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Users are subscribed using an a phone number. The phone number and one or more groups must be selected when subscribing a user.

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The Tools tab allows you to bulk subscribe users by pasting a list of email addresses and selecting the groups you would like them subscribed to.  There is also an HTML subscription section that allows you to embed a widget onto your website to allow users to subscribe online via your website. 

Content of Voice Calls

AppArmor has worked with our clients to create an optimal configuration for the content that is sent out via Voice Call.

Here is a "Timeline" of how a Voice Call Notification is sent and the Tracking Events (see Tracking Events Glossary) associated with each "phase"

1. Call is sent from the Dashboard - SEND
2. If necessary, extension is dialled - DIALEXT
3. The call will read the following 3 times- [Event] => "Dial 1 to listen to the whole message." - MSGLOOP
4. If the user pushes 1, the whole message will be read - PLAYMSG
5. The call is complete - COMPLETE

We've often had questions from our clients about this configuration, especially when it comes to Voicemal.

Voicemail

The question we receive most often is: "How come the entire message isn't played over Voicemail?"

There are 2 important things to note here:

Formatting your Notification Templates

The formatting of your Notification Templates should be such that the most important information appears in the "Event" field. Many Alerting Mechanisms are only able to display a short amount of content, and therefore it is always wise to put the most important information in the Event field, because it is used as the short version of the message for all Alerting Mechanisms with such limits. If you're formatted your templates correctly, the user will always hear the "Event" as part of the Voicemail, and thus will receive the most important information.

Answering Machine Detection

The system does not know when it has reached Voicemail. Our team has attempted to use "Answering Machine Detection" (AMD) software before, but even the best AMD software is only about 96% accurate. This could potentially lead to certain calls not being recognized as even having been picked up, and no message playing at all. Because of this, we need a single message format that handles the following 3 scenarios:

1. The system has to dial one or more extensions (so there's a potentially long delay before it actually connects)
2. The user picks up the phone right away.
3. The call goes to Voicemail.

The only way to handle all three of these scenarios is to have a shorter version of the message (MSGLOOP, above) play multiple times. This is the only solution we've found that ensures this.

If you have any other ideas for how this could be improved, please let us know! We're always willing to work with our clients to improve our software - this process has been developed through active troubleshooting with many clients to ensure the best possible outcomes for all notification recipients.

Verified Number

You can also configure a “Verified Number” for your outbound calls.  This configures the system to make outbound calls from a number that you already own.  This helps to provide further trust cues to users receiving calls, their call display will show a recognized phone number rather than an AppArmor standard toll free number.

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