling a given number repeatedly, use the same caller-ID for each call.
   b. Associate a descriptive Caller ID Name (CNAM) with your caller-ID(s) (e.g., Phone Numbers). See Brand Your Calls Using CNAM for instructions.
   c. Announce the name of the caller at the beginning of the message. The name must be clear and unambiguous regarding its affiliation to the caller.
   d. Announce how consent was obtained.
   Example: Hi, this is Gloria with AAA Insurance, Salt Lake City, Utah. Conrad Doe came to the BestInsuranceDeals.com website last week and requested that we call with an auto insurance quote. Is Conrad available?
   e. Allow at least 30 seconds (5 ring cycles) for the called party to answer. Ensure the called party hears audio within 2 seconds of the greeting. No silent calls.

4. Managing customer concerns when calls are answered
   a. Address any questions or concerns raised about the nature of the call before continuing. Be prepared to offer a web URL and telephone number where the called party can turn for more information.
   b. If the called party indicates that they did not consent, or that they are no longer interested and wish to revoke consent, indicate that you will not call again and remove them from your call list.
   c. If the call is answered by voicemail, do not hang up. Leave a message with the elements in (1b) above, plus a call-back number. The call-back number should answer 24×7 and include an opt-out mechanism.

Positive Caller Reputation Basic Do’s and Don’ts

• Comply with all "Do Not Call" lists (e.g., https://www.donotcall.gov/ US Only), and other Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) Act 47 U.S.C. § 227 requirements (US Only).

• Keep your calling list(s) up to date and remove numbers that don’t connect.

• Unreasonable answer and completion rates are often associated with spam, so you don’t want to be calling unassigned or disconnected numbers regularly, and no random “wardialing.”

• Provide a number and/or contact information that called parties can use to report alleged violations.

• Be aware and mindful of carrier practices related to intra-exchange calls and legitimate code-prefixes for the destination phone number in the “from” number, aka "neighbor" calls. This method is often used by spam callers. Network operator call screening algorithms are aggressively monitoring for this behavior.

• Be consistent in your phone number usage.

• Avoid using the same telephone number for multiple purposes (i.e., marketing, surveys, and support callbacks). To help reduce the likelihood of your calls being categorized as spam, we recommend aligning the context and content of your calls over a specific phone number throughout the life of your campaign. Phone numbers that have been reassigned for other purposes should wait at least 45 days before being reintroduced in a new campaign.

• Be consistent in your outbound call volume.

• If your use case allows it, attempt to maintain a regular traffic volume, without unusual spiking.

• Gradually ramp up new campaign call volume incrementally over time, and avoid going from zero to full volume in a short period of time. Calls for legitimate business purposes should not be too frequent or outside of common working hours. What is deemed too frequent varies by use case. For example, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act notes that 8 calls to a recipient phone number within seven consecutive days is considered to be harassment, and the caller can be fined. For some products/services, customers can specify how many times they want to be contacted and their preferred contact channels.

• US ONLY: If you are following all best practices and still being labeled as spam, your best recourse will be to add your numbers to https://freecallerregistry.com/fcr by following this support article to remediate 'Spam Likely' on your Caller ID using Free Caller Registry. Here, you can register your phone numbers for legitimate calls to the major US cellular providers.

In this article, we will learn how we can increase our call answer rates by remediating 'spam likely' / 'potential spam' / 'scam likely' on the caller ID in the US (US only).

If the phone number flagged as 'spam likely' is relatively new or not critical to your business or has a FTC complaint, we recommend trashing the phone number and getting a new one. It's faster, easier, and more convenient for you compared to remediating the 'spam likely' tag.

If the phone number flagged as 'spam likely' is important to you and you can't replace it with a new one, we recommend registering on Free Caller Registry.

What is Free Caller Registry?
Carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon use analytics engines to generate and maintain spam scores for caller IDs. These three carriers have different analytics engines. All three analytics engines partnered to create Free Caller Registry, where you can submit a single request and all of them will reconsider the 'spam likely' tag on your caller ID.

How to submit a request on Free Caller Registry?
Go to Free Caller Registry
Click on 'Register Here'
Fill out this information to the best of your knowledge

The recommended values for some fields have been shown in the screenshot above. They're also listed below:
Display name (beside Phone Number): blank
I believe my calls are: Other
Service Providers: Twilio
Please provide further information if you have received specific feedback ... : blank
Click 'Submit'
Within 4 business days, the spam flag should be removed. If it is NOT, then you can re-submit this on Free Caller Registry or try submitting it directly on the three analytics engines. Their links are stated below:

Hiya (AT&T): https://hiyahelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=824667
First Orion (T-Mobile): https://firstorion.com/register-your-number/
Transaction Network Services (Verizon): https://reportarobocall.com/trf/

Frequently Asked Questions
How much time does this usually take?
Usually around 4 business days for all three analytics engines.

How many times can I submit this?
As many times as you want. No limits at all.

How much does a submission cost?
It's free of cost.

In this article, we will understand how 'Ring Incoming call to all Users'/'Ring Incoming call to multiple users' option works.

Why do we need 'Ring Incoming call to multiple users'?

You may have a phone number for incoming calls that is quite important for your business. You want no calls to go unanswered. So you want to direct calls made to this number to multiple people in your team. This is where 'Ring multiple users' comes in. With this option, incoming calls made to your number can be directed to multiple people in your team. The first one to answer the call speaks to the caller; others don't need to do anything.

