Building a digital receptionist (IVR) in 3CX
How to record prompts and build a 3CX digital receptionist (auto-attendant) so callers reach the right team.
A Digital Receptionist (you may also hear "IVR" or "auto-attendant") is the recorded voice that greets callers and offers choices: "For sales, press 1; for accounts, press 2." Done well, it gets people to the right person faster and stops the front desk drowning in transfers. Done badly, it traps callers in menus.
We will keep this conceptual rather than a click-by-click, since menu labels shift between 3CX versions. The approach is constant: plan the menu, record clear prompts, point each key at the right destination, and test it like a real caller.
Plan the menu before you touch 3CX
The biggest mistakes happen on paper, not in the Admin Console. Spend ten minutes mapping where calls need to go before you build anything.
List your real destinations.
Most small businesses need three or four options: sales, accounts, support, "everyone else." Each points to an extension, a ring group, a call queue, or voicemail.
Keep it to one level if you can.
Every extra layer loses callers. A single short menu beats a nested maze of sub-menus.
Decide what "0" and "no input" do.
Always give an escape hatch — pressing 0 or doing nothing should land on a human or a queue, never a dead end.
Think about timing.
Daytime and after-hours menus usually differ. Sketch both now; you will wire them up with office hours routing later.
Record prompts callers understand
The prompt is the part customers hear, so it matters more than any setting. Two rules: say the department before the number ("For sales, press 1", not "Press 1 for sales"), and keep it short.
Write the script first and read it aloud to check it flows.
Record in a quiet room. A decent USB headset, or a phone in a soft-furnished office, beats an echoey boardroom.
Save in the audio format 3CX expects (it will prompt you) and upload the files through the Admin Console.
Keep a master copy so you can re-record one line without redoing the lot.
For a polished, voiced-over greeting and matching on-hold audio, we can arrange professional messages on hold so the whole experience sounds consistent.
Build the receptionist and map the keys
In the Admin Console, create a Digital Receptionist, name it so you will recognise it ("Main Menu — Hours"), and attach your greeting prompt. Then map each key:
1, 2, 3…
point at the extension, ring group or queue for each department.
0 or the timeout
sends lost or silent callers to a person or your main queue.
Invalid input
should replay the menu once, then fall through to a human rather than hang up.
A common pattern: point busy options at a call queue so calls wait instead of ringing out, and quieter options at a small ring group. Reserve a direct extension only for a single named person.
Connect it to your numbers and hours
A Digital Receptionist does nothing until calls are pointed at it. That connection lives in your inbound rules, which decide what each DID (incoming number) does.
Set the inbound rule so that during office hours the call reaches your daytime receptionist, and outside hours it goes to an after-hours version or voicemail. Holidays work the same way — see our guide to business hours and after-hours routing.
If you run 1300 or 1800 numbers alongside a local line, you can route them to different menus — a sales greeting on the 1300, a general one on the landline. It all runs over your SIP trunks into the 3CX phone system.
Test it, then keep it lean
Before you go live, ring in from a mobile and press every option, including the wrong ones. Check the audio is clear at phone volume, that timeouts behave, and that after-hours flips at the right time.
Then listen to feedback. If staff keep getting calls meant for another team, the wording is the culprit, not the caller. Review the labels every few months and prune options nobody uses.
If you would rather have it scoped, scripted, recorded and wired up for you, that is the kind of setup we handle for Melbourne businesses every week. Call SIP Connect on 1300 747 266 or get in touch and we will build a menu that fits how your phones ring.
What we see installing this in Melbourne
The single biggest issue we see on AU sites is callers being held captive by menus that were copied from a head-office template years ago. Small Melbourne businesses do not need a five-deep IVR; most need one short menu and a sensible after-hours flip. When we rebuild these, call complaints usually drop within a fortnight.
Audio quality is the second snag. Many SMEs record the greeting on a mobile in an open-plan office, then wonder why callers strain to hear it over an NBN FTTN line with thin upload. We re-record in a quiet room, normalise the levels, and test the prompt at handset volume, not laptop speakers. If a cheap consumer router with SIP ALG is in the path, prompts can clip or cut — we usually swap that out at the same time.
Finally, recording obligations: under Australian law, if any IVR option leads to a recorded queue or call, callers must be told before the recording starts. We bake that line into the greeting during install so it is not forgotten later.
Frequently asked questions
How many menu options should a digital receptionist have?
Three or four wherever possible, and never more than six. Callers struggle to hold a long list in their heads, and every extra option loses a few people. If you need more, the answer is usually better grouping behind the menu.
Can I have a different greeting after hours?
Yes. The usual setup is one Digital Receptionist for office hours and another for after hours and holidays, with your inbound rule switching between them automatically. Outside hours you might play a short "we're closed" message and send callers to voicemail.
Do I need professional voice recordings or can I record them myself?
You can record your own — a quiet room and a decent headset are enough to start. A professionally voiced greeting sounds more consistent and is worth it for your main menu. Many businesses self-record at first and upgrade later.
What happens if a caller doesn't press anything?
You set that behaviour. The sensible default is for the menu to replay once, then send the caller to a person or a queue rather than hang up. Always give people a way through if they're driving or simply don't know which option fits.
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