Set up an AI receptionist for your phone line

Turn your bot into an AI receptionist that answers your business phone around the clock, answers common questions from your own content, takes messages and puts callers through to your team when they ask for a person.

What you'll build

A phone number (or your existing business line, forwarded to it) where callers get:

• A greeting in your business name, with a spoken AI disclosure
• Instant answers to everyday questions: opening hours, prices, services, directions, policies
• A transfer to your mobile or office line when they ask for a person
• A message taken when nobody can pick up, sent to your inbox
• A written transcript of every call in Conversations

You can hear it working on the free test line before you rent a number.

1. Create your bot and add what it should know

If you already have a support bot, skip to step 2: your receptionist uses the same knowledge.

1. Create a bot named after your business, for example "Acme Plumbing". See Build your first bot.
2. Add a Website data source so the bot learns your services, prices and opening hours. Use files or a manual data source for anything not on your site, such as a price list or cancellation policy.
3. Once the sources have synced, click Test and ask a few questions to check the answers.

Customer support covers knowledge and instructions in more detail.

2. Write receptionist instructions

In General settings, set a Prompt that describes the receptionist's job. Phone calls work best when the bot keeps answers short and asks one thing at a time:

You are the receptionist for Acme Plumbing, a family plumbing business.

Your job on a call:
- Greet callers warmly and find out what they need.
- Answer questions about our services, prices, coverage area and opening hours using the information provided.
- Keep answers to one or two sentences and ask one question at a time.
- For emergencies (leaks, no heating, no hot water) offer to put the caller through to the team straight away.
- If you can't help, offer to take a message with the caller's name, number and what they need.
- Never make up prices or availability. If you don't know, say so and offer to take a message.

3. Turn on the phone channel and try the test line

1. Open the Channels tab and turn on the Phone card.
2. In Test line, enter Your phone number and click Get a test PIN.
3. Call the test line with your caller ID visible, enter the PIN and talk to your receptionist.

Each team gets 10 free test minutes a month (including transfers), reset on the first of the month (UTC). Up to five callers per bot can use the test line, with ten test calls per caller per day.

4. Set the greeting and voice

In Greeting and voice:

1. Write a Spoken greeting, such as "Thanks for calling Acme Plumbing. How can I help?" The AI disclosure is always spoken as well.
2. Pick a Call voice that suits your brand and region, and play the preview.
3. Click Regenerate from system prompt to draft Voice instructions from your Prompt, then adjust the tone if you like.
4. Set Answer length to Short or Medium, and Maximum call duration (minutes) to around 5.

5. Set up transfers and message taking

In Transfer to your team:

1. Turn on Allow transfers and enter the Team phone number that should ring when a caller asks for a person (for example 07700 900123).
2. Set Ring for (seconds) to how long your team has to answer, for example 25.
3. Leave If nobody answers on Return to the bot to take a message.

When a transfer comes through, whoever answers hears that Chat Thing is transferring a caller and presses any key to accept, so voicemail never takes the call by accident. If nobody accepts, the bot takes a message instead.

6. Deliver messages with a power-up

A message is only useful if it reaches you. Add a power-up so the bot can pass messages on during the call:

• Send email: the simplest option. Email each message to your team inbox with the caller's name, number and request.
• Notion or Zapier: log messages in a database, CRM or job-management tool.
• Call your API: create a ticket or job in your own system.

Add a line to the Prompt telling the bot to use the power-up, for example: "When you take a message, use the Send email power-up to send it to the office with the caller's details."

7. Get a number or forward your existing line

1. In Phone number, choose the Country and click Get a number. You need the voice add-on first; see Voice minutes.
2. Either publish the new number, or keep your existing business number and forward the calls you miss to your Chat Thing number. The Answer when you can't section gives you the code to dial for your phone network and a Test forwarding button to prove it works, so the receptionist steps in exactly when the team can't. See Keep your existing business number.

8. Review calls and improve

• Choose who gets a summary of each call by email or text in the After each call section. See Call summaries by email and text.
• Check Recent calls on the phone settings page to see who called, why, how long they talked and whether they were transferred.
• Read call transcripts in Conversations. Questions the bot couldn't answer are your to-do list: add the answer to a data source or your Prompt.
• Keep an eye on your minutes. See Voice minutes.

Example call

Receptionist: Thanks for calling Acme Plumbing. I'm an AI assistant. How can I help?

Caller: Do you do boiler services in Leeds?

Receptionist: Yes, we cover Leeds. An annual boiler service is £85. Would you like someone to call you back to book it?

Caller: Yes please, it's Chris on 07700 900123.

Receptionist: Thanks, Chris. I've passed your message to the team and they'll call you back today.

Tips

• Name the business in the greeting. Callers relax when they hear the name they expected.
• Nail the top five questions first. Most calls to a small business are about hours, location, prices, availability and "can you do X?".
• Say what happens next. Tell the bot to confirm what it has done: "I've passed your message to the team and they'll call you back today."
• Use the same bot everywhere. The receptionist knows everything your website chat knows, so an answer you fix once is fixed everywhere.

See the phone channel page for every setting, including call limits and blocked numbers.