What happens on the call
- 1The caller asks for a person ("Can I talk to someone?"), has an emergency, or needs something the AI can't help with. Your AI says "One moment, I'll connect you" and rings your team.
- 2Your phone rings and shows the caller's number (or your Frontivo.io number when theirs is hidden).
- 3When you answer, you hear a short message first: who is calling, for which business and what they need.
- 4Press any key on your phone to take the call. You're connected to the caller straight away.
- 5Nobody picks up within about 25 seconds? The next person on your list is tried. After about a minute and a half, the caller can leave a voicemail, and you get a text and an email with their number and a link to the full conversation.
Why press a key? So your own voicemail can never "answer" the transfer and leave the caller stuck. If you don't press a key, it counts as not answered and the next person is tried.
The whole conversation the caller had with your AI is in your Inbox.
If call recording is on, the recording keeps going after the transfer, so your part of the call is recorded too. See call recordings and transcripts.
Set it up (2 minutes)
- 1Click AI receptionist in the menu, then the Calls & messages tab.
- 2Under When a customer wants a real person, type your mobile number in Step 1. Your mobile number.
- 3Click Save. The Live call transfer row now says On.
- 4Test it: from a different phone, call your Frontivo.io number during opening hours and say "Can I speak to a person?". Your mobile rings. Press any key to take the call.
Use a mobile, not your business line that forwards to Frontivo.io. If you forward your business number to your AI, ringing that number would bring the caller straight back to your AI, so we don't accept it. Use your own mobile or a team member's.
Is your business number your own mobile? If it forwards only the calls you don't answer, you already get the first ring. Live transfer then works best with someone else's phone (Step 2). Or leave it off: the AI takes a message and texts you.
Live call transfer is on by default. To turn it off, open the What it can do tab and switch off Transfer calls to your team. Callers who ask for a person then leave a message, and we text you to call them back.
Add more people (optional)
- 1On the same page, under Step 2 (optional), click Add a person.
- 2Type their Name and Mobile number.
- 3Optional: in What they handle, type topics like "billing" or "emergencies". Callers who need those go to them first.
- 4Choose When they take calls: Any time, During opening hours or Set days and times.
- 5Click Save. Use the arrows to set the order people are tried in.
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.
A number in another country needs a 6-digit code we text to that person before it can be used. Time on a call put through abroad counts as 2 or more minutes for each minute, because it's an international call.
Your AI never gives these numbers to customers.
After hours
Outside your opening hours (set in Settings > Hours), calls are not put through by default. Your AI still answers, helps, books your next open time and, when a caller asks for a person, takes a message and texts you to call back.
Want calls put through at night too? Turn on Put calls through after hours under Step 2. Only want real emergencies put through? Tick Takes emergency calls for those days in Settings > Hours.
Chats, texts, WhatsApp and email
These can't be put through like a call. When a customer asks for a person there, the AI tells them your team will reply, stops replying in that conversation, and we text and email you. You reply from your Inbox and the customer gets it in the same chat. See taking over conversations.
Troubleshooting
My number won't save
It's probably the business line that forwards to Frontivo.io, your public business number or your Frontivo.io number itself. Calls to those come straight back to your AI. Use a mobile number instead.
I tested it and my phone didn't ring
Check that you called from a different phone (your mobile can't ring while you're calling from it), that it's during your opening hours (or Put calls through after hours is on), and that the Live call transfer row says On.
My phone rang but the caller wasn't connected
Press any key after you hear the short message. If you only say hello, it counts as not answered and the next person is tried.
The AI promised a callback instead of transferring
It's after hours, live transfer is switched off in What it can do, no mobile number is saved, or your plan doesn't include it (it's on Phone Only, Starter and Growth).