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An IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is the menu callers hear when they dial in: “Press 1 for sales, 2 for support, 3 for billing.” It’s the front door of any phone system that handles more than one type of call. Hiveku IVRs support time-based routing, holiday schedules, recorded or text-to-speech prompts, and multi-level menus. Manage IVRs in /dashboard/communications/ under the IVRs tab.

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Anatomy of an IVR

Greeting prompt

Plays first when a caller reaches the IVR. Recorded audio file or text-to-speech.

Menu prompt

“Press 1 for sales, 2 for support…” — usually right after the greeting.

Key mappings

Each digit (0-9, *, #) routes to a destination — extension, ring group, queue, sub-IVR, or external number.

Timeout and invalid

What to do if the caller doesn’t press anything, or presses an unmapped key.

Time conditions

Different routing during business hours vs after-hours.

Holiday calendar

Override the schedule on specific dates.

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Build a basic IVR

1

Create the IVR

From the IVRs tab, click New IVR and give it a name like “Main Menu”.
2

Record or set the greeting

Either upload a .wav/.mp3 file or type the script and pick a TTS voice. “Thanks for calling Acme.”
3

Record or set the menu

“For sales, press 1. For support, press 2. To leave a message, press 3.”
4

Map keys

1 → Ring Group “Sales”, 2 → Queue “Support Hold”, 3 → Voicemail.
5

Set timeout and invalid

Timeout (no key pressed in 8 seconds) → re-play the menu (max 2 retries). Invalid key → “That’s not a valid option, please try again.”
6

Point a DID at the IVR

On the Numbers tab, set your main DID to route to this IVR.

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Prompt options

Type your script, pick a voice (multiple US/UK English voices, plus other languages). Hiveku generates the audio.Pros: easy to update — change the script and the audio re-renders.Cons: TTS doesn’t quite match a professional human voice for branding-critical greetings.

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Time conditions

Most businesses don’t operate 24/7, and the menu (or destination) should change accordingly. 
Business hours (Mon-Fri 9 AM-5 PM):
  - Greeting: "Thanks for calling Acme!"
  - 1 → Sales ring group
  - 2 → Support queue

After hours (everything else):
  - Greeting: "Thanks for calling Acme. Our office is closed."
  - 1 → Voicemail
  - 2 → Forward to on-call cell
Configure time conditions per IVR. Multiple bands supported — for example, lunch closure 12-1 PM with a different message.

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Holiday calendar

Override the schedule on specific dates. Hiveku ships a US federal holiday preset; add or remove dates as needed.
For the “office closed for the holiday” greeting, use a separate IVR rather than another time condition — easier to test and toggle on/off ahead of time.

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Multi-level menus

Sub-IVRs let you build trees: 
Main IVR
├── 1: Sales IVR
│   ├── 1: New customers (Ring Group "New Sales")
│   └── 2: Existing customers (Ring Group "Account Mgmt")
├── 2: Support IVR
│   ├── 1: Billing (Queue "Billing")
│   └── 2: Technical (Queue "Tech Support")
└── 0: Operator (Extension 100)
Keep menus to 2 levels max. Past that, callers get lost and abandon.

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Best practices

Lead with the option

“For sales, press 1” beats “Press 1 for sales.” The action is what they’re listening for.

Limit to 4-5 options

More than 5 options and callers can’t remember by the time they finish hearing them.

Always offer 0 for operator

A live human escape hatch reduces abandon and frustration.

Keep prompts under 30 seconds

Long greetings make callers hang up. Shave every word that doesn’t earn its place.

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Time-of-day forwarding without an IVR

If you don’t need a menu — just different routing during business vs after-hours — you can use a time condition directly on a DID without building a full IVR. Cleaner for simple cases.

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API

# Create an IVR with key mappings
curl -X POST https://api.hiveku.com/api/communications/ivrs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hk_live_xxx" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Main Menu",
    "greeting": { "type": "tts", "text": "Thanks for calling Acme.", "voice": "en-US-Polly-Joanna" },
    "menu": { "type": "tts", "text": "For sales, press 1. For support, press 2." },
    "keys": {
      "1": "ring_group:sales",
      "2": "queue:support",
      "0": "extension:100"
    },
    "timeout_seconds": 8,
    "max_retries": 2
  }'

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Troubleshooting

Increase the timeout (default 8 seconds). Older callers and people in noisy environments need more time to react.
Some softphones over poor connections lose DTMF. Hiveku supports both in-band and RFC2833 DTMF. If you’re seeing this on calls from specific carriers, switch the DTMF mode in the IVR’s advanced settings.
Check the IVR’s time zone setting — defaults to your account TZ but can be overridden. Daylight savings transitions are handled automatically.

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Next steps

Set up a complete IVR

End-to-end walkthrough.

Queues

Send IVR overflow to a queue with hold music.