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What the AI receptionist does

The AI receptionist is an AI agent that answers calls on your line. It greets callers, holds a natural conversation, and acts on what they need:
  • Answers questions using your website, your documents, and the facts you give it
  • Takes messages and asks the questions you defined, until it has everything you need
  • Transfers callers to a teammate, another line, or an external number, based on your rules
  • Books meetings directly in your calendar (Google Calendar, Cal.com, or Calendly)
Each line gets its own agent. The agent you configure belongs to the line you are currently on, so a support line and a sales line can run two different receptionists.
The AI receptionist is an add-on, billed per agent. The price is on plans and pricing.

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Set up your agent

Go to Agents in the sidebar of the web app or the desktop app, then click Set up next to your agent. A guided setup walks you through everything below. Your progress saves as you go, so you can take a call and pick up where you left off.
1

Name your agent

Pick the name your agent uses on calls and across Allo. You can rename it anytime.
2

Shape its personality

Three settings control how it sounds:
  • Voice: pick a language, then a voice. You can listen to each one before choosing.
  • Tone of voice: Friendly, Professional, or Enthusiastic.
  • Answer length: Concise, Standard, or Detailed. Shorter works well for quick triage, longer for detailed FAQs.
3

Pick its job

Start from a pre-built agent and tune it for your business:
  • AI Receptionist: greets callers, routes them to the right person, takes a message, or books a meeting
  • Customer support: troubleshoots step by step, verifies identity, and transfers to a human when needed
  • Lead qualifier: qualifies inbound leads, then books a meeting or transfers the hot ones
  • Appointment setter: confirms the date and time, reads it back, and books it on the calendar
You can also start from blank and write your own instructions.
4

Turn on its tools

Enable what your agent can do during a call:
  • Answer questions: uses your website and documents to answer callers
  • Transfer to a human: sends important calls to the right person or team (transfer rules)
  • Book meetings: offers free slots and books directly into your calendar (meeting booking)
5

Set the questions it must ask

Define what the agent collects on every call, under Things to find out. It starts with the essentials (full name, reason for calling, best callback time) and you can add your own questions.Mark a question as Must get before hanging up and the agent keeps asking until it has the answer. Leave it as If it comes up for optional information.
6

Feed it your business knowledge

Three sources, all optional but highly recommended:
  • Websites: add your pages, the agent reads them to answer questions about your business
  • Files: upload menus, price lists, or FAQs (PDF or TXT, up to 3 files, 5 MB each)
  • Extra context: plain-text facts in your own words (office hours, pricing tiers, refund policy)
7

Write its greeting and closing

Write what the agent says when it picks up and before it hangs up, and make them sound like you. You can listen to both lines in your agent’s voice before saving.
8

Choose when it picks up

  • Only missed calls (suggested): the agent steps in when your team doesn’t answer
  • Every call: the agent answers all inbound calls
  • Business hours only: the agent answers only during your open hours
9

Review its job

Everything your agent will do is written out in plain words, in four sections: What should your agent do?, Who should your agent be?, How should your agent behave?, and What shouldn’t your agent do? Read it over and edit any line to match your business.
10

Test it, then go live

Place a test call from your computer and talk to your agent exactly like your callers will. When it sounds right, click Go live: your agent starts answering on your line right away.
You can change any of these settings after going live. Changes apply immediately, and you can place a test call anytime with the Test call button.

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How to change your agent after it goes live

Select your agent under Agents in the sidebar. The agent’s menu groups every setting in three parts, and Overview sits at the top. Overview shows your agent at a glance: upcoming meetings it booked, a summary of its Job, and its recent calls with what it did on each one. Calls & actions lists every call your agent handled and what it did on each one, the same list as the bottom of Overview.

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Transfer rules

Transfer rules tell the agent when to hand a call to a human. Each rule has three parts:
  • Transfer to: a team member, another inbox in your workspace, or an external number
  • When: the condition, written in plain language. For example “Billing questions go to the office” or “Urgent jobs go straight to me”
  • Message before transfer (optional): a line the caller hears right before the transfer

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Warm transfer

By default, the agent transfers calls directly. Turn on Warm transfer (beta) and the caller waits on hold while Allo rings your teammate, announces the caller’s name and reason, and only connects them if they accept.