How can you set up 'Ring Incoming call to multiple users'?

Go to your account > Settings > Phone numbers > Edit configuration (3 dots in phone number row) > 'Ring Incoming Call to multiple Users'
Enable the checkbox
Add one or more users to the field (up to 7 users)
Click on 'Save'

How does the call flow when 'Ring Incoming Call to multiple Users'?

Incoming call flow in order of priority:

• Incoming call goes to Workflow/IVR/Automation: Ring Incoming Call to multiple Users does NOT work

• Incoming call goes to User linked to the called number: Ring Incoming Call to multiple Users works

• Incoming call goes to User linked to the contact who called: Ring Incoming Call to multiple Users works

• Incoming call goes to forwarding number: Ring Incoming Call to multiple Users works

• Incoming call goes to business profile phone number: Ring Incoming Call to multiple Users works

How do I select which device the users receive the call on?

If you want to specify a particular device type/channel where you want your user to receive the call via 'Ring Incoming call to multiple users', you can go under your account > Settings > My Staff > Edit user > Call & Voicemail Settings > Default Channel for Ring All. This option can be configured for each individual user.

FAQs

How many people can I ring in parallel with 'Ring Incoming call for multiple users'?

You can ring up to 7 users in parallel with this option. The first one to answer the call talks to the caller; the rest do not.

On which device would these users receive the call?

Each user can set their preference regarding which device they want to use to answer the calls routed through ring incoming call for multiple users. This can be done under your account > Settings > My Staff > Edit user > Call & Voicemail Settings > Default Channel for Ring All.

What if one of the users under 'Ring Incoming call for multiple users' declines the call?

The call will keep ringing other users as usual. One user declining the incoming call won't affect the other users.

What if there's a 'Forwarding number' and 'Ring Incoming call for multiple users' setup at the same time?

All of them will receive the call. The first one to answer the call remains connected to the caller.

If a phone number is linked to a user and I add that user under 'Ring Incoming Call to multiple Users' too, what will happen?

Since the phone number is already linked to the user, they will receive a call as per preferences set under Settings > My Staff > Call & Voicemail settings > Forward calls to. The channel set under 'Default channel for Ring all' will not be used since the user is already supposed to be getting a call.

From time to time, you might notice that your outbound calls are being labeled as "Spam Likely" or "Scam Likely" when reaching out to potential leads. To address this issue and remove such nuisance labels from your numbers, we recommend registering your tracking numbers using the Free Caller Registry.

It's important to note that this registration process is specifically designed for U.S. phone numbers. If you're dealing with international numbers, we suggest getting in touch with the terminating carrier responsible for marking your outbound calls as spam. Requesting adjustments to your outbound caller ID through the respective carrier can help resolve this matter.

Getting Started
The Free Caller Registry employs a standardized and centralized procedure, enabling entities engaged in legitimate outbound phone calls to submit their data to the three service providers of call management services supporting major U.S. wireless carriers.

Registering Numbers on Free Caller Registry
The Free Caller Registry employs a standardized and centralized procedure, enabling entities engaged in legitimate outbound phone calls to submit their data to the three service providers of call management services supporting major U.S. wireless carriers.

Step 1: Visit the Free Caller Registry website.

Step 2: Click Register here.

Step 3: Complete the form.

Step 4: Click Send verification code. (The Free Caller Registry will send the code immediately).

Step 5: Enter the verification code in the Enter verification code from email field.

Step 6: Click Submit.

Within three to five days of submission, expect confirmation emails from the three providers responsible for updating all U.S.-based carriers. These emails will either confirm or deny the update. Additionally, you may receive an email from these providers, prompting you to establish an account to finalize the submission process.

Form Field FAQs
Below is a description of how to correctly fill each form field with the correct phone number format and company information.

Add a list of the tracking phone numbers you'd like to register. You will need to provide the following items:

• Tracking number.

• Display Name (the name you expect to show when calling a customer).

• For lists larger than 20 numbers, use the Upload Additional Numbers option - File upload must be in Text or Excel format and less than 100KB in size (+15554443333 format, all on separate lines or cells).

Choose a business category within the I believe my calls are section.

• Contact Name.

• Company Phone.

• Email.

• Calling Company Name (your company name).

• Calling Company Address (your company address).

• City.

• State.

• Zip Code.

• Calling Company URL (your website).

• Service Provider (your phone provider).

• Calls per month (estimate).

Provide further information if you have received feedback from customers that your phone numbers are being labeled incorrectly.

Should you have any questions or require further clarification on this process, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Support team for assistance.

Outbound Calls Blocked or Labeled as Spam or Scam Likely
Robocalls and caller ID spoofing have become a serious problem in recent years, with the FTC estimating that Americans received 40.7 billion robocalls in 2019 alone. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created the protocols in response to the growing problem of illegal robocalls. As a result, carriers have been forced to implement authentication protocols.

What is a nuisance call label?
Customers conducting legitimate voice business might find their outbound calls labeled as ‘Scam Likely’, 'Spam', ‘Fraud Risk', 'Robo Call', or another variant, depending on the app, device, or network. Such labels can be frustrating, potentially leading to unanswered calls or even blockages.

