What Is a Hunt Group? A Complete Guide for Businesses
Most small teams do not want callers to guess who is free. They want one number that reaches somebody. A hunt group is the feature that makes that work: a set of users or lines that share a single number, where the system hunts through the group until a member answers. The name comes from old telephone exchanges, which would "hunt" down a list of lines looking for a free one.
The idea has not changed, but the tools have. On a cloud phone system a hunt group takes minutes to build, follows people to whatever device they are on, and can be pointed somewhere sensible when nobody picks up. This guide covers how hunting works, the types you can choose from, where it fits against a call queue or an IVR, and how to set one up without annoying your callers.
What is a hunt group?
A hunt group is a group of phone users that share one number. A caller dials that number, and instead of ringing one desk, the system tries the members of the group according to a rule you set, until one of them answers or the group runs out of people.
Three things define a hunt group: the members in it, the hunting pattern that decides who rings and in what order, and the fallback that catches the call when nobody answers. Get those three right and the feature disappears into the background, which is what you want.
You will also hear hunt list and call group, and often ring group, which is close but not identical; we cover that difference below. In Calilio you build one by setting a Ring Strategy on a number.
How a hunt group works, step by step
From the caller's side nothing unusual happens. They dial a number and someone answers. Behind that, four things take place.
Types of hunt group
The hunting pattern decides who does the work, so it is the part worth thinking about. Five patterns are in common use. Strictly, the first one is ring-group behaviour rather than hunting, but most systems list it in the same menu, so it belongs here. The first three are found on almost every business phone system; the last two are more common on contact-centre platforms.
Every member's phone rings at the same moment, and the first person to pick up takes the call. It is the quickest way to get a call answered, because nobody waits for a ring cycle to finish.
The system always starts at the top of the list and works down. Member one rings, then member two if there is no answer, then member three, in the same order every time.
The starting point moves along with each call. Call one starts at member one, call two at member two, and so on, so the group shares the load over the day.
The call goes to whoever has been off the phone the longest. Unlike circular hunting, it looks at actual time since the last call rather than a fixed turn order, so someone who has just finished a long call is not immediately rung again.
Each member is tagged with skills such as a language, a product or a seniority level, and the call is matched to a member with the right skills. An IVR menu or the caller's number usually tells the system which skill is needed.
Hunt group vs ring group: what's the difference?
Both let a group of people share one phone number, and both aim to get the call answered. The difference is how they ring. A ring group rings every phone in the group at the same time, and the first person to pick up takes the call. A hunt group rings phones one after another, searching for an available person using a pattern such as linear, round robin or longest idle.
The practical difference is control. In a ring group every line rings for every call, so the fastest hand wins and the whole room hears the phone. A hunt group lets you decide who is tried first, how long each person rings, and how calls are shared, which is why it suits teams with a receptionist, an account owner, or an uneven mix of experience.
Why hunt groups are worth setting up
How to set up a hunt group in Calilio
In Calilio a hunt group is called a Ring Strategy, and it is set per number. It is available on both plans, so there is nothing to buy separately.
The Ring Strategy screen in Calilio, with a two-agent sequential pool and a 20-second ring per agent.
Conclusion
A hunt group is one of the simplest things you can add to a business phone line, and one of the few that callers notice immediately, because the phone gets answered. Decide who is in the group, pick the hunting pattern that matches how the team works, keep each ring step short, and give the call somewhere useful to land when nobody picks up. On Calilio the simultaneous, sequential and round robin patterns are set from one Ring Strategy screen per number, on either plan.
Build a Hunt Group on Your Number in Minutes
Pick the members, choose simultaneous, sequential or round robin, set the fallback. It is one screen, and it is on both Calilio plans.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a hunt group?
Is a hunt group the same as a ring group?
What is the difference between a hunt group and a call queue?
What are the types of hunt group?
What happens if no one in the hunt group answers?
Does a hunt group work with remote teams?
Which Calilio plan includes hunt groups?
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