What Are They?

A phone number extension is an individual employee's phone number, similar to how your firm has a phone number. Employees can have a phone with extensions numbers, usually three to four digits long.

A phone extension is a single or multi direct-dial extension that can be set up to direct callers to specific members of your team or departments.

Callers can be routed to single or multiple phones, desktop users, automatic messages, and voice mailboxes via extensions. You can also set up a dial-by-name or list directories so that callers can choose from a list of members of the team or departments.

How Do They Work?

When a client or customer dials your company's phone number, their call is normally directed to the appropriate department via an IVR menu. If, on the other hand, the client is already in contact with somebody from your organization and knows an employee's extension, they can bypass the IVR menu and can dial that specific employee's phone with extensions and contact them faster.

How Do They Work For Remote Employees?

It makes no difference if all your workers work from the same office or separate places. When a consumer calls a specific extension number assigned to an employee, the call is connected regardless of where that employee is.

Types

Single Digit 

Callers can be routed to areas such as sales or support using single-digit extensions (also called menu options).

A single-digit extension is a direct-dial extension for all the members of a relatively small team.

When used in conjunction with the call menu and nested menus, a single-digit extension can present your callers with a variety of options.

Multi-Digit

Multi-digit extensions are direct dial extensions with three or four digits that can be programmed to route callers to certain team members or departments.

Callers can automatically be routed to a specific phone, several phones, pc users, automated messages, and voice mailboxes via extensions.

Automated Messages

Automated messages are pre-recorded messages. The callers can get vital information like your business's hours of operation without speaking to a member of your team.

Your personalized greetings can be uploaded or recorded directly to your account online.

You can direct callers straight to the call menu, a dropdown menu, a phone number, a user, or a voice mailbox once the automated call has finished playing.

Voice Mail Extensions

Adding extensions that guide callers to voice mailboxes is a good idea. And voice mail extensions do just that!

Voice mail extensions provide push notifications and voicemail-to-email notifications that will keep your team updated.

You can create mailboxes for each one of your extensions to separate voice messages.

Dial-By-Name Dictionaries

You can create dial-by-name directories so that callers can connect with the appropriate team member.

Do you have people on your team who share the same last or first name? No issue: add a submenu to the directory and allow your callers to select all the members of the team they wish to contact.

You may also make list directories that provide customers a variety of alternatives based on the 3- or 4-digit extension they enter.