It's essential to understand that these labels, along with any call blocks or filtering, are implemented by the recipient's carrier, their analytics partners, or the recipient themselves, not by the software. Since the software neither filters these calls nor adds the labels, our ability to address the issue is limited. There are steps you can take to potentially reduce or eliminate these labels and call blockages, but success isn't guaranteed.

This article details the measures you can adopt to position your business optimally against call blockages and nuisance labels.

How do I remove a nuisance label or call filtering from my Twilio phone number?
Here are some steps you can take to mitigate nuisance labels, blocked calls, or call filtering associated with your phone number:

US Numbers: Register your US numbers with the FCC.

They have a free registry site, https://www.freecallerregistry.com/fcr/, which liaises with major analytic companies supporting key US wireless carriers. Registering can help remove a negative label on your call.

International Numbers:
Currently, we cannot assist with nuisance labels for international numbers. We suggest contacting the terminating carrier marking your calls as spam and working with them directly.

CNAM registration:

Updating or adding CNAM might increase call answers by offering accurate caller information, though it won't affect nuisance labels. CNAM is a feature in the United States public telephone network that identifies an incoming caller by a personal or business name associated with the calling party.

Note: CNAM doesn't remove nuisance labels, but accurate caller information can enhance answer rates.

Go to Settings > Phone numbers > Trust center > CNAM (Voice)

Setting up SHAKEN/STIR:

SHAKEN/STIR is a set of protocols designed to authenticate caller ID information and verify that it is coming from a legitimate source. The protocol works by using digital certificates to validate the caller's identity. When a call is made, the caller's identity is verified through these certificates, which are then stored in an online database. This ensures that when someone receives a call, they can trust that it is coming from who they think it is.

Note: SHAKEN/STIR won't remove nuisance labels but may boost answer rates due to the "Trusted Call" label.

How to Apply for SHAKEN/STIR
After submitting their Business Profile, admin users can register for SHAKEN/STIR.

1. Click on Shaken/STIR (Voice) > Click on Start Registration
   

2. Fill out Business Details; if your brand is already approved, you don't have to fill this out
   

3. Fill out Business Address
   

4. Fill out Authorized Rep details
   

5. Submit registration
   

6. You will get the success message for the submission.
   The approval might take up to 4 days.

FAQ

How will phone numbers be linked to the SHAKEN/STIR Profile?
All numbers will be Linked Automatically. All current available numbers and future bought numbers will automatically be linked with the registered SHAKEN/STIR.

How can it be that even though the client is A2P and Shaken/Stir approved with a verified caller ID setup, the business name does not show up when making calls?
To display the business name, it would be the CNAM Registration, a new feature that's coming soon. The verified caller ID feature only changes the Twilio number to display as the actual business number or the client's personal cell phone.

Will registering my number fix mislabeled calls?
While registration often rectifies mislabeling, it's not foolproof. Registered numbers can still be flagged based on suspicious call patterns or consumer reports. Thus, we advise:

• Monitoring call behavior for unusual traffic spikes.

• Adhering to TCPA laws, FCC regulations, and our Acceptable Use Policy.

Should I register numbers I just acquired?
Absolutely. Nuisance labels aren't auto-removed when a number's previous ownership changes. Always register new numbers.

The transfer won't give you a list of contacts. The idea is that an agent is on a call with the customer already and he wants to transfer the call to his colleague.

So, for both transfers, we are showing the users and the forwarding numbers from Settings -> Team management.

If you only have one User:
It won't show a list of contacts (these need to be dialled); it shows the users like the test here:

If calling works for the desktop dialer here, but it failed using the mobile app only:

1. Check if the Twilio Account SID is a master account or an account Once you are in the account view, Click on Settings

Or simply go to https://app.gosoftware.com/settings/twilio

Click on Twilio

Depending on which location you are having this issue, make sure the account SID is different from the master Account SID on top.

We always need to use a Twilio account SID to configure for the locations to call properly using the mobile app.

Another common case is that the location user would provide their own Twilio SID, which might be a Master Account SID that won't work with the mobile app.

For locations that will be using the account's Twilio account

Here are the steps to fix it if the location is currently using the Master Account SID:

Click Update Credentials by clicking the three dots on the right to delete the connection

Click Delete connection here

Click Create Account so a Twilio account will be created based on your account's Twilio master account configured on top

Once the account is created, click Move numbers to move the numbers from the client's master account to its account.

If the move number tool is showing an error, please reach out to Twilio support to help move the numbers:

Move Number Not Working

For locations that will be using your client's own Twilio account, there are two ways to fix it if the location is currently using your client's Master Account SID:

1st method: Create an account in the client's Twilio account -> Move numbers -> Update in the software

How to Create a new account in Twilio from Console:

Access the Accounts page in Console.
Click Create new Account, or the Icon_New.png icon.
Enter the desired account name, and then click Create.

Once it is created, click into the account and copy the Account SID and auth token.

The client can open a ticket with Twilio to move the numbers from the master account to the account by following the instructions here.

Click Update Credentials by clicking the three dots on the right

Paste the copied account SID and auth token here and click Save

2nd method: Use the software to create an account based on the client's Twilio account SID

Click Update Credentials by clicking the three dots on the right

Click Delete connection here

Once it's blank, scroll up and replace your master Account SID and auth token with your client's own Twilio master account SID and auth token.

