10 Questions Before You Choose an AI Receptionist
By Frontly
Last reviewed
Most AI receptionist checklists are lists of features to tick. This one is different: it is ten questions about your own calls. Answer them first, and you will know what you need before you compare anything.
They are the decisions every Frontly workflow is built on, whether you are a contractor, a clinic, a law firm or a property manager. Answer them before going live, and your receptionist sounds like your business from the first call. Then put four questions to any supplier you are considering.
1. Which calls are you missing, and when?
On a job site, with a patient, at an open house, at lunch, after 5pm, on Saturday. Your answer decides the cover you need: every call, the overflow when your team is busy, or after hours only. Many businesses start by forwarding their line to Frontly when they close, and widen it once they hear how it handles their calls.
2. What should every call end with?
A booked job, a booked appointment, a message, a transfer or an answered question. Write down the three or four outcomes that matter to your business, because each one becomes a path in your workflow. Frontly tags the outcome of every call after it ends, starting from ready-made tags you can extend, and counts them in your dashboard, so you can see how many calls became bookings, messages or new inquiries.
3. What is urgent, and who takes it?
A burst pipe, a patient who needs a nurse, a tenant with no power, a client in custody. Decide what counts as urgent and who it goes to, with a backup number. Frontly transfers those calls with a spoken briefing, tries the backup if the first number goes unanswered, and can check in with the person on Microsoft Teams or Slack before putting the call through.
4. Which callers need a person?
Some callers will always want a person, and they should get one: a caller who asks is transferred to your team. Decide who that is, and your staff take only the calls that need them.
5. What do you actually need to capture?
Usually less than you think. Two or three details, such as the caller's name, what they need and how urgent it is, are enough for most calls. A phone call is a poor place for a ten-question form or a spelled-out email address: callers tire, and the receptionist will keep asking exactly as instructed. Send long forms by text instead, which Frontly can do while the caller is still on the line. Will callers hang up on an AI receptionist? covers how to keep calls short.
6. What should callers hear first?
Your business name, that they are talking to your AI receptionist, and a question. Frontly never pretends to be a person, and you choose how it introduces itself. If you must say something in full, such as a recording notice, the Speak word-for-word (instant) setting delivers it exactly as written.
7. Which languages do your callers speak?
If some of your customers are more comfortable in Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese or French, plan for it. Frontly holds full conversations in more than 40 languages, on one number or on a dedicated line per language, and your front-desk agent can hand a caller to a specialist agent in their language.
8. Where should bookings and records go?
Every booking, message, transcript and outcome lands in your Frontly dashboard from the first call. If you run job, practice or property software, check whether it connects directly or needs the software company's approval first: the integrations directory shows each one.
9. Do you need calls going out as well?
Reminders, recalls, quote follow-ups and late-rent calls are often the calls nobody has time to make. Frontly runs outbound campaigns from your own list, with the same workflow builder, and logs every result. If you only need inbound today, note it for later.
10. Which number will callers dial?
Use a new local Frontly number, forward your existing number, port it to Frontly, or connect it over SIP after a compatibility review. Forwarding is the easiest place to start, because you can switch it back at any time. How to forward business calls to an AI receptionist walks through each option.
Four questions to ask any supplier
Your answers above tell you what you need. These four tell you whether a supplier can deliver it.
- Who sets it up, and who keeps it right? Ask who changes the wording when your hours, services or prices change, and how quickly. With Frontly you start from a ready-made receptionist workflow for your industry and make it yours in the visual builder, with email support when you have a question.
- Where does call data go? Ask where transcripts and caller details are stored, and who processes the call while it happens. Frontly stores your account and call records in the region you sign up in: the United States, the European Union or the United Kingdom. The privacy page sets out the full data flow.
- What happens when the AI can't help? Every receptionist meets a call it should not handle. Ask what the caller hears and who finds out. Frontly follows the rules you set: it transfers the call with a spoken briefing, tries a backup number, or takes a message and sends it to your team right away.
- What will a normal month cost you? Ask each supplier to price your own call pattern, not a headline rate: your calls per month, how long they run, and what happens in a busy month. How much does an AI receptionist cost? shows how to compare quotes like for like.
Then test it like a caller
With these answers written down, call the receptionist yourself. Interrupt it, ask for a person, ask something it has not been told, call from a noisy car. The answers you wrote down are the test: did each call end the way you wanted?
Start with a free test call. It needs no signup.