Free/easy solution for Click to Call - linking Zoho CRM to other VOIP (for those who cant use Zoho phone bridge or Skype link)

Free/easy solution for Click to Call - linking Zoho CRM to other VOIP (for those who cant use Zoho phone bridge or Skype link)

I have spent a few hours trying to configure Zoho CRM to call a variety of softphones.

In the end I am going to use Skype and so I can use the inbuilt feature where you click the phone icon that Zoho displays next to phone numbers on some (but not all) pages.

But whilst I was doing some trial and error of different options I found a way that may work for a lot of people and is a) very easy and b) free and c) needs no other software / plugins etc

So i thought i would post here what I discovered - as there seem to be many threads from people trying to do this.

Solution:

This webpage (nothing to do with me) is an article on creating links to trigger actions such as a Skype call:

https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/tips-tricks/telephone-links-how-to-add-call-able-links-ctas-to-your-website

Which tells us that to call Skype we can use:

skype:+01234567?call

For several other softphones (VOIP) we can use:

callto:+01234567

or

tel:+01234567    (this one seems to be the most general)

So we just need a way to create a link or field in Zoho that combines the text 'callto:' with the phone number.

I tried various types of custom fields including URL fields etc but they wouldn't allow the format ('invalid URL error').

Finally I discovered a way to do it.

Go through Setup to your 'client' or 'lead' module as if you were about to edit the layout.

But instead of clicking to go into the layoiut you should see an option to add "LIiks and Buttons".

Choose to "Create New Link"    (i tried buttons but they didnt work for this purpose)

Give the Link a Label e.g. "Call Using VOIP" and a description 'A link to launch a VOIP call'

In the Build Your Link we need to enter the instruction.

First use the Fields drop down to choose your Phone field. When you select the field it will populate some text in the box:

${Leads.Phone}

You then need to type in the text tel: front of the $ so that it looks like this:

tel:${Leads.Phone}

Then save your New Link.

Go to view you Leads module (or whichever module you have created the link for).

You should see your new link in left hand margin towards the bottom left of screen.

Click it and.......it should launch your Skype or other softphone (it may ask you to choose which app you want to use to make the call - only the first time you do it)  and allow you to call in 1 click without typing in the number.

It also launches a blank new browser tab (which is a bit annoying) - but its easy enough just to close the extra window down whilst waiting for the client to answer the call.

I hope someone finds this helpful.