10 Best Call Queue Software Shortlist
Call queue software will help your business manage the enormous number of customer calls it receives daily. Many people still prefer to interact with a business over the phone even though they also have access to an organization via social media, email, and live chat. As a matter of fact, 42% of people will contact a business over the phone at least once a week, and 65% of people prefer to interact with a company by calling them on the phone.
Providing an excellent customer experience is crucial to your business’s survival. However, even your best employees and customer support reps will fail if you’re not implementing good call queue software. So, I’m here to help you find the best call queue software for your business, no matter what industry you’re in, and share insights into what each one can do for you.
What is Call Queue Software?
Call queue software works by answering incoming calls and routing them to employees within your organization who can handle issues or answer questions. The way the call is routed will usually depend on selections the caller makes in a menu during their first contact. These platforms allow your customer to call and put them into a waiting state where the call remains connected until a staff member is available.
Overviews Of The 21 Best Call Queue Software
You can use the simple overviews of each tool below to understand how each tool stands out from other call queue software.
Talkdesk
Best for call center overflow
Talkdesk helps businesses route overflow calls to another phone number when all team members are busy to ensure they meet all customers’ needs.
Why I picked Talkdesk: The platform’s call center overflow capabilities ensure that customers in your call queue will receive the support they need. Talkdesk will allow your business to take the necessary measures to handle an overflow in your call queue by routing calls to a backup department or team. This ensures that your customers are taken care of when your team members are busy so you don’t disappoint them.
Talkdesk helps businesses searching for an automation-first customer experience solution that will optimize their customer service processes. Your team leaders and representatives can use Talkdesk to make crucial data-driven decisions through its call recording, call monitoring, and real-time reporting insights. The system will display the information your customer support reps need, such as the caller’s name, contact details, and purchase history, to ensure your teams can personalize their conversations.
Talkdesk Standout Features and Integrations
Features include omnichannel engagement, employee collaboration tools, customer experience analytics, workforce engagement management, self-service experience, flexible deployment, and an AI platform.
Integrations include Salesforce, Olark, LiveChat, Nimble, Intercom, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Help Scout, Highrise, Front, Freshdesk, Contactually, BigCommerce, Zendesk, Pipedrive, Slack, and Outreach.
Pros
- Straightforward to use
- Simple user interface
- Easy to monitor inbound calls
Cons
- It has a few bugs
- Slow to load
Aircall
Best for customizable call queue formatting
Aircall is a cloud-based phone system that enables businesses to make and receive calls and customize the call queue experience.
Why I picked Aircall: Aircall is a popular virtual call center solution that enables your business to customize call queues with tailored messages, on-hold music, or by giving customers the option to ask for a callback. Aircall’s call queue features will help your business keep up with large call numbers and provide the best customer experience. These features include choosing how long you want calls to stay in the queue before they’re directed to your voicemail and ensuring the customer’s call goes to the right employee via intelligent call routing.
Aircall is an ideal option for small and medium businesses that need call center software that will allow them to make the call queue experience pleasant for customers. The platform can make your call queue tolerable by letting inbound callers know what they can expect while waiting to speak with your reps and agents. Aircall’s call queue system will provide your customers with an exact number of minutes remaining before your team members will attend to the call, allowing the customer to handle other tasks while holding their place in your queue.
Aircall Standout Features and Integrations
Features include real-time modifications, call queues, ring groups, parallel calls, queue callback, unlimited concurrent calls, time-based routing, call recording, pause-resume recording, and a real-time activity feed.
Integrations include monday.com, Zendesk, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Intercom, Salesforce, Hiver, ActiveCampaign, Odoo CRM, Zoho CRM, Zapier, Copper, eDesk, Microsoft Dynamics, and Integrately.
Aircall costs from $40/user/month for a minimum of three users. Aircall offers a free 7-day trial for new subscribers.
