The call is answered at once
Your number answers with your own greeting, read out in the language and voice you chose. TaxiDex matches the caller's number to your customers before anything is booked.
IVR phone booking
Your regulars book a taxi by pressing one key
A phone menu on your own number. It knows the caller from their number, reads out your pickup points, and one key press puts the job in your dispatch queue. Your call-takers keep the calls that need a person.
10
Keys you can use, 0 to 9
1
Key press to book
IVR
Shown as the source on the job
Yours
The number and the Twilio account
On the call
What happens when a regular rings
No hold music and no call-taker. The whole call is a greeting, one key and a confirmation.
One key picks the pickup
The menu reads out your pickup points: the station, the hospital, a hotel you serve. The caller presses the key for theirs. That is the whole booking.
The job is in your queue
TaxiDex creates the job on that customer's record and sends it to drivers through the same dispatch as every other booking. The call confirms the pickup and hangs up.
On the line
What the caller hears, word for word
This is the menu from the screen above, the way a caller hears it. You write every sentence: the greeting, a line for each key, and what is said once the taxi is booked.
A word in square brackets is filled in on the call, so [pickup] becomes the place the caller chose. It is read out by text to speech, in the language and voice you pick, so changing the menu is a matter of typing and saving.
- Your greeting, in the language and voice you choose
- A sentence for each key, or simply the place name
- A different message when the taxi could not be booked
- A message for numbers that are not on your books
A call to the demo fleet
- Thank you for calling Demo Fleet London.
- For a taxi from King's Cross Station, press 1. For a taxi from Paddington Station, press 2. For a taxi from Whitfield Park Hospital, press 3. For a taxi from the Ashcombe Hotel, press 4.
- The caller presses 2
- Thank you. Your taxi from Paddington Station, Praed Street, London W2 1HQ is booked. The driver will be with you shortly. Goodbye.
The sentences are the demo fleet's own, as saved on its IVR screen.
Set-up
Set up in the console, on your own number
Booking apps, then IVR: one screen holds the menu, and one link connects it to your phone line.
Ten keys, each with its own pickup point
The IVR screen holds one row for each key from 0 to 9. A row is a sentence to read out and a pickup point chosen on the map: a station, a hospital, a hotel, your own office.
Change a row and save. The next caller hears the new menu.
A number on your own Twilio account
TaxiDex does not provide the phone line. The menu answers a number in your own Twilio account, and Twilio bills you for the number and the minutes.
One link to paste
The IVR screen gives you a web address. Paste it into that number's voice settings in Twilio, under "A call comes in", set to HTTP POST.
Your Twilio keys in Integrations
Add your Twilio Account SID and Auth token in the console. TaxiDex uses them to check that a call really comes from your Twilio account, and refuses any that does not.
The rules
Who can book, and what gets booked
A phone menu is only useful if everyone knows exactly what it will and will not do.
Known numbers only
A caller is recognised by their phone number, matched to a customer already on your books. A number TaxiDex does not know hears your own message, for example asking them to call the office, and no job is created.
A pickup now, from that place
Each key books an immediate pickup from the place you set for it, in your default vehicle type. The passenger gives the destination to the driver, so the fare is worked out on the trip.
Dispatched like every other job
The job goes to drivers through the same dispatch as a booking your team typed in, by your own rules. In the console it carries the source IVR, so a dispatcher can see where it came from.
Keys, not speech
Callers press a key; the line does not understand spoken requests. Anything that needs a conversation still goes to your office, which is where it belongs.
A line that understands ordinary speech is what we are building next. See Taxidex Voice for where that stands.
FAQ
IVR phone booking questions, answered
What is an IVR for a taxi company?
IVR stands for interactive voice response: a phone menu that answers a call and lets the caller press a key instead of waiting for a person. In TaxiDex the menu reads out your pickup points, and one key press books a taxi from the place the caller chose.
Do I need a new phone number?
The menu answers a number in your own Twilio account. TaxiDex gives you one web address to paste into that number's voice settings. TaxiDex does not sell numbers or minutes; Twilio bills you for those directly.
Can someone who has never used us book through it?
No. The line recognises a caller by their phone number, and only a number already on a customer record in your TaxiDex account can book. Anyone else hears the message you wrote for unknown numbers, and no job is created.
Can the caller say where they are going?
Not on the keypad. Each key books a pickup from one place. The passenger tells the driver the destination, and the fare is worked out on the trip.
Does it understand speech?
No. It is a keypad menu: the caller presses a number. It is meant for the regular pickups that never change; a caller with anything else to say rings your office as before.
Which languages and voices can it use?
The menu is read out by text to speech, not a recording, so you type the words and choose a language and a voice. English for the US, the UK and Australia are in the list, and you can enter another language code that your Twilio voice supports.
How does a dispatcher know a job came from the phone menu?
The job appears in the console with the source IVR, beside the jobs from the app, the web booker and the ones your team typed in. It is offered to drivers by the same dispatch rules.
What does the caller hear if the taxi cannot be booked?
The message you wrote for that case, for example asking them to call the office. You write separate messages for a booked taxi, a booking that failed and a number that is not recognised.
See the menu set up on a demo fleet
Thirty minutes with a dispatch specialist. Bring your busiest pickup points and we will build the menu with you on the call.
Related
Keep reading
- Calls that do reach a person appear in the console with the caller looked up: call handling and caller ID.
- Customers who would rather not ring at all can use the taxi web booker or your passenger app.
- New to the term? The glossary explains what IVR is in a taxi company.
