If you're thinking about one, what callers hear on an AI phone is probably your biggest worry. Fair enough. These are your customers. So here's a call, start to finish.
The first few seconds
No menu. No "press 1 for bookings". The line is answered as soon as it rings through.
The very first thing is the disclosure. In the United States and Canada it goes: "Hi, you're speaking with an AI assistant. This call may be recorded." Each country has its own version. In New Zealand it opens with kia ora. In Australia, where some states have stricter recording rules, it says the call is being recorded rather than that it may be.
We open every call this way for two reasons. People have a right to know who they're talking to, and more and more places require it. The rules country by country are in telling callers it's an AI.
There's a practical upside too. Callers who know it's an AI tend to just say what they want, plainly. Nobody feels tricked halfway through.
Then your greeting
Straight after comes your greeting. One or two short sentences: your business name and an offer to help.
Say you run Harbour Dental in Wellington. Yours might be: "Thanks for calling Harbour Dental. I can book you in, answer a question or take a message. How can I help?"
A greeting is drafted for you when your profile is built, and you can rewrite it however you like. Keep it short. People rang to say something, not to listen.
What callers hear on an AI phone when they ask a question
Most calls are a question. Are you open Saturday? Do you come out to Karori? Do you do root canals, or do you refer those on?
The AI answers from your business profile: services, hours, where you are, prices if you've chosen to share them, and your FAQ answers. How that profile gets built from your website is covered in how your AI phone learns your business.
And when it doesn't know? It says so. It won't invent an answer to sound helpful. It offers to take a message, and it logs the question for you, so you can add the answer once and it's covered next time.
When they want to book
Say the caller wants a check-up. If you've connected Google Calendar, the AI looks for free times first. It only offers times that are actually free, long enough for the service they want, inside your working hours.
It says them like a person would: "I've got Thursday at half past two, or Friday morning at ten." Not a string of numbers. The caller picks one, the AI books it, and confirms it out loud before the call ends.
Nothing suits? It can offer other days, or put them on a waitlist. More on this in booking appointments by phone with an AI.
When it's a message
Some calls aren't for the AI to sort out. A supplier chasing an invoice. A patient wanting to talk to their dentist about a result. For those it takes a message: who's calling, what it's about, and anything else you've asked it to collect.
It uses the number the caller is actually ringing from, so a misheard digit doesn't leave you calling back a stranger. The message shows up on the call in your dashboard and lands in your email.
When it's urgent
You give it the words that mean urgent in your business. For a plumber that's burst and flood. For a dentist, severe pain and knocked out.
When a caller uses one, the call is marked urgent so it's the first thing you see. If you've set it up that way, the caller is put straight through to you.
When they want a person
Some people just want a human, and that's fine. You decide what happens. The AI can put them through to the people and numbers you've named, at the times you choose, or take a message when that makes more sense. A common setup is to put calls through during opening hours and take messages at night.
How the call ends
When the caller has what they need, the AI says goodbye and then ends the call. It won't hang up mid-sentence or leave the line hanging open.
If someone asks not to be contacted again, it records that and doesn't argue.
What you see afterwards
Every call is recorded and transcribed, with a short summary, in your dashboard. You can read the conversation, play the recording, see any booking or message that came out of it, and spot the urgent ones. It's how you check the AI is doing what you want, and where to tweak it.
Be the caller first
The best way to know what your customers will hear is to ring it yourself. During the 7-day trial you can talk to your AI in the browser, no card and no number needed. Try a simple question, a booking, an upset caller, someone who insists on a human. Change what you don't like and try again.
When you're ready, a plan gives you a local number, AI answering and minutes for 30 days, from US$29. The pricing page has the details.
FAQ
Can I turn off the AI disclosure?
It's on by default for every call, and we recommend keeping it on. It's the honest thing to do, and in a growing number of places it's the law.
Does it sound robotic?
It speaks in a natural voice, and you pick that voice from a catalogue of standard voices. Listen in the browser before you decide.
What language does it speak?
English.
What if the caller talks over it or changes their mind?
It's a conversation, not a script. They can ask something else, move to a different time or ask for a person.
What happens if two people ring at once?
Both are answered. Each plan takes several calls at the same time: 2 on Lite, 5 on Standard and 10 on Pro.
