Warm and Cold transfers

Not every call ends with the agent who answered it. Sometimes a caller reaches the wrong team, sometimes they need a specialist, and sometimes a colleague simply has the answer faster. For all of these situations you transfer the call.

babelforce gives your agents two ways to do that, and they behave differently. Choosing the right one matters, because it decides whether your agent stays on the line and, just as importantly, which phone number the person receiving the call actually sees.

In this article, you'll learn the difference between a warm and a cold transfer, how to run each one from the babelforce phone, and what the new "Display as" field does.

The two types of transfer

Think of a transfer like handing over a conversation in an office. You can walk your visitor over to a colleague, introduce them, and only then leave the room. Or you can point at the door and let them walk over on their own. Both get the visitor to the right desk, but the experience is very different.

babelforce works the same way:

Warm transfer (the "Conference" button). The agent stays on the line while the third party is ringing, can introduce the caller, and only drops out once the third party has picked up.
Cold transfer (the "Transfer" button). The agent hands the call over and leaves immediately. There is no introduction.

Here is how the same situation plays out in both cases:

"A customer calls about an invoice. The agent realises this belongs to Billing. On a warm transfer, the agent puts the customer on hold, dials the Billing colleague, explains the case in a few words, and then hangs up so that customer and colleague are connected. On a cold transfer, the agent simply sends the customer straight through to Billing and moves on to the next call."

Warm transfer

In a warm transfer, three people are briefly involved: the customer, the agent, and the person receiving the call. The agent remains connected until the recipient answers, and only then drops out. The customer and the recipient stay connected.

Because the agent is the one placing this second call, the recipient does not see the customer's number. They see whatever is set in the "Display as" field, for example an agent number or a shared team number. This is usually what you want internally, since a colleague recognises an in-house number and picks up, while an unknown external number often goes unanswered.

In a warm transfer, the customer's original number is not passed on to the recipient. If your colleague needs to know who is calling, the agent should say so during the introduction, or you should use a cold transfer instead.

Cold transfer

In a cold transfer, the agent leaves the call as soon as the transfer is triggered. The customer is passed straight through, and the recipient sees the customer's original number, exactly as if the customer had dialled them directly.

This is the behaviour you want when the number itself carries meaning, for example when the receiving side looks up a customer record by caller ID, or when an automation matches on the incoming number.

Transferring a call step by step

To transfer a call, you need to be on an active call in the babelforce phone. In the call controls you will find the conference icon:

Active call > conference icon (two people) > Start a Conference/Transfer

Clicking the icon opens the Start a Conference/Transfer dialog. From here:

Choose what the recipient should see. In the "Display as" field, select a group or an agent from the list, or type a phone number.
Choose who receives the call. In the field below, enter an agent name, an agent number, or any phone number.
Decide whether the customer waits on hold. Tick "Put current party on hold" if the customer should hear hold music while you speak to your colleague.
Pick the type of transfer. Click Conference for a warm transfer, or Transfer for a cold transfer.

The "Display as" field

"Display as" is the field that controls the number shown to the person receiving a warm transfer. Instead of an arbitrary number, your colleague sees a value you have chosen, which makes internal transfers far easier to recognise and to answer.

You can slect the number from the list in the Drop Down Menu in BabelConnect. Pick an existing group or agent, and the number configured for them is used.

Please see this article, to see how you can set up the numbers to be listed in the Drop Down Menu

A few things are worth keeping in mind:

"Display as" applies to the warm transfer (Conference) path. A cold transfer always passes the customer's original number.
The value is a display value. It changes what the recipient sees, not how the call is routed or reported.

What to check in your own setup

Before you roll this out to your agents, it is worth walking through the following:

Test both buttons once. Place a test call, transfer it warm, then transfer it cold, and confirm that the number displayed on the receiving device is the one you expect.
Review anything that matches on caller ID. If an automation, a call flow condition, or a CRM lookup on the receiving side depends on a specific number, check that it still behaves as intended after a transfer.
Agree on a convention. Decide as a team which "Display as" value your agents should use, so that internal calls are consistent and recognisable.

Note: If the transfer behaviour in your account does not match what is described here, or if you are unsure which value your setup should display, get in touch with your Customer Success contact or write to support@babelforce.com and we will help you review the configuration.