Pros
- Provides deep, real-time analytics
- Accessible on desktop and mobile
- Improves overall communications and efficiency
Cons
- Could use better call history analytics
- Customer support needs improvement
Freshdesk Contact Center
Best for call queue management
Freshdesk Contact Center (formerly Freshcaller) provides queue management solutions that won’t frustrate customers.
Why I picked Freshdesk Contact Center: With Freshdesk Contact Center, you can develop special call queues for each team in your organization. Freshdesk Contact Center’s call queues will work together with an interactive voice recognition menu that will work to ensure your customers are sent to the right team in your company. You can use the platform to create queue-based routing rules for your teams. You can also create fallback options for any scenario and quickly send customers from one call queue to another.
Freshdesk Contact Center works well for businesses that need a platform that will enable them to affordably connect with customers. You can use Freshdesk Contact Center to ensure call queues improve customers’ experiences across your organization. It also uses real-time data to make it easier for you and your leadership teams to evaluate performance.
Freshdesk Contact Center Standout Features and Integrations
Features include call queue management, contact importing, automated call distribution, voice bots, call routing automation, real-time call center dashboard, live call monitoring, call barging, call recording, and service level monitoring.
Integrations include FrontApp, Zoho CRM, Infusionsoft, Copper CRM, Pipedrive, PipelineDeals CRM, Agile CRM, Nimble CRM, Zendesk Sell, Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, Zapier, WooCommerce, and Shopify.
Freshdesk Contact Center costs from $18/user/month plus $0.13/minute. Freshdesk Contact Center offers a free 21-day trial for new subscribers and a free forever subscription tier with limited features.
Pros
- Excellent user interface
- Easy to implement and use
- Simple to navigate
Cons
- Pricing can add up quickly
- Technical support isn’t up to par
Five9
Best for workflow automation
Five9 helps businesses visualize and create automated workflows, including call queues, that enhance customers’ experiences.
Why I picked Five9: You can use Five9’s workflow automation capabilities to create exceptional experiences for your customers. The platform’s workflow automation feature enables your business to act on customer data when they’re in your call queues and automate their experience. Creating automated workflows within the Five9 platform to react efficiently to your call queue and deliver consistent outcomes.
Five9 is an excellent option for medium and large-sized businesses that need a reliable call queue software solution. It’s a cloud-based option that’s feature-rich and enables your teams to manage customers’ lifecycles. Five9 provides practical AI capabilities that will increase your reps’ effectiveness and create excellent customer experiences, regardless of the communication channels your customers use.
Five9 Standout Features and Integrations
Features include artificial intelligence, reporting and analytics, interaction analytics, performance management, quality management, workforce optimization, workflow automation, intelligent virtual agents, and sentiment analysis.
Integrations include Salesforce, ServiceNow, Zendesk, Freshdesk, LumenVox, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Gong.io, SugarCRM, ValidSoft, and MindTouch.
Pros
- Customizable reports
- Easy to learn and use
- User-friendly interactive voice response mapping
Cons
- Some integrations are problematic
- The platform can be slow
Twilio Flex
Best for customizability
Twilio Flex provides call centers with an infinitely flexible and immediately deployable cloud-based platform.
Why I picked Twilio Flex: You can use Twilio Flex to develop a custom solution that meets your exact call queue needs. The Studio feature within Twilio Flex allows you to plan call queues and what happens throughout interactions with a visual workflow builder. With Studio, you can quickly create and modify workflow and call routing rules in a serverless environment. You can also build call flow prototypes, and if it proves to be more efficient, you can iterate them to go live immediately.
Twilio Flex works well for businesses of any size that prefer to build a custom call center to ensure it meets their needs. The platform is capable of developing reports on what you want to see by creating custom data dashboards. Every day, you can use Twilio Flex to monitor call queues to help you balance your customer support staff’s availability.
Twilio Flex Standout Features and Integrations
Features include customer experience management, reporting and analytics, interaction tracking, on-demand recording, quality management, employee coaching tools, archiving and retention, multi-channel communication, and real-time chat.