Click Create account so a Twilio account will be created based on your client's Twilio master account.

Once the account is created, click Move numbers to move the numbers from the client's master account to its account.

If the move number tool is showing an error, please reach out to Twilio support to help move the numbers:

Move Number Not Working

Once those numbers are showing up in the location, you can switch back to your master Account SID and auth token here

2. Check if the TwiML app's location ID is correct if the location is already using a Twilio account SID

Link to enter:

https://api.gosoftware.com/twilio/create_application/<location_id>

Interpreting Call Error Codes
On WebApp

If you're having issues with call quality during a call, you'll likely see an error code at the top of your platform dashboard. You can view the meaning of each error code here.

The most common errors are:

• high-rtt - Round-trip-time (RTT) is the network's latency measure. Higher latency can result in perceptible delays in audio.

• high-jitter - Jitter is the measure of variability at which packets arrive at the SDK sensors. High jitter can result in audio quality problems on the call, such as crackling and choppy audio.

• high-packet-loss - Packet loss is measured as the percentage of packets sent but not received at the SDK sensors. High packet loss can result in choppy audio or a dropped call.

On Mobile App
The software, LeadConnector, or your Whitelabel Mobile App has safety built-in to notify your clients when bad call quality is experienced.

• high-rtt: We detect high round-trip time on this network. You might experience perceptible delays.

• low-mos: The call quality on this network might be affected.

• high-jitter: We detect high jitter on this network. You could experience choppy audio or crackling noises.

• high-packet-loss: We detect high packet loss on this network. You could experience choppy audio or crackling noises.

If you are using LC Phone System
As the LeadConnector Phone System is relatively new, we are continually monitoring the quality of the user experience. We have periodic surveys that ask for feedback on the call’s quality. This is super important and necessary for developing and honing this feature. The surveys will show up every four calls as long as the feedback is submitted. This will become less frequent as time goes on as we collect more data and improve the app. Thank you for helping us work towards a more seamless system.

In our experience, in most cases, the reason for bad call quality is a bad internet connection or a bad router.

Step 1 - Check the quality of your internet connection
VoIP breaks audio data into small chunks called packets to transfer them over the internet. This means a bad internet connection or a router might affect your audio quality.

Please head over to Cloudflare Speed Test and do a test.

It is recommended to have at least a 50MBPS uplink/downlink connection with a jitter of less than 10ms and Ping of less than 40ms. If you have an inferior connection to the mentioned specs, you may need to upgrade your internet or router.

Step 2 - Check VoIP Compatibility
You can check the VoIP compatibility of your internet connection by heading over to - 8x8 Test

If you see any warnings (like in the example above), you may need to upgrade your internet, router, or computer to improve your call quality.

Step 3 - Check your Computer (or mobile) hardware
VoIP connections require your computer to perform heavy computations; therefore, if you are using an old machine, it is expected to have problems with VoIP call quality.

If you are using your own Twilio Account
If you are using your own Twilio account, you need to open a ticket to determine the cause of bad call quality with Twilio.

Also, be sure to run: Twilio Network Test
Twilio Audio Quality Troubleshooting

Twilio isn't able to help me. What are my options?

Option 1 - Move to LeadConnector Phone System
Moving to LeadConnector Phone System might save you a lot of trouble that comes with managing Twilio as it is completely managed by the software.

Option 2 - Look for Configuration Issues
Log in to your Twilio account -> View your accounts -> Select your account -> Monitor -> Logs -> Errors and check if you have any common errors listed there.

Once you have identified the root cause for the error, your call experience should improve significantly.

Blind Transfer

Search for a contact, click on the contact to transfer, and end the current call.

Warm Transfer
Search for a contact, click on the contact to call, and hold the current call. Once they pick up, you can merge them. 

FAQs:

1. If I log in as the user with an assigned number, why are calls going from the default number?

Calls will be dialed out from the user-assigned number only if the user has "only assigned data" enabled and the user role is set to User.

If the user doesn't have "only assigned data" enabled and the user role is Admin, the default number will be used to call. To switch the number to use for outbound calls, once we click on the dialer, we can select the number from the "Call from" dropdown here. 

2. Why is the call disconnected in the mobile app only?

3. I can't dial out from the account, the call drops right away when I try to call out using the dialer.
Check out the troubleshooting guide for outbound calls using the dialer on the desktop web app.

4. Why can't I find contacts in the live transfer window for a warm transfer?

For inbound calling to work, you must purchase a number within your account and assign it to a user.

How to set up Inbound Call

1. Login into your account.

2. Head into 'settings' > 'My Staff' > Click the 'Edit' button.

3. Scroll down to 'Call and Voicemail Settings' > Assign a number to the user.

4. Select forward calls to the mobile app.

How does it work?
When the check box is selected, all the calls to the assigned number will be routed to the mobile app. The mobile app will receive a notification and pick up a call.

FAQ

Why am I getting two calls?
When an inbound call is made, the call will be forwarded to the mobile app. Inbound calls will only work if one of these three numbers is valid:

1. Call forwarding number
2. User phone number
3. Company phone numbers are valid.

If I log in to multiple devices, will I get called on all the devices?
You will get calls simultaneously for up to 10 devices that are logged in. When any of the calls are received, the remaining will disconnect automatically. This will not work for multiple users.

