So let's investigate the use case we discussed before.

At which point do you need audio prompts? As you can see in the flow chart below, some of the processes are colored green - in our call flows, green always indicates audio. Yet, you will only see those green boxes if no decision process is connected to them. Also, some audio might be recycled so you cannot quite tell how many there are by counting the green boxes. Moreover, some prompts might be used multiple times.

Let's get concrete. The list below shows you the most stripped-down version of audio prompts which would work for the call flow:

1. Holiday and after-hour message (green box)
2. Welcome and IVR message (decision point - no green box)
3. Waiting music (many green boxes but they will all link to the same audio file)
4. Apology message (green box)

In this version, you can recycle the same prompt for the After hours and Holidays message as well as the waiting music in different places.

But you could get much more sophisticated if you wanted to and add many more prompts:

1. Holiday message
2. After-hour message
3. Welcome and IVR message
4. Waiting music Support
5. Waiting music Sales
6. Waiting music Tech
7. Apology message Support
8. Apology message Sales
9. Apology message Tech

As you can see, already in this very small and easy call-flow, you could have either four or more than twice as many prompts. It all depends on what you want the customer experience to be.

We would always suggest not to overdo it. Often, keeping it simple might be a better solution than trying to foresee all possible outcomes. It will make it easier for you as well - keeping an overview is important. But of course, you can increase the complexity as much as you wish.

Speaking of it, the second list even could be much, much longer if you wanted to add messages to each wait queue that are caller-specific, as for instance "check out our latest products at xxx.com" or "you can also find many answers to your questions in our help center if you go to...".

As you can already see, knowing your prompts is central as they define your call flow and customer experience. And sometimes, if you really struggle with finding your own call flow, try to start with the prompts. What should the customer experience be, what should your customers know when they call your line? It might make things much easier for you.

The last section is an overview of how babelforce recommends customers keep track of their audio files.