Greeting
The first thing every caller hears
The first thing every caller hears.
What it does
One or two sentences, spoken the moment the AI picks up. It sets who is speaking and invites the caller to talk.
You can change the tone without changing the words by starting with a tag in brackets, like [calm, professional] or [cheerfully]. The tag is never spoken, it only changes delivery.
What it does not do
- It is not the AI's instructions. This is the opening line only. How it behaves for the rest of the call is set separately.
- It does not get read to voicemail. Outbound callbacks use their own opening.
- It does not survive being left blank. An empty greeting means the AI answers with silence.
Setting it up
Settings, then Begin message.
Keep it to one or two sentences. It is spoken aloud, so avoid lists, symbols and anything that reads well but sounds odd.
The one thing that matters
Say it is a virtual assistant, and keep it short.
Both halves matter. Callers who work out mid-conversation that they have been talking to an AI feel misled, and it costs you the call. Saying so up front costs you nothing.
Short matters because every second before the caller can speak is a second they can hang up in. A meaningful share of callers leave during the greeting without saying a word, and the length of that greeting is the only lever you control over it.
Common mistakes
A paragraph. Listing everything the AI can do sounds thorough and loses people. Let them say what they want instead.
Hiding what it is. It comes out eventually, and it goes better when you said it first.
Changing it and not listening back. Words that read well can land badly out loud. Call your own number after any change.