What if I am part of multiple accounts and have inbound calling enabled?
You will only receive calls on the account you switched to last. If the app is closed, it will remember the last account details, and calls will continue to come in for the last account. If you switch to an account where inbound calling is not available, you won't receive calls from any other account.

What happens when I get two calls and pick up one?
Calls will be automatically disconnected if one of the simultaneous calls is picked either from the device or natively.

Two ways to capture Call results:

1. Call Connect feature

This feature requires that the receiver press a key in order to connect the call, resulting in higher accuracy for call reporting. After you enable this option, you will need to update the whisper message, as this feature requires that the receiver press a key to connect the call.

2. Call timeout

If you don't want to use the Call Connect feature, you can adjust the Incoming Call Timeout based on how soon the forwarding number's voicemail answers.

We recommend using a Call Timeout of 20 seconds or lower depending on your forwarding number.

Example: If your forwarding number's voicemail answers within 15 seconds, set the Call Timeout to 10 seconds so it will drop the Call forwarding before it reaches your voicemail. This will mark the Call as answered because we are not able to determine if it's a human or a voicemail answering the call.

You can upload your own voicemail here.

Where do calls go when a lead calls back?

ncoming Call to a Phone number
Priority 1: User Phone Assignment. Is the phone number that the contact called assigned to a user?	✅ Yes	Forward to the phone number assigned user's cell phone
❌  No  ❌
Priority 2: Contact User Assignment. Is the contact/lead calling assigned to a user?	✅ Yes	Forward to the assigned user's cell phone
❌  No  ❌
Priority 3: Forwarding Number. Does the phone number called have a forwarding number set?	✅ Yes	Forward to the phone number's "Forwarding Number" field, e.g. business cell phone
❌  No  ❌
Priority 4: Business Profile Settings.  Is there a number in the Company Phone field in the Business info tab on the location settings page?	✅ Yes	Forward to the number in Business Info tab > Company Phone field if 'Forward calls to business phone number' is checked

FAQs:

1. How would we know which Phone number the contact call if we have more than one Phone number?

Go to Conversations > Look up the contact > Hover over the Inbound call to click on the three dots > Click on Details

To: You can view which Phone number the contact called here:

2. How to check if the Phone number is assigned to a user?

 Once you are in the sub-account, Click Settings at the bottom left:

Click on My Staff > Click on Edit (pick any one user to edit)

Expand Call & Voicemail Settings

Once you click the Select Phone Number dropdown

• If it says Phone number (already assigned to another user) and you don't know which user it is, the only way to check will be to Edit each user to Expand Call & Voicemail Settings section to find out which user the number is assigned to.

If you see a Phone number like this, e.g. my Phone number is (778) 907-0712

That means all calls to the assigned Phone number (778) 907-0712 will be routed to this user's phone number.

Even if the lead is assigned to another user, inbound calls will always always always go to the user's phone number.

Check what the user phone number is > Expand User Info in the first section to check the user phone number.

If there's no user phone number, it will fall back to the forwarding number set in phone number settings.

3. How to check if 'Ring user assigned to called number' is checked or not?

You can see this option under account view > Settings > Phone Numbers > Advanced Settings > Voice Calls > Inbound Call 

4. How to check if the contact/lead inbound call number is assigned to a user?

Once you are in the sub-account, Click on Contacts

Lookup the phone number of the contact who called the Phone number on the top right Quick Search box

Click on the contact

Check if the contact is Assigned to any users on top

If it's assigned to User A, all inbound calls will go to User A

But if the Phone number that the contact dialed is assigned to user B already - 1st priority where the Phone number is assigned to the user, all inbound calls will go to User B even if the contact is assigned to User A.

5. How to check if 'Forward calls to business phone number' is checked or not?

You can see this option under account view > Settings > Phone Numbers > Advanced Settings > Voice Calls > Inbound Call 

6. If you already checked, no Phone number is assigned to the users, no forwarding number configured, the call still forwards, why?

Please check if there's a company Phone set in 

Business Information > Company Phone

7. What happens if I don't configure any forwarding numbers?

The call will drop immediately after we call the Phone number.

8. Can I configure the Phone number to go to a voicemail directly?

You can configure the Voicemail For Company And For Users. 

One way might be to get a Google voice number with the voicemail configured and put it in the forwarding number.

Set the incoming call timeout to 1 second so it will drop the call faster in 2-3 rings.

Or you can assign the Phone number to a user and receive Inbound Calling on Mobile APP.

9. I always want calls to forward to one number no matter what, how do I set this up?

You can set up a new user, and assign the Phone number to the user. All the calls will always go to that user's phone number.

10. When we call the Phone number, it disconnects right away, and it won't even ring, we already reset and bought a new number but it's still showing the same issue?

Edit the Phone number and check if there are any custom values set up in the whisper message. Broken custom values will affect incoming calls and cause it to drop.

Another possible reason is that the Phone number might not be voice capable. In this article How to check logs for a specific Call in Twilio, it will navigate how to also check the Phone number's capabilities. 

11. Can we do call forwarding with an extension?

Only when a Phone number is assigned to users. There’s an extension field next to user's phone number. All the calls will always go to that user's phone number.

