What is an AI receptionist?

What does an AI phone receptionist do on a call?

Sometimes called a virtual receptionist or an AI answering service, it picks up the calls you can't, day or night, and handles them the way a trained front desk would. With Digui, a single call can:

• Answer questions about your services, prices, hours, location and policies, from your website and any documents you add.
• Book an appointment in Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly or Square while the caller is still on the line.
• Transfer the call to someone on your team, only to the numbers you choose, with a summary so nobody repeats themselves.
• Take a message: every call is saved in Logs with a summary and the full transcript, and with Gmail it can email the details to your front desk.
• Look up an order's status and what's in stock in your Shopify store.

Which plans can book and transfer calls?

Booking, transfers and the other tools come with the Professional and Business plans (which plans include tools). Starter answers questions and takes messages on your real phone line. More apps are coming soon, including WhatsApp, SMS, OpenTable and HubSpot (all the apps).

How does Digui build a receptionist from your website?

Type your website on the homepage and Digui reads it: your services, prices, hours, location and policies. From what it finds, it writes your receptionist's prompt, its instructions for every call, and has it ready in about half a minute. Then call it from your browser. On a paid plan, it answers your business's phone too. You don't need an account or a credit card.

Sign up to keep it and make it yours: change its greeting, pick one of seven personas and a voice, fix how it says names, and add documents it can look up during calls (PDF, Word, text, HTML or EPUB, up to 10 MB each). No website? Build one without a website and write its prompt yourself.

How is it different from a human receptionist, voicemail or an answering service?

Each one deals with missed calls in its own way. Here's how they compare for a small business:

Does an AI receptionist replace your staff?

No. A person is still best for judgment calls and anything in person. Digui takes the calls your team can't, and passes the rest to them with a summary. Weighing an AI answering service against one with human agents? See Digui vs Smith.ai.

How do you set it up on your business's phone?

You keep your number and your carrier, and forward its calls to your receptionist:

• In the dashboard, open your receptionist, then Install.
• Type your business's number and verify it with the code we send by text or WhatsApp.
• Copy the Transfer to number.
• On your phone, turn on call forwarding to it (iPhone, Android).

Can it answer only the calls you miss?

Yes. Most phones and carriers let you forward only when you're busy or don't pick up, so you still take the calls you can and your receptionist catches the missed calls (how).

Which languages does it speak?

It greets callers in your website's language and answers in whatever language they speak: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and many more. If a caller switches mid-call, it switches too. You can pick an accent for each language, like Spanish from Mexico or Spain, or British or Australian English (languages and accents).

Who is an AI receptionist for?

Any small business that lives on the phone and can't always pick up: clinics, salons, gyms, restaurants, shops and teams with several departments. With several locations or departments, give each its own receptionist (Professional includes 3, Business 10). Some examples:

• Home services: plumbers, electricians and HVAC companies who can't pick up on a job.
• Dental offices: new patients calling after hours, and appointments to book or move.
• Salons: stylists with their hands full, and clients who want Thursday at 4.

How much does an AI receptionist cost?

With Digui, trying it is free. Paid plans start at $99/month with 200 phone minutes. Professional ($249/month, 500 minutes) adds booking, call transfers and the other tools, and Business ($499/month, 1,000 minutes) has 10 receptionists and priority support. Extra minutes are $0.25 each. See pricing for what counts as a minute and how that compares with a receptionist's wages.

Can you see what it said on each call?

Yes. Logs lists every call with a summary and the full transcript, including the tools it used and whether they worked, and you can filter by receptionist, language or date. If it got something wrong, rewrite that part of its prompt or fix the document, and the next call uses the change (how).