Voice Agent Phone Settings

Overview

Phone Settings control how your voice agent behaves during calls - what it says when answering, how calls end, voicemail handling, and audio quality settings. These settings shape the caller's experience and define the technical aspects of call handling.

Voice Agents 3.0: Several legacy audio settings are no longer shown on v3 because the system handles them automatically. Specifically, Voice Speed, Background Denoising, Active Listening, and Emotion Recognition are deprecated in v3. Everything else on this page still applies. The differences are called out in each section below.

Call Behavior Settings

First Message

What It Is: The first thing your agent says when a call connects.

Default: "Hi! Alex here with {account.name} on a recorded line. How can I help you today?"

Configuration:

• Use variables (press { key)
• Keep it natural and friendly
• Include compliance notice if required ("on a recorded line")
  • Google "is (insert your state) a 2 party consent state for phone calls"
  • If the answer is yes, you a required by law to disclose the call is being recorded

Good Examples:

Inbound Calls:

• "Hi! This is Alex with {account.name}. How can I help you today?"
• "Thanks for calling {account.name}! This is Alex. What can I do for you?"
• "{account.name}, this is Alex speaking. How may I assist you?"

Outbound Calls:

• "Hi {contact.first_name}! This is Alex calling from {account.name} on a recorded line about your {contact.hook} request. Is now a good time to chat?"
• "Hello! This is Alex from {account.name}. I'm calling about your recent inquiry. Do you have a moment?"

Tips:

• Be warm and professional
• State who you are and company name
• For inbound: Ask how you can help
• For outbound: State reason for call and ask if timing is good

Agent Speaks First

Toggle: Enable/Disable

When Enabled:

• Agent says first message immediately when call connects
• Recommended

When Disabled:

• Agent waits for caller to speak first
• Less common

Recommended: Keep enabled

End Call Message

What It Is: What agent says before hanging up.

Default: "Thank you for calling. Have a great day!"

Configuration:

• Use variables
• Keep it brief and polite
• Wrap up the conversation professionally

Good Examples:

• "Thanks for calling {account.name}! Goodbye."
• "Great talking with you, {contact.first_name}! Have a wonderful day."
• "Thank you for calling. We'll be in touch soon!"

Tips:

• Thank the caller
• Confirm next steps if applicable
• End on a positive note

Max Call Duration

What It Is: Maximum length of call in seconds before auto-ending.

Default: 600 seconds (10 minutes)

Range: 60 - 3600 seconds (1 minute to 1 hour)

Recommendations:

• Customer service: 600 seconds (10 minutes)
• Appointment booking: 300-600 seconds (5-10 minutes)
• Quick inquiries: 180-300 seconds (3-5 minutes)

What Happens When Limit Reached:

• Call disconnects

Why Have a Limit:

• Prevents abuse of your system
• Controls costs
• Ensures efficient use of AI

Audio Settings

Background Sound

Options:

• Office: Subtle office ambiance (default)
• Off: No background sound

Office Background:

• Light keyboard typing
• Distant conversations
• Makes AI sound more human
• makes delays in response seem shorter to the caller

When to Use Off:

• Prefer silence when no audio
• Personal preference

Recommended: Office (default)

Background Denoising

Voice Agents 3.0: This setting is deprecated in v3 and is not shown - the system handles noise automatically. The settings below apply to legacy accounts.

What It Does: Removes background noise from caller's audio.

Default: Enabled

Benefits:

• Software level background noice reduction
• Can result in better transcription accuracy

Drawbacks:

• In certain situations (like the contact being on speakerphone, holding their phone away from their ear momentarily, etc), it can cause some things the contact says to be ignored as background noise

Recommended: Test to determine your preference

Active Listening

Voice Agents 3.0: This setting is deprecated in v3 and is not shown - the system handles natural acknowledgments for you. The settings below apply to legacy accounts.

What It Does: Agent provides verbal acknowledgments during caller's speech.

Examples:

• "mm-hmm"
• "I see"
• "okay"
• "right"

Default: Enabled

Benefits:

• Can make conversation feel more natural
• Caller knows agent is listening
• More human-like interaction

Disable If:

• Seems too interrupty
• Prefer agent to listen silently

Recommended: Test to determine your preference

Emotion Recognition

Voice Agents 3.0: This setting is deprecated in v3 and is not shown. It was a legacy add-on that layered a separate model to try to detect a caller's tone. Today's realtime model understands tone and intent natively, so it's no longer necessary. The settings below apply to legacy accounts.

