Managed Voice / Auto Attendant (IVR)

Escape to a Live Person

At any point in your menu, a caller can press a dedicated key — typically 0 — to bypass the automated system entirely. It routes them to a live person, an operator, or a designated fallback extension, so no one gets stuck in a menu with no way out.

Where can you use this escape option?

You can make it available at every level of your menu — the main greeting, any department sub-menu, even while a caller is mid-selection. It doesn’t have to be just a one-time option at the very start of the call.

What happens if no one is available to take the escaped call?

You define the fallback for exactly this situation — route to a general voicemail box, a backup ring group, or an after-hours message, so “press 0” never dead-ends in silence even if your team is unavailable.

Does this apply to voicemail too, not just the live menu?

Yes. We commonly use the same “press 0” pattern inside voicemail itself, letting someone who started leaving a message change their mind and get transferred to a person instead. See Voicemail for that specific behavior.

Is this the same as the handoff used by the AI receptionist?

It’s the same underlying idea — always give callers a way out to a human — but the AI Receptionist triggers it conversationally (a caller can just say “I’d like to talk to someone”) rather than requiring a specific keypress.

Can we customize which key triggers the escape, or does it have to be 0?

You can assign it to whichever key makes sense for your menu design — 0 is the most common convention because it’s what most callers expect, but it’s a configuration choice, not a fixed requirement.