Integrations include Salesforce, Zendesk, Calabrio, HubSpot CRM, Discord, Gravity CX, Kaptea, Mindful, Puzzel WFM, Sabio, Scout, Spoke Phone, and Verint.
Pros
- Very simple user interface
- Easy to visualize hold times
- Excellent omnichannel support
Cons
- Customization needs a developer expert
- Reports can be complex
8x8 Contact Center
Best for personalized self-service experiences
8x8 Contact Center helps businesses deliver self-service that is personalized to their customers and enables them to get the information they need without agent involvement.
Why I picked 8x8 Contact Center: The platform’s intelligent customer assistant capabilities will help your business create effective first impressions via its personalized self-service features. 8x8 Contact Center provides an intelligent customer assistant tool that instantly accesses engaging conversations through a bi-directional sync with your CRM system. This allows your teams to focus on more valuable tasks because the software’s conversational AI will deliver human-like interactions for simple, high-level engagement.
8x8 Contact Center is designed to help businesses of any size provide an excellent customer experience. The software’s customizability ensures your call queue will meet the needs of all your departments. The queue optimization capabilities make it relatively simple to establish 24/7 availability, even if you’re operating a phone-heavy consumer business.
8x8 Contact Center Standout Features and Integrations
Features include interactive voice response, omnichannel routing, virtual agents, customer experience analytics, contact center analytics, quality management, call recording, multi-level auto attendant, call handling, voicemail transcription, and call queues.
Integrations include Microsoft Teams, Salesforce, Google Workspace, 1CRM, Copper, Freshdesk, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Pipedrive, Zendesk, Zoho, Okta, Slack, and SugarCRM.
8x8 Contact Center costs from $85/user/month. 8x8 Contact Center offers a free demo to help you understand whether the platform is right for you.
Pros
- Excellent call routing
- Easy to use
- Unifies operational systems quickly
Cons
- Configuration has a learning curve
- Finding recorded calls is complex
Genesys Cloud CX
Best for intelligent voice assistance
Genesys Cloud helps businesses simplify customer journeys with voice bot assistants that handle interactions.
Why I picked Genesys Cloud: You can use the voice bot assistance capabilities within Genesys Cloud to manage, unify, and orchestrate your bots across multiple interaction channels. Genesys Cloud’s voice bots will answer calls with zero delays 24/7. When customers enter your call queue, you can lessen hold times by making your contact center more accessible with the software’s automated virtual agents. In the event that a customer wants to speak with a human, the voice bot will pass the customer, along with all relevant details, to your team for a straightforward experience.
Genesys Cloud is suitable for businesses of any size and in any industry searching for a solution that will improve services. The tool is capable of handling incoming calls and provides your teams with standard call centers technologies such as interactive voice response and intelligent call routing. Genesys Cloud is a composable platform, meaning you can arrange and rearrange your system to meet customers’ requirements and scale when necessary.
Genesys Standout Features and Integrations
Features include speech-enabled interactive voice response, chatbots, natural language understanding, inbound voice routing, voicemail, callback scheduling, predictive routing, employee performance, resource management, and quality assurance.
Integrations include Salesforce, Freshdesk, Zendesk, Zoho CRM, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesloft, SugarCRM, Bitbucket, OneLogin, Trello, Okta, and Brightmetrics.
Pros
- Effective performance views
- Reporting dashboards are easy to use
- Agents can work from anywhere
Cons
- Change history is complex
- The user interface needs work
Zendesk Talk
Best for intelligent routing
Zendesk Talk uses intelligent routing to ensure callers reach the right agent after waiting in a call queue at the right time.
Why I picked Zendesk Talk: You can use Zendesk Talk to leverage built-in intelligent routing to escalate issues to your best reps. Like many call queue platforms, Zendesk Talk will enable your business to set maximum queue size and wait times and offer customers the option to request a callback. You and your leadership team can quickly create scalable routing models, such as request type or conversation priority, to ensure your call queue software routes calls correctly based on your company.