Scenario: A lead receives a SMS or call from a your account's campaign. The lead calls back the number they see on their caller ID, which is the phone number originally setup (seen in Settings -> Phone Numbers). Where does the call go?

Company Phone (First Layer):

If there is no Call Forwarding Number and the lead is not assigned to a specific user via a user assigned campaign...

the call will be forwarded to the Company Phone.

To update the Company Phone follow the steps below:

1. Click Settings on the client view.
2. Click Company.
3. Update the number found in the Company Phone field.
4. Click Update Company.

Call Forwarding Number (Second Layer):

If there is a Call Forwarding Number and the lead is not assigned to a specific user via a user assigned campaign...

the call will be forwarded to the Call Forwarding Number.

To update the Call Forwarding Number follow the steps below:

1. Click Settings on the client view.
2. Click Phone Numbers.
3. Update the Call Forwarding Number of the selected default outbound number.
4. Click Save.

User Phone (Third Layer)

If the lead is assigned to a user via a user assigned campaign...

the call will be forwarded to the User Phone.

To update the User Phone follow the steps below:

1. Click Settings on the client view.
2. Click Team Management.
3. Click Edit for the user who was assigned the lead.
4. Update the Phone field.
5. Click Save.

Call & Voicemail Drop Events Print

Voicemails are a great way to reach customers and let them know about your business. Voicemail drops are a quick and inexpensive way to determine if your messages are getting through. Your voicemail drop could be the first step toward increasing sales and customer satisfaction. Get started right away by ordering your free voicemail drop from our website.

In this article, we will cover Call and Voicemail drop events.

Prerequisites:

• You have already purchased a number in your account (Phone Guide)
• You have pre-recorded audio files that are mp3/wav files (64kbps) as outlined here
• You have taken the user's consent for automated calls in order to drop voicemails

How to set up automated calls and voicemail drops in Workflow 

• Once you are in your account, click Automation on the left menu.

• Click on Create Workflow.

• Click on Start from scratch… then Click on Create a new workflow.

• After you configure the workflow trigger, click on Add your first Action.

• Click on Assign to User if you want the calls to go to the assigned user's phone number configured.
  
• If no one is assigned, the calls will route based on the Inbound Call Routing - Explained.

• Click on Call, then followed by a voicemail action.

What happens

• By default, the call whisper states, "You have a new lead, John Smith. Press any button to connect."
• You can modify the Call whisper message here:

Voicemail detection

• When the lead can't answer the call, you will hear this message: "Couldn't connect with the lead," and the call ends. You can't leave a personalized voicemail if this occurs.
• To leave a personalized voicemail with our Call event, go to the settings of the call step, and you can turn on "Disable Voicemail Detection."

You can upload the voicemail file here:

FAQs

My voicemail file is not working.

1. Go to https://online-audio-converter.com/ and upload the voicemail file. Otherwise, you can create a new file here https://www.rev.com/onlinevoicerecorder

2. Select 64kbps MP3, the lower the better.

3. Upload back to the platform's voicemail campaign/workflow.

Are voicemail drops legal? 

• Voicemail drops are legal as long as you have the user's consent before dropping the voicemail. Otherwise, they are illegal. The TCPA applies to ringless voicemail drops because they are considered a form of communication that uses an automated dialing system and a prerecorded message. Therefore, you need to have prior express consent from the recipients before sending them ringless voicemail drops. Otherwise, you may face lawsuits and fines from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or private parties.

Why am I not able to drop more voicemails? 

• Voicemail drop limits ramp up as you spend more time with us:

Day 1: 100 drops per day
Day 2: 200 drops per day
Day 3: 300 drops per day...
Day 7: 700 drops per day
Day 7 onwards: 2000 drops per day

TLDR: Voicemail drops rely on a carrier trick. This is how all voicemail drops work, and as a result, they only work about 70% of the time.

1. Make sure that the microphone is allowed in the browser you are calling from

• To Turn on app permissions for your microphone in Windows 10
  
• To Control access to the microphone on Mac

2. Check if the microphone is allowed for the software web page on your browser:

• Click on the lock icon on the top right > Is microphone allowed?

3. Check if there are any Google extensions (VPN) that might block the call dialing.

• Or disable any VPN within the device.

4. Check if it works using the Google Chrome guest browser.

• You could try using the Guest browser of Google Chrome where there are no other extensions. Log in to the platform from the guest browser to make a call.

5. Edit the Twilio number - Outbound Call Timeout - Make sure it's more than 20 seconds so it will dial for longer.

6.  Try to log in to the platform on your mobile phone's browser (not the mobile app) and see if you can call from there using cellular data instead of the WiFi network.

• This will help determine if the issue is device-specific or WiFi-specific.

7. Check if the TwiML app's location ID is correct if the location is already using a Twilio account SID.

• Link to enter:
  https://api.yourplatform.com/twilio/create_application/<location_id>

FAQs

1. How can I change the microphone that I want to use for calling?
   Use the following links for more information, based on your system:
   • To Turn on app permissions for your microphone in Windows 10
   • To Control access to the microphone on Mac

How to enable/change Twilio Geo Permissions

• Log in to https://console.twilio.com/
  
• Type geo on the top right search bar
  
• Click on Voice or SMS Geographic Permissions
  
• Select the country here:

Please provide the following information to our support chat so we can escalate this to the Phone team to disable geo permission for certain countries.

