Voice Agents: Choose the Right Virtual Receptionist
Compare the five Voice Agent types and choose whether your assistant should answer incoming calls or make a specific outbound call.
Open AI → Voice Agents. The page is named Virtual receptionists. Select Create receptionist to see the available types.
Choose the job first
| Type | Best fit |
|---|---|
| Appointment receptionist | Answer incoming calls, help with appointments and answer business questions. The available appointment actions depend on the connected calendars and booking system. |
| After hours | Offer after-hours assistance, take callers’ details and help with questions or bookings. You must also configure the closed-hours route in Call Flow. |
| Answers questions | Answer questions using your knowledge base and ask for callback details when the answer is unavailable. |
| Schedule checker (calls to confirm) | An outbound role intended to call about appointments and record the customer’s response. Setup guidance for this outbound confirmation feature is pending validation; contact support before enabling it. |
| Handoff announcer (calls your team) | An outbound role created automatically when authorized staff enable voice alerts in a conversational agent’s human-handoff settings. It reads a short notice to your team and hangs up. It is not a conversational receptionist or, by itself, a live caller transfer. |
Prepare before creating an agent
- Decide which calls the assistant should handle and where callers should go when they need your team.
- Have the calendars and business information ready for the tasks you want it to perform.
- Choose the spoken business name, language and voice.
Know what each step configures
Your assistant sets the role and voice. Schedule chooses appointment calendars and related options. What it knows links a knowledge base. Where it replies selects the phone number used as caller ID. Advanced optionally replaces the standard instructions.
Incoming-call routing is a separate step. After creation, route the intended number or Call Flow branch to the receptionist’s extension. Selecting a phone number in the wizard does not complete that connection.
For text conversations, use Conversational Agents. Voice Agents are the phone-call assistants.
Related guides
- Create a Voice Agent for Your Business
- Configure Appointment Booking and Reminders for a Voice Agent
- Help a Voice Agent Answer Questions with Your Knowledge Base
- Customize a Voice Agent with Advanced Instructions
- Connect a Voice Agent to Your Phone Number and Call Flow
- Use a Voice Agent Outside Business Hours
- Troubleshoot a Voice Agent That Does Not Answer or Book Correctly
- Hand Over an AI Conversation to Your Team