Zendesk Talk is an excellent option for organizations searching for a unique and productive solution for their call centers. It’s a cloud-based tool that is built directly within the Zendesk Support ticketing system. Current Zendesk users or those considering implementing the system in their business can implement intelligent call queuing capabilities from the platform.
Zendesk Talk Standout Features and Integrations
Features include queue management, reporting and analytics, interactive voice response, escalation management, call recording, and voice recognition.
Integrations include Dialpad, Aircall, Trello, Zoho CRM, CloudTalk, Intercom, Mailchimp, Nutshell, Shopify, Recurly, Salesforce, PrestaShop, ClickUp, and Slack.
Zendesk Talk costs from $25/user/month for five users. Zendesk Talk offers a free 14-day trial.
Pros
- Very robust features
- Efficient routing triggers and automation
- Excellent permission capabilities
Cons
- Customer support is lacking
- Large learning curve
Cisco Unified Contact Center Express
Best for workforce optimization
Cisco Unified Contact Center Express provides enhanced workforce optimization tools that equip team leads to ensure everyone delivers exceptional experiences.
Why I picked Cisco Unified Contact Center Express: To help your supervisors provide efficient, effective service that focuses on your customers, Cisco Unified Contact Center Express provides the data and tools they need to manage their team’s performance. The tool’s workforce analytics capabilities provide data-driven insights from speech and desktop action analysis that will help improve experiences. Cisco Unified Contact Center Express also provides call quality management tools that increase call queue resolutions and team productivity.
Cisco Unified Contact Center Express is an excellent fit for call centers and enterprises that need a solution to improve team productivity. The platform will provide your business with a flexible and agile system that simplifies customer segmentation and resource activity monitoring. Your teams can use the software to engage with customers across multiple contact channels from a single source.
Cisco Unified Contact Center Express Standout Features and Integrations
Features include customizable tools and applications, customer experience insights, omnichannel communications, performance insights, and software licensing.
Integrations include Variphy, Google Cloud Agent Assist, 2Ring, Yellow.ai, Webex Workforce Optimization, and an API that allows businesses to create custom connections.
Pros
- Affordable call routing and queues
- Efficient for daily use
- A well-documented solution
Cons
- Limited native system integrations
- Challenging to manage
NICE CXone
Best for journey orchestration
NICE CXone allows businesses to provide intelligent customer journeys that enable straightforward guidance across multiple channels.
Why I picked NICE CXone: The platform allows you to create personalized interaction journeys that enable your business to ensure customers have positive experiences. NICE CXone will help you offer intelligent and proven service across multiple channels after customers go through your call queues. The tool’s automatic contact distribution capabilities will ensure your customers speak with the most qualified customer support rep after waiting in your queues.
NICE CXone is suitable for businesses of any size that need a solution for creating extraordinary experiences that will enhance brand loyalty and customer relationships. The software provides automatic callback capabilities for customers that don’t want to wait in your call queues. You can also schedule callbacks within NICE CXone at the time the customer wants.
NICE CXone Standout Features and Integrations
Features include omnichannel routing, customer analytics, workforce optimization, artificial intelligence, open cloud foundation, digital self-service, and journey orchestration.
Integrations include Softil, TrustID, Slash DB, Reveal Labs, Liferay, Kratos, Citrix, and Dialogic.
