Product Feedback: Configurable greeting repeat count for standard Zendesk Voice phone lines without IVR

Hello,

With the recent release of configurable IVR greeting repeat count for Zendesk Voice, admins can now define how many times an IVR greeting is repeated before routing to the default action. This is a very positive change, as it allows greater flexibility in designing the caller experience.

I would like to suggest extending and enhancing this capability for standard Zendesk Voice phone lines that use normal group routing (without IVR).

Current behavior / limitation

For phone lines that do not use IVR, greetings such as:

• Available agents greeting
• All agents are busy / unavailable messages
• Wait / queue greetings
• Other greetings assigned directly to the phone line

can result in a repetitive caller experience, with limited control over how often the message is replayed.

At the moment, there is no configurable repeat-count option for these non-IVR greetings, unlike the newly introduced IVR functionality.

Why this matters

Not all use cases require an IVR menu. In many setups, especially where:

• Calls should be routed directly to a support group
• No user input is required
• Different greetings are used based on agent availability

a standard phone line provides a simpler and more efficient customer experience.

However, the lack of control over repetition creates challenges:

• Too many repeats can frustrate customers and slow down the call flow
• Too few repeats may result in important information being missed
• There is no way to fine-tune the balance depending on the use case

Requested improvement

Introduce a configurable greeting repeat-count setting for standard Zendesk Voice phone lines, similar to the IVR configuration - but extended further.

Suggested configuration:

Allow admins to define the number of repeats with a broader range, for example:

• Repeat greeting 1 time (fast routing)
• Repeat greeting 2 times
• Repeat greeting 3 times (current default behavior)
• Repeat greeting 4 times
• Repeat greeting 5 times (for longer informational messages)

The default can remain at 3, to preserve current behavior and avoid disruption.

Why extend beyond IVR (1-3 → 1-5)

While the IVR configuration currently allows 1-3 repetitions, standard phone lines often serve different use cases, such as:

• Informational messages (e.g., regulatory, recording consent, important announcements)
• Out-of-hours or service disruption notifications
• Longer branded or multi-language messages

In these cases, allowing up to 5 repetitions provides additional flexibility for teams that need to ensure the message is heard without forcing them to redesign the entire call flow.

Example use case

A customer support phone line routes directly to an agent group (no IVR):

• If agents are available → a short welcome message is played
• If agents are busy → a longer message sets expectations and suggests other channels
• If outside business hours → an informational message is played

Depending on the message type:

• A short greeting may only need 1-2 repeats
• A longer informational message may require 4-5 repeats

Without configurability, teams cannot optimize the experience per scenario.

Business impact

Adding configurable repeat count for non-IVR greetings would:

• Improve caller experience and reduce frustration
• Allow teams to optimize call flow speed vs. clarity
• Prevent the need to use IVR unnecessarily just for configuration purposes
• Provide greater control across all Zendesk Voice setups, not just IVR
• Support more complex and regulatory messaging requirements

Expected behavior

Admins should be able to configure greeting repeat count directly within:

• Phone line settings, or
• Greeting configuration

with a selectable range of 1 to 5 repetitions, while keeping 3 as the default.

This would be a natural extension of the recent IVR improvement and would ensure consistency across both IVR and non-IVR call flows in Zendesk Voice.

Thank you!