Why our receptionist tells callers it's an AI

Every call to a Call Welcome receptionist starts the same way: it tells the caller it's an AI, and that the call is transcribed. If you're thinking about using it, you might wonder whether that puts callers off, or whether you can switch it off. You can't switch it off, and this post explains why we built it that way.

What callers hear

Say your business is Northside Plumbing and you've named your receptionist Sam. Unless you write your own greeting, every call opens with this:

"Thanks for calling Northside Plumbing, this is Sam, an AI assistant. This call is transcribed so we can follow up. How can I help you today?"

You choose your receptionist's name, and you can write your own greeting. But the portal won't save a greeting unless it tells callers both things: that they're talking to an AI, and that the call is transcribed. And if a caller asks partway through whether they're talking to a real person, the receptionist says plainly that it's an AI.

Why it says so

It's honest. A caller is about to give a stranger their name, their number and their home address, and describe what's gone wrong in their house. They should know who, or what, they're telling. Saying so takes a few seconds at the start of the call.

It keeps your callers' trust in you. Your receptionist answers in your business's name. If a caller found out afterwards that the friendly voice had been a machine passing itself off as a person, that would land on you, not on us. Saying it up front means there's nothing for anyone to find out later.

It's what we'd want. When we call a business, we want to know whether we're talking to a person. So we built the receptionist the way we'd want to be answered ourselves.

The transcription notice is part of the same idea. Calls aren't recorded. Each one is transcribed so you can read it and follow up, and callers hear that before they say anything. If a caller leaves a voicemail instead, the audio is deleted once it has been transcribed.

What happens after the greeting

The standard greeting takes a few seconds and ends by asking how it can help. A caller who's happy to go on just says what they need, and it takes their name, number and address like any other message.

If a caller asks whether they're really talking to an AI, it tells them yes. A caller who'd rather speak to a person can leave a name and number, and you call them back. Some may simply hang up. If they'd started to explain what they need first, you still get a text with their number, as long as their phone shows it, so you can call them back.

What it doesn't do

Telling callers it's an AI is half of it. The other half is that the receptionist never acts as though it were something else.

• It doesn't pretend to be you, or anyone on your team. It answers by its own name, for your business.
• It doesn't say a job is booked or promise a time. It takes the message, and you call back to schedule.
• It doesn't make up prices, hours or availability. It answers from what you've written for it. If you haven't given it an answer, it says you'll confirm.
• It doesn't take payment. It never asks for card numbers or any payment details over the phone.
• It doesn't record the call. There's a transcript, and the caller has been told so.
• It doesn't keep someone in danger on the line. A caller who mentions a gas smell or a carbon monoxide alarm is told to get out and call the gas company or 911 from outside. Smoke or fire, an electrical shock or someone hurt means calling 911 now. Either way, you get a SAFETY text right away.

Why we think it's worth it

An AI that answers your phone is useful because it's always there: on a roof, under a sink, at 2 a.m., it picks up when you can't. That only helps you if callers trust what they hear. We'd rather every caller knew exactly who they were talking to, and still left their message, than have any of them feel misled by your business.

If you want to see how the receptionist handles a call in your trade, the trade pages each walk through an example call, greeting included. The FAQ answers the other common questions.

This post explains our choice. It isn't legal advice.

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