What It Does: AI detects caller's emotional state and adapts tone accordingly.

Default: Disabled

When Enabled:

• AI recognizes frustration, urgency, happiness, etc. based on tone not just speech

Note: Not always necessary, AI is pretty good at determining emotion just based on the text content of the contact's words.

Recommended: Test to determine preference

Voicemail Settings

Enable Voicemail Detection

Toggle: Enable/Disable

What It Does:

• Detects when call reaches voicemail
• Leaves configured message automatically
• Ends call after message

Voice Agents 3.0: v3 detects voicemail differently - and better. Instead of relying on automated machine detection (AMD), the agent simply listens and recognizes when it has reached a voicemail, the way a person would. This is more intuitive and tested better in practice. Keep this toggle on for outbound agents and provide a good voicemail message.

When to Enable:

• Outbound calling campaigns
• Follow-up calls
• Any scenario where voicemail is likely

When to Disable:

• Inbound-only agents (not applicable)
• Don't want messages left

Voicemail Message

Required if voicemail detection enabled

What It Is: Message agent leaves when voicemail is detected.

Default: None

Configuration:

• Use variables (press {)
• Keep it brief (15-30 seconds when spoken)
• Include callback number
• State reason for call

Good Examples:

Follow-Up Call: "Hi {contact.first_name}, this is Alex from {account.name}. I'm following up on your recent inquiry about {contact.hook}. Please give us a call back at 555-123-4567 when you have a moment. Thanks!"

Service Follow-Up: "Hello {contact.first_name}, Alex from {account.name} here. We wanted to check in about your recent service request. Call us back at 555-123-4567. Looking forward to helping you!"

Tips:

• State who you are and company name
• Mention reason for call
• Provide callback number
• Keep under 30 seconds
• Be friendly and professional

Best Practices

First Message Guidelines

For Inbound:

• Greet warmly
• State company name clearly
• Identify yourself
• Ask how you can help
• Include recording disclosure if required

For Outbound:

• Identify yourself and company
• Check if it's a good time
• State reason for call
• Be respectful of their time

Test Your Messages

Before deploying:

• Listen to how first message sounds
• Check end call message flow
• Verify voicemail message timing
• Test with team members

Voicemail Message Best Practices

Do:

• ✅ State name and company
• ✅ Give clear callback number
• ✅ Mention reason for call
• ✅ Keep it brief
• ✅ Sound friendly

Don't:

• ❌ Ramble or provide too much detail
• ❌ Forget to include callback number

Max Duration Considerations

Set based on call type:

• Quick inquiries: 3-5 minutes
• Standard calls: 5-7 minutes
• Complex issues: 7-10 minutes

Monitor Actual Call Times:

• Review voice logs
• Check average call duration
• Adjust limit if calls frequently hit maximum

Troubleshooting

Voice Agents 3.0: Some fixes below reference settings that don't exist in v3 (voice speed, background denoising, active listening). On v3 the system manages these automatically - if a voice sounds off, choose a different voice from the voice library; if the agent talks over callers or audio seems off, listen to the call recording, as it's often a connection issue on the caller's end.

Problem: First message sounds robotic

Solution:

• Rewrite with more natural language
• Add contractions ("I'm" instead of "I am")
• Keep it conversational
• Test different phrasings

Problem: Calls ending too quickly

Solution:

• Increase max call duration
• Review call logs for average duration
• Ensure duration fits your use case

Problem: Voicemail not detected

Solution:

• Verify voicemail detection is enabled
• Check phone provider supports detection
• Review call logs for detection attempts
• Test with known voicemail numbers

Problem: Voicemail message cut off

Solution:

• Shorten message
• Speak slightly slower (adjust voice speed)
• Remove unnecessary details
• Aim for 20-25 seconds max

Problem: Background noise interfering

Solution:

• Ensure background denoising is enabled
• Check caller's phone/connection quality
• May be on caller's end (not controllable)

Problem: Agent interrupting callers

Solution:

• Disable active listening
• Listen to the call recording - could simply be a case of a bad connection, callers words got cut off (not controllable)

Problem: Audio quality poor

Solution:

• Change background sound and background denoising settings
• Test with different phones

Related Features

• AI Voice Agents Overview - Main voice agent guide
• Voice Transfers - Call transfer configuration
• Voice Conditional Tools - Actions during calls