Pros
- East to operate
- Fast to implement
- Excellent real-time monitoring
Cons
- Reporting feature is complex
- Software sometimes crashes
The Best Call Queue Software Summary
Tool | Trial Info | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Talkdesk Best for call center overflow | Free demo available | From $75/user/month | Website |
2 | Aircall Best for customizable call queue formatting | 7-day free trial | From $30/user/month (billed annually) | Website |
3 | Freshdesk Contact Center Best for call queue management | 21-day free trial | From $18/user/month | Website |
4 | Five9 Best for workflow automation | Free demo available | From $149/month; Custom plans are also available | Website |
5 | Twilio Flex Best for customizability | Free trial | From $150/user/month | Website |
6 | 8x8 Contact Center Best for personalized self-service experiences | Free demo | From $85/user/month | Website |
7 | Genesys Cloud CX Best for intelligent voice assistance | Contact sales for trial and demo options | From $75/user/month | Website |
8 | Zendesk Talk Best for intelligent routing | 14-day free trial | From $25/user/month for five users | Website |
9 | Cisco Unified Contact Center Express Best for workforce optimization | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website |
10 | NICE CXone Best for journey orchestration | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website |
Other Options
Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best call queue software list:
- Avaya Experience Platform
Best for AI speech analytics
- RingCentral Contact Center
Best for tracking performance
- Zoho Desk
Best for centralizing customer communications.
- Salesforce Service Cloud
Best for complete customer visibility.
- Q-flow
Best for rule-based customer queuing.
- Enghouse Interactive
Best for streamlining call center operations.
- Voximplant
Best for embedding audio communications in a contact center app.
- Vocalcom
Best for mobile customer experience.
- QueueMetrics-Live
Best for creating real-time data dashboards.
- Mitel MiCloud Connect Contact Center
Best for team collaboration.
- Aspect Unified IP Contact Center
Best for
How I Selected the Best Call Queue Software
Perhaps you're wondering how I selected the best call queue software for this list? To build this top 10 list, I evaluated and compared a wide range of call queue software with positive user ratings.
After determining my long list of top choices, I further honed my list by using the selection criteria below to see how each platform stacked up against the next one. I also drew on my years of CX experience to pinpoint the features that add a lot of value.
If you have general questions about call queue strategy or how to pick the best call queue software for your organization, take a look at our frequently asked questions section below. Or, you can skip directly to my detailed software summaries, if that's what you need the most.
Selection Criteria
Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best call queue software for this article:
Usability:
High-quality call queue software should be easy for your teams to use so they can provide efficient customer service. The last thing you want is to discover that the call queue tool that looks like the perfect choice is difficult to use. I look for solutions so that your teams can become proficient in navigating the tool in a few hours.
Customer Service:
Things can go wrong when using new software, especially when you’re starting out with something brand new. When this happens, you should know whether the vendor providing your call queue software will be there to resolve any issues. I look for call queue software that has good reviews about the vendor’s customer service, specifically focusing on reviews that discuss how the customer service team sticks by the customers’ side through thick and thin.
Software Integrations:
Your call queue software isn’t going to be a stand-alone system - it needs to interact with other aspects of your call center. The last thing you want to experience is a disconnect that causes a drop in productivity. I look for platforms that can connect with other vital business systems that you’re likely already using.
Pricing:
The final price you’ll pay for the call queue software of your choice will be essential. Some vendors require set-up fees in addition to monthly charges. Also, the vendor might offer multiple pricing options based on certain factors. For example, a call queue solution can be a pay-as-you-go tool, or you might have the choice of different subscription tiers that differ depending on the features you get. I look for software vendors that provide a clear understanding of the final price to ensure everyone is on the same page.
People Also Ask
Here are a few popular questions answered for your convenience!
How does a call queue work?
What are the key features of call queue software?
What other call software should I use?
Organizing Calls with Call Queue Software that Suits Your Business
Evaluating all of the call queue software options available for your organization can be overwhelming. Narrowing down your options can be as simple as choosing the platform that fits your business size and industry with the features you need. You should also consider comparing multiple options side-by-side to understand which is suitable for your requirements. Hopefully, this list does just that.
Investing in the right tools and learning the latest customer experience advice can significantly improve your company’s operations. If you need help getting the latest customer experience details, sign up for The CX Lead newsletter to discover the latest and greatest software recommendations and customer experience advice from the top leaders in this field.