The Speak app plays a pre-configured message to the caller at any point in your routing policy. It supports Text-to-Speech (TTS), pre-recorded sound files, macros, and speech markup — or any combination of these.
Available in the Call Policy? | Available in the Data Analytics Policy? | Available in the Digital Policy? | Available in the System Policy? |
|---|---|---|---|
✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ |
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Purpose: Plays a spoken message — using TTS, a sound file, or both — to the caller as soon as the app is reached in the routing policy.
Location: Action container, within a Call or System routing policy.
What is the Speak app
The Speak app converts typed text into speech or plays back a pre-recorded audio file (or a mixture of both) to the caller. Playback begins the moment the app is activated in the call route. You can personalise messages using macros — for example, greeting a caller by name — and control pacing with speech markup.
Common scenarios include welcome greetings, out-of-hours messages, queue-exit announcements, post-call thank-you messages, and seasonal or promotional notices inserted at specific points in a call flow.
Before you begin
A Call or System routing policy open in the Policy Builder, with an Action container ready to hold the app.
Account Settings reviewed — the default TTS voice is inherited from Account Settings unless you override it in this app. See How to set a default voice for Text-to-Speech (TTS).
Sound files uploaded (optional) — if you plan to use pre-recorded audio, upload files via Account Settings or dial *150 from an extension to record via the phone. See Account Settings for upload requirements.
Use cases
Playing a welcome message at the start of a call flow.
Announcing out-of-hours status and directing the caller to leave a voicemail.
Making a seasonal or promotional announcement (e.g. holiday opening hours).
Asking the caller to leave a message before routing to voicemail.
Playing a personalised greeting using a macro to speak the caller's name.
Delivering a post-call thank-you message after an agent hangs up (via Transfer after Connect in another app).
Configuration reference
Give the app a name under Name this item, then configure it under Configure this item. The configuration consists of a voice selector and a message field.
Voice selection
Field | Value (* = default) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Voice | Default* | Named voice from dropdown | Specifies which TTS voice is used to speak the message. Default uses the voice configured in Account Settings. Voices with AI in their name sound more natural and human-like. See Text To Speech Voices Available for the full list. |
Message content
Field | Value (* = default) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
The phrase you want to say | Blank text field | Enter the text to be converted to speech. Whatever you type here is spoken when the app is activated. The TTS engine intelligently interprets common formats — for example, |
The message field supports three types of content, which can be freely combined:
Text-to-Speech (TTS)
Type any text directly into the field. The TTS engine reads it aloud using the selected voice.
Sound files
Click the sound selector icon (speaker) in the text field to insert a pre-recorded sound file that has been saved in Account Settings. Inserted sounds appear as tags in the field — for example, {WelcomeCaller}. A tag shown in blue is recognised and valid; a tag shown in red is not recognised. Sound files can be mixed into TTS, for example: {WelcomeCaller} How are you today?
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Note: Sound files can be uploaded in Account Settings or recorded by dialling *150 from a Natterbox extension. Sound file tag names must start with a lowercase letter, contain no numbers, and have no spaces or special characters.
Macros
Click the macro selector icon in the text field to insert a macro — either from the picker or typed manually. Macros are expanded at runtime and the resulting value is spoken aloud. For example, $(CallerName) would speak the caller's name. Multiple macros can be embedded within TTS text:
Welcome $(SForce_Current.$CallerName) to our service.
Speech markup
Speech markup can be used to control the pacing and delivery of TTS output. Insert markup directly into the message text field.
Break (pause)
Adds a pause into the TTS playback. Use the following format:
<break time="2s" />Unit | Description |
|---|---|
| Duration in seconds. Maximum: 10s. |
| Duration in milliseconds. Maximum: 10000ms. |
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Important: The time unit (
sorms) must be included in the markup. Omitting it will cause the pause to be ignored.
Message preview
You can preview exactly what callers will hear before saving the policy.
Click the play button to start playback. The button changes to a stop button while playing.
If the message contains macros, you are prompted to enter a test value for each macro before playback begins.
To change the preview voice, select a different voice from the dropdown above the message field. This only affects preview playback — it does not change what callers hear.
The preview always starts from the beginning of the message.
You do not need to save the policy to hear an updated preview — changes are reflected immediately.
Result
After the message finishes playing, the call passes to the next app within the same container (or exits the container if no further apps exist). The Speak app has no connector output — it cannot link directly to a new container. It simply plays the configured speech and passes the call along.
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Tip: To build a sequence of messages with different routing afterwards, place multiple Speak apps inside the same Action container, or follow a Speak app with a Rule app to branch the call flow based on conditions.