1. Location ID: Copy and Paste the location ID here

2. Specify the countries that you want to disable/enable texting/calling in:

• Please convert this into a ticket for me so a Phone specialist could disable geo permission for certain countries.

If you are using the software's phone system, all locations will be enabled with geo permission for most countries except high-risk countries.

Voice Geographic Permissions

SMS Geographic Permissions

1. North America

2. Asia

3. Europe

4. South America

5. Africa

6. Oceania & Global

Number pools are a great way to track the calls driven by paid campaigns. Using number pools, you can attribute call-tracking conversations based on specific phone numbers being shown to leads that land on designated landing pages and websites. These numbers(s) are only displayed on specific pages and are only shown to leads who take a specific course of action. They’re also known as “call tracking codes,” but we call them “number pools.”

In this article, we’ll go over how to set up number pools so you can start collecting data about your visitors. 

How to set up number pools for call tracking

Update: We can't enter gclid in the URL to imitate Google ads now. It should be from the actual Google ads.

Please Note:

Update (July 29, 2020)
For US Numbers (10-digit local numbers), you can now put the number in any one of these three formats 111-222-3333, 111.222.3333, or (111) 222-3333, and the swap script will recognize and swap the number.

Click on Settings 

Click on Phone Numbers > Add Number Pool.

Click on Track visitor activity (optional)

Once you pick which visitors you want to track, Click on Next: Create Pool

We recommend tracking All visitors. 

If you select PPC search, the number on the website will only switch when the visitors are landing from a paid ad.

Once you fill out all information, Click on Next: Tracking Options

Choose Phone number(s)

Set up Whisper Message / Call recording

Click on Activate Number

Once you set up the number pool, you can click on the information icon to integrate the snippet on your website:

Copy the Normal Snippet

1. Click on Sites > 2. Pick your Funnels/Websites > 3. Settings

4. Paste the copied Normal snippet at the bottom of your Body Tracking code

5. Click Save

This will swap the number within the entire Funnels/Websites.

If you want the number to swap on one single funnel/website page, click on Edit Page 

Click on Settings > Tracking Code on the top left

Paste the copied Normal snippet in the Footer code and click Yes, Save

Head back to our number pool setup:

Click on Tracking Number 4 Numbers highlighted in the screenshot.

Copy the swapping Number and paste it on the Funnels/websites.

If you want to update the swapping number, you can click on the Edit icon here:

Uncheck the option "same as forwarding number" and set your own swapping number:

Now you can paste the swapping number on the website:

Once the number pool is set up and running, you can view the keyword column under Reporting in the Call Reporting tab. 

Your website visitors search the keywords, then they land on your website and call the tracking number, we will be able to attribute the source, and keyword in the call reporting tab.

After you scroll to the right and click the arrow down button here, you can also look at the link the contact was visiting. You can also click the contact's name to view their activities:

How To Test Number Swapping

Once you've added the tracking script to the Body of your webpage, you can test that the number swap is working by opening an incognito browser.

You would enter the following into your incognito browser yourwebsite.com/landing-page then hit enter.

If the Tracking Option All Except Direct is selected, we must link the landing page URL from another webpage instead of entering the link directly from the browser to test.

e.g. link Apple Smiles with yourwebsite.com/landing-page

How To Set Up Keyword Tracking

For your account to display the keyword that was searched before the call was initiated, you'll need to add the following parameter to the ad URL in Google Ads: ?keyword={keyword}

So if you have a Google Ad with a url like yourwebsite.com/landingpage you would update that url to be: yourwebsite.com/landingpage/?keyword={keyword} 

To swap numbers in a button:

You can use an anchor tag and set href with the phone no and text as you want.

e.g. <a href="tel:(972) 421-5139" class="btn btn-blue">Call Us</a>

Group ID

It will help to swap only one number but not each and every number from different number pools. So it will find the best matching number pool and swap number.

Use-case Example:

If the user is running two ads. If the leads land on the first ad, the website will show a different number; if they land on the second ad, the website will show another different number.

Then they need to change the source according to the ad and set the group using a Group ID.

Edit the number pool > Click on Add/Edit Group Id > Name the group Id > Click Update.

You can click on the information icon to copy the Group snippet to integrate it in the footer of your website:

FAQs

1. Why must we set up number pools to track calls?

We recommend setting up call tracking for all sources. We can determine how they arrive at your website by switching the phone number as soon as leads land from different sources. For example, for real live Google ads, there are &gclid parameters at the end of the landing URL. That’s how our snippet code sees them and switches the number accordingly, so once they call that tracking number, we match up with the website cookies, link them, and attribute the source to the leads.

Once the website visitors call the tracking number, we can attribute keywords in the Call reporting tab. So this column keyword will be filled out with those data:

2. What is the cost/price for setting up a Number Pool?

The standard phone number monthly fee and usage charges apply to a number pool just like a standard phone number within HighLevel.

3. Can I direct calls from the Number Pool to the web app or the mobile app?

Currently, this is not possible. Calls made to Number Pool can only go to the 'Forward Calls to' number.

Twilio offers several tools for investigating the interaction between Twilio and your application. If a Call fails to go through, is delayed, or otherwise behaves unexpectedly, these tools should be your first stops for debugging.

How to navigate to the Call Logs and how to use them?

