DTMF logging in a call menu

A call menu is VICIdial's built-in phone menu: press 1 for sales, press 2 for support, that kind of thing. Each key the caller presses is a DTMF tone, short for the touch-tone signal your keypad sends. By default the menu just acts on the press and moves on, but you can also log which key the caller chose so you have a record of it.

This is handy in any setup that uses a menu, also called an IVR (interactive voice response), the automated voice menu that greets callers before they reach a person. Knowing that someone pressed 3 for billing, even if they hung up before an agent answered, tells you what they wanted, and you can pin it to the Lead record for later.

Turning on key logging

The main switch is Log Key Press. It is off by default. Set it on and the caller's key press in that menu gets logged. Once it is on, a second field, Log Field, lets you also store that response in a chosen list field on the lead, such as comments, title, or vendor_lead_code. Default for Log Field is NONE, which means the press is logged but not copied onto the lead.

• Log Key Press: records the DTMF key the caller pressed in this call menu. Default is disabled.
• Log Field: optionally writes that response into a list field on the lead, like comments or source_id.
• Tracking Group: the ID used to group these menu calls in the IVR report, defaulting to CALLMENU.

The alternate log table

There is also an Alt DTMF Log option that records the key press to a separate database table rather than just the call record. It is off by default and only appears on the menu screen if your administrator has enabled it in the system settings. When it is on, a Question field lets you tag the response to a numbered question, which is useful when a menu doubles as a quick survey.

What happens to a press

flowchart TD
  A[Caller hears menu prompt] --> B[Caller presses a key]
  B --> C{Log Key Press on}
  C -->|No| D[Route the call only]
  C -->|Yes| E[Record the press]
  E --> F{Log Field set}
  F -->|Yes| G[Write to lead field]
  F -->|No| H[Keep in call record]
  E --> I{Alt DTMF Log on}
  I -->|Yes| J[Write to separate table]

Logged presses also feed the IVR report, so you can see which options callers actually use and trim the menu down over time. They sit alongside the agent's Disposition to give you the full picture of each call. To see how menus fit into the broader call flow, read the inbound call handling guide. For a richer view of who was on each call, the logged-in agents report is a good companion.

Wiring menus, lead fields and reports together on a fresh install is slow going by hand. Our managed VICIdial hosting hands you a ready box in under 40 seconds, so you can build the menu and start logging presses the same day.