How a cold transfer works
The first party, whether a person, an IVR or an AI voice agent, hands the call to another line and drops off. Nobody tells the person who answers who is calling or why. In an IVR, "press 3 to speak to our team" followed by hold music is usually a cold transfer.
Here's an insurance renewal call:
- Agent: "Aapki policy 12 November ko renew hogi..."
- Caller: "Mujhe claim ke baare mein baat karni hai."
- Agent: "Main aapko claims team se jod rahi hoon."
With a cold transfer, the claims executive picks up with "Hello, boliye?" and the caller starts from the beginning: name, policy number, the claim.
Cold vs warm transfer
| Cold transfer | Warm transfer | |
|---|---|---|
| What the next person knows | Nothing until the caller explains | Who is calling and why |
| What the caller does | Starts again | Carries on where they left off |
| Good for | Simple routing, such as a general enquiries line | Sales, disputes, complaints, anything with history |
Why it matters
A cold transfer is cheap for the business and costly for the caller. Every repeated question is another reason to hang up, and on a sales call it can lose the lead.
How Kallix handles transfers
Kallix agents make warm transfers. When a transfer rule matches (a keyword, an intent or the caller asking for a person), the agent tells the caller it's connecting them and hands the call to your team.