You can view the error logs for your Twilio account by going to the Twilio Console. You can use this log to get an idea of which Twilio resources may be affected and who was responsible for them.

1. Log on to Twilio https://console.twilio.com/

2. Go to the top right -> Click Account -> Click Subaccounts

3. If there are too many subaccounts inside Twilio, you can go back to HL and copy the Account SIN for that location to search in Twilio:

4. Now go back to Twilio with the copied Account SID

Search based on the Twilio Subaccount SID in agency level settings -> Twilio
Paste the Account SID here and click on it:

5. Click into the subaccount so you will see there's an orange text on the top left:

Once you are in the subaccount inside Twilio:

6. First, let's make sure the Twilio number is voice-capable:

        

    Click on Phone numbers:

           

    Check if it is showing the phone icon for the Twilio number:

7. Head to the Left panel, Click Monitor > Logs > Calls

Put the contact's phone number (remove all phone format) in the FROM / TO field:

FROM field: Plug Contact's phone in the to field to check for incoming calls

Paste the contact number who called your twilio number in the From field

We can refer to the first record as that's when we route the call to the forwarding number

TO field: Plug the Contact's phone in the TO field to check for outbound calls

8. From there, look for the Call where the problem happened. Click the hyperlinked dates to go deeper into the details for each call.

8. Grab this Call SID and Create a support ticket with Twilio support to learn further

Update:
We can enable the Call Connect feature to get more accurate results instead of relying on a shorter call timeout (<= 20 seconds).

Checklist:

1. Is the call routing correctly to the right forwarding number you want the calls to forward to?

2. Is the forwarding number available to take calls now?

3. Try to disable the call connect feature as the forwarding number might treat them as robotic calls and decline the connection.

4. If it's still not working, here's how to check logs for a specific call in your provider's system.

Phone Call Redirect Loop Print

If you're hearing a loop on phone calls or you're seeing lots of calls stack up, one after the other, in Conversations, odds are one of your users has been assigned a phone number from the software but also has that number set in the Phone field in their user settings.

Another possible reason is that the business phone number or the forwarding number set might look like a different number from the software-provided number, but it is configured to route back to the same number. This will cause a call loop because we will try to forward the calls to the business phone number.

How to enable Call Recording

In your account view, Click on Click here to switch on the top left to go inside your account

Once you are in your account, click on Settings (bottom left)

Click on Phone Numbers

Click on the Edit icon to the Twilio number you want to enable Call recording for

Check the checkbox for Call recording (Default message: This call will be recorded for quality assurance)

You could put a few spaces here so it will not announce anything, depending on the regulation where you live if that's allowed.

However, for workflow action Call steps, we will still announce the call recording message.

Click on Update to save the changes.

Calls Not Recording

In order for calls to record, each your account location must have its own corresponding Twilio your account. If you use your master Twilio SID and Auth Key for any your account, the calls will not record.

Calls Not Loading

It keeps loading because of some Twilio configuration that makes the call recording encrypted. Please check this article and see if you can disable this option Enforce HTTP Auth on Media URLs?

https://support.twilio.com/hc/en-us/articles/223183748-Prevent-Unauthorized-Access-to-Your-Media-with-HTTP-Basic-Auth

Below are the steps to disable this option Enforce HTTP Auth on Media URLs:

Login to Twilio Console here

Go to the top right -> Click Account -> Click your account

If there are too many your accounts inside Twilio, you can go back to your account and copy the Account SID for that location to search in Twilio:

Now go back to Twilio with the copied Account SID

Search based on the Twilio your account SID in your account settings -> Twilio

Paste the Account SID here and click on it:

Click into the your account so you will see there's an orange text on the top left:

Access the General SMS Settings page in Twilio Console.

Scroll to the "Enforce HTTP Auth on Media URLs" section, and then select Enable.

Click Save.

If you are buying a phone number for countries like Australia, you might encounter this error: Please select 'address' to purchase number.

That's because we will need to verify the address and bundle in the Twilio your account:

1. Go to the Account dropdown on the top-right menu, click on your account
   https://console.twilio.com/

   

   
   

   
   

2. If there are too many your accounts inside Twilio, you can go back to the platform and copy the Account SID for that location to search in Twilio:
   

Search based on the Twilio Account SID in the platform settings -> Twilio
Paste the Account SID here and click on it:

3. Click into your account so you will see there's an orange text on the top left:

Go to Explore Products -> Scroll down to click on Phone numbers

Click Phone numbers: 

Click on Regulatory Compliance and add Bundles and Addresses

For Bundles, you can learn more about Twilio international phone number availability and their capabilities here.

For Dual Functionality (Voice and SMS enabled) Phone Numbers, please choose Mobile for the type of phone numbers here:

Once the bundle is added, add an address as well:

Once Twilio approves the bundles, the bundles and addresses will show up in the dropdown once you are trying to buy numbers in the location.

Step 1: Go to the Account dropdown on the top-right menu, click on your account
https://console.twilio.com/

Step 2: If there are too many your accounts inside Twilio, you can go back to the platform and copy the Account SID for that location to search in Twilio:

Step 3: Search based on the Twilio Account SID in your account agency settings -> Twilio
Paste the Account SID here and click on it:

Step 4: Click into your account so you will see there's an orange text on the top left:

Step 5: Click Monitor -> Logs -> Calls