Your two receptionist voices: female and male

Choose who's live

1. 1Click AI receptionist in the menu, then the Setup tab.
2. 2Find Your live AI agents.
3. 3Use the switch on each agent to turn them on or off.
4. 4Click Save changes.

At least one agent always stays live. With both live, website visitors can choose who they talk to.

Pick who answers the phone

On plans with phone answering, choose an agent under Answers phone calls. Only a live agent can answer calls, and callers hear that agent's voice.

Change names and avatars

1. 1Type a new name in Display name.
2. 2Under Chat avatar, pick a ready-made avatar or click Upload image.
3. 3Click Save changes.

Photos can be PNG, JPEG or WebP, up to 10 MB, and we crop them to a square and shrink them to a small file automatically. The avatar shows in the chat header, next to replies and in the welcome popup.

An agent needs to be live before you can change their avatar.

Set the greeting and personality

On the Setup tab, under Greeting, write the first line of every new call, chat and message. Under Language and personality, choose the language, tone and answer length.

Customers who write or speak another language are answered in it automatically: chat and text in most languages, and phone calls in 30+ languages.

Tell callers it's an AI

Your AI always tells callers it's an AI at the start of every call. There's nothing to switch on, and it can't be turned off: the EU and several US states require callers to be told.

It adds one sentence to your greeting, like "I'm Audrey, your business's AI assistant." If your greeting already says so, nothing is added. You can see it under AI receptionist > Calls & messages: Says it's an AI at the start of calls shows Always on.

In chat, texts and email your AI never pretends to be human either: if someone sincerely asks, it says it's an AI and keeps helping.

When your AI brings in a person

Your AI always hands off when a customer is upset, asks for a person, has a billing or legal question, or has an emergency. It also hands off when it doesn't know the answer.

If someone's life may be in danger (a fire, a gas smell, chest pain, or talk of self-harm), it first tells them to get safe and call your country's emergency number, then alerts your team as URGENT.

On plans with phone answering (Phone Only, Starter and Growth), it can put callers straight through to your team during opening hours (live call transfer): first the person who handles what the caller needs, then the others on your list, then your mobile number. Time on a transferred call counts toward your minutes. If nobody picks up, the caller can leave a voicemail and your team gets a text and an email. On plans without phone answering, it takes a detailed message and alerts your team.

After hours, callers who ask for a person leave a message and your team gets a text to call back. Real emergencies are still put through on the days ticked Takes emergency calls in Settings > Hours.

Choose who takes your calls

1. 1Click AI receptionist in the menu, then the Calls & messages tab.
2. 2Under When a customer wants a real person, type your mobile number in Step 1. Then, under Step 2 (optional), click Add a person.
3. 3Type their Name and Mobile number.
4. 4Under What they handle, type the topics they take, separated by commas (for example: billing, invoices). Leave it empty for anything.
5. 5Under When they take calls, choose Any time, During opening hours or Set days and times.
6. 6Click Save. Use the arrows to change the order people are tried in.

Takes about 3 minutes. You can add up to 3 people on Starter and Phone Only, 10 on Growth (3 on the free trial). Calls go first to the person who handles what the caller needs, then down your list, then your mobile number from Step 1. We keep trying for about a minute and a half (about 3 phones), then the caller can leave a message and your team gets a text. Alert texts go to the first person available.

A number in another country: click Send code, ask the person for the 6-digit code we text them, type it in and click Confirm. Calls and texts only go to that number once it's confirmed. One number outside your business's country is allowed. A call put through to it is an international call, so the time on it also counts against your AI voice minutes, as 2 or more minutes for each minute depending on the country.

After hours: callers leave a message and your team gets a text to call back. Real emergencies are put through on the days ticked Takes emergency calls in Settings > Hours. To put every call through after hours, turn on Put calls through after hours on the same card.

If a number won't save: use the person's own mobile, not the line that forwards to Frontivo.io or your public business number. Calls to those come straight back to your AI, so they can't be used.

Your AI never gives these numbers to customers.

Calls your AI makes

Your AI can also call people who contacted you first: it calls back missed callers, and calls website visitors who said yes to a quick call. Both are off until you turn them on under AI receptionist > Calls & messages > Calls your AI makes.

When it calls, who it never calls, voicemail, cost and fixes are all in Calls your AI makes.

Choose what your AI can do

1. 1Click AI receptionist in the menu, then the What it can do tab.
2. 2Switch off anything you'd rather your team handled: Book appointments, Reschedule appointments, Cancel appointments, Take messages and capture leads, Transfer calls to your team or Email customers.
3. 3Click Save changes.

Takes about 1 minute. The AI stops doing it right away and offers to take a message instead. Answering questions and bringing in your team for emergencies are always on.

Set booking rules

1. 1Click AI receptionist in the menu, then the Booking tab.
2. 2Under Booking rules, choose the Minimum notice for new bookings, the Buffer between appointments, How far ahead customers can book, and until when customers can reschedule or cancel with the AI.
3. 3Click Save changes.

Takes about 2 minutes. The AI follows these every time it offers, books, moves or cancels a time. Closer to an appointment than your limit, it takes a message for your team instead.

Pause your AI receptionist

1. 1Click AI receptionist in the menu.
2. 2Click Pause at the top, then OK.
3. 3To start again, click Resume.

While paused, the AI answers no one: calls go to your team's number (on plans with call forwarding - the time on those calls counts toward your voice minutes) or hear a short message, texts and social messages wait in your Inbox, and website chat asks visitors to leave a message. You can still try it on the Test tab.