Business Hours of Number: What is it and how to use it?
This feature helps you manage customer expectations, reduce missed calls, and ensure smooth communication flow during and outside working hours. It adds professionalism to your support and keeps your team focused during operational hours.
What is the “Business Hours” feature in the number settings?
The “Business Hours” feature allows you to control when your CallHippo number is available to receive calls. You can choose from three settings:
Always Open: The number will be active 24/7 and accept all incoming calls at any time.
Custom Hours: You can define specific working hours based on your team's shift timings. Calls will only be received during those hours.
Always Closed: All incoming calls will be directed to voicemail automatically.
Note: You also get an option to forward the incoming calls to an external (non-CallHippo) number.
For Custom Hours, you also get added flexibility. If someone calls outside your business hours, you can either:
Play a custom after-hours message, or
Forward the call to an external number, such as a manager’s phone, to ensure important calls are not missed.
Timezone Settings for Business Hours
The timezone set for your number determines when your business hours apply. You can view or change this timezone from the top-right corner of the Business Hours screen.
When you choose Custom hours, all shift timings you set for each day will follow this selected timezone, not your device’s local time. This ensures your number stays consistent with the intended region’s time, regardless of where you or your users are located.
How to set the timezone for your CallHippo number:
1. Log in to your CallHippo dashboard.
2. Navigate to the “Numbers and DID” section on the left side of the screen and then click on the Numbers
3. Click on the settings icon of the number for which you want to set the timezone for.
4. Click on the “Business hours” option available on the left of the screen and select the timezone as per your requirement, as visible in the screenshot below.
5. Click on the save icon to save the selected timezone.
Refer to the steps below to change the “Business Hours” of any CallHippo number:
1. Log in to your CallHippo dashboard.
2. Navigate to the “Numbers and DID” section on the left side of the screen and then click on the Numbers
3. Click on the settings icon of the number for which you want to set the business hours for.
4. Click on the “Business hours” option available on the left of the screen.
5. You can select from the 3 options: Always Open, Custom, and Always Closed, as per your requirement and the description provided above in this article.
6. If you select “custom” for business hours, you’ll be able to set different shift times for each day of the week.
You can click on the ‘+’ icon to create and edit the timings.
Custom hours: More information
You can define specific working hours based on your team's shift timings. Calls will only be received during those hours.
As per the options available, you can select the timings for each day of the week, which will be on repeat unless you manually change them again.
You will receive all the incoming calls within the active business hours on the dialer (if open).
When you choose Custom hours, all shift timings you set for each day will follow this selected timezone, not your device’s local time.
For the incoming calls received outside of the custom business hours:
We have an “After Work Hours” option available, using which you can set three different settings. Kindly refer to the information below:
1. If you keep both the toggles turned off, all the incoming calls outside of the business hours will directly go to voicemail.
2. If you enable the ‘After Work Hours Message’ toggle, you can customize the message callers will hear outside business hours. Click on the blue gear icon to type your own message, which will be played as a voice prompt.
Alternatively, you can upload an audio file in .mp3 or .wav under 5 MB format to use as the message your callers will hear.
You can choose between two options for your After Work Hours Message: Greeting or Voicemail.
Greeting: When selected, callers will hear the custom message or audio file you’ve set. After the message is played, the call will automatically end.
Voicemail: When selected, callers will hear your message or audio file, and then be prompted to leave a voicemail after the beep.
Choose the option that best suits your business needs.
3. When you enable the "Forward to External Number" feature, you will be prompted to enter the number where you would like incoming calls to be forwarded. Simply click on the blue pencil icon to input the desired number.
Once set, incoming calls to your CallHippo number, during "after work hours" within your custom business hours, will be automatically forwarded to the specified number.
Please note that “After Work Hours Message” and “Forward to External Number” cannot be activated at the same time.
Business hours set to ‘Always closed’:
Once you set the business hours of a number to ‘Always Closed’, you will be able to see an option “Forward to External Number”.
1. If the toggle is turned off, the call to the selected number will directly disconnect, or go to the number's voicemail (if set)
2. If the toggle is turned on, you get an option to enter the external number to which incoming calls will be forwarded directly, without ringing on the CallHippo dialer.
You can click on the blue colored icon to enter, edit, and save the number.
Frequently asked questions:
Q: What are the two options for the After Work Hours Message?
A: The two options are "Greeting" and "Voicemail." With "Greeting," callers hear your message, and the call ends. With "Voicemail," callers hear your message and are prompted to leave a voicemail.
Q: How can I set a custom after-work hours message?
A: You can enable the "After Work Hours Message" toggle and type your own message by clicking the blue pencil icon. You can also upload an audio file in .mp3 or .wav format.
Q: What happens when someone calls outside of my business hours?
A: If someone calls outside of your business hours, you have three options: send the call directly to voicemail, play a custom after-hours message, or forward the call to an external number. This depends on the settings you have selected.
Q: Can I select the time zone for my custom business hours?
A: Yes, you can select the time zone in the settings to ensure that your custom business hours are accurate according to the correct time zone.
Q: Why are my business hours not working according to my local time?
A: This usually happens because your number’s business hours follow the timezone selected in the number settings, not your device or browser’s local timezone. To fix this, go to the “Business Hours” section for your number and make sure the correct timezone is selected at the top-right corner. This ensures that all shift timings reflect the intended regional time, regardless of where you're accessing CallHippo from.
Q: I updated my business hours, but calls are still going to voicemail—why?
A: Here are a few possible reasons this might happen:
The timezone may be incorrect, so the system interprets your current time as outside of business hours.
Business hours might not be correctly set for today’s specific day (e.g., no shift configured for Sunday).
Your dialer must not be open, or if open, status in the dialer may be set to anything other than “Available”, which overrides business hours and prevents call reception.
The number might still be set to “Always Closed”, and not switched to “Custom” or “Always Open.”
If you have recently made changes to business hours, please log out and re-login to the dialer to ensure those changes are applied properly.
I hope this helps. If you still face any queries, please feel free to reach out at [email protected]