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Meeting booking

The agent can book meetings for you during the call. It works with Google Calendar, Cal.com, and Calendly.
1

Connect your calendar

Go to Settings → Integrations and connect Google Calendar, Cal.com, or Calendly. The connection is shared across your workspace.
2

Pick the calendar your agent uses

In your agent’s Calendar scheduling settings, select the calendar to book into. Each agent books into one calendar.
  • Google Calendar: meetings are created directly on the calendar you pick. Set the event duration (30 minutes by default).
  • Cal.com: select the event type to book.
  • Calendly: connect your Calendly account and the agent books meetings on it.
3

Set your booking rules

Control when the agent is allowed to book: booking hours, blocked dates, buffer between meetings, minimum advance notice, and how far out callers can book.
With Cal.com, always choose an event type. Otherwise the AI books your first one, which may be the wrong meeting.
When a caller asks for an appointment, the agent finds an open slot that respects your rules and books it straight into your calendar.

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Missed callback reminders

Missed callback reminders make sure a callback your agent promised actually happens. When your receptionist promises a caller they will be called back, Allo emails your team if nobody has called back by the time the caller asked for. The reminder goes to the people on the line’s call flow and to anyone targeted by a transfer rule. Turn it on or off with the Missed callback reminders toggle in your agent’s Notifications settings.

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CRM updates

The CRM skill reads the call transcript after every AI receptionist call and fills the empty fields you selected in your connected CRM. It never overwrites a field that already has a value. Set it up in your agent’s CRM settings:
1

Turn on the CRM skill

Switch on the toggle at the top of the CRM settings. The skill runs after every AI receptionist call.
2

Tell the agent what to pay attention to

Under What should your agent pay attention to?, write in plain words what to capture from the call, for example “Prioritize the company name, job title, and email address”. Select Optimize to have Allo improve the wording of your instructions.
3

Pick the CRM fields it can fill

Under CRM fields, select Add fields and choose from Allo’s contact fields, like First name, Last name, Company, Job title, Email, and Address. Only the selected fields can be filled, and only when they are empty.
To connect a CRM, see integrations.

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How it fits with voicemail and business hours

The AI receptionist takes the place of voicemail or external transfer as your missed-call handler. When you set it live, it becomes what callers reach when your team doesn’t pick up (or on every call, depending on your pickup setting). To turn it off, click Unpublish on the agent’s page and choose what replaces it: voicemail or an external transfer. If you use business hours, your closed-hours behavior applies as usual: the agent answers after hours when your closed setting points to your missed-call handling.

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After every call

Every call your agent handles lands in your Calls tab, with an AI Receptionist filter to find them fast. Open a call to get:
  • Summary: the key points of the conversation
  • Transcript: the full exchange, with the agent’s lines labeled
  • Recording: the audio of the whole call
  • Collected details: the caller’s name, number, and answers to your questions, with one-click suggestions to create or update the contact
  • Suggested actions: follow up by email or SMS, create the contact, or add the meeting to your calendar
The agent’s Overview and Calls & actions pages also list its recent calls and what it did on each one, like “Transferred to Sarah” or “Took a message”.

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Languages

The agent speaks the language of the voice you pick. Choose the language first, then the voice, in the Personality settings. Voices are available in English (US and UK) and French (France and Canada).

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Troubleshooting

Check that the agent is live: its status dot under Agents in the sidebar should show “Live”. If you picked Only missed calls, the agent waits for your team to miss the call before stepping in. If you picked Business hours only, it stays silent outside your open hours.
Its answers come from your knowledge sources. Update your website pages, remove outdated files, and add corrections in the extra context field. Then place a test call to check the fix.
Open your agent’s Job settings and, under Things to find out, pin the question as Must get before hanging up. The agent keeps asking until it has an answer for every pinned question.
With Cal.com, check that an event type is selected in Calendar scheduling. Without one, the AI books your first event type.
Edit your agent’s Job settings: they hold the agent’s instructions in plain words, and you can rewrite any line. For tone and answer style, adjust the Personality settings. Test your changes with a test call before your next real one.
Check that Missed callback reminders is on in your agent’s Notifications settings. The email goes to the people on the line’s call flow and to anyone targeted by a transfer rule, so a teammate outside both does not get it.
The CRM skill only fills fields you selected under CRM fields, and only when they are empty in your CRM. It runs after the call ends, so the field stays empty until then. Check that your CRM is still connected in Settings → Integrations.
Open your agent’s page and click Unpublish, then choose voicemail or an external transfer as the replacement. Your configuration is kept, so you can set it live again later.

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Need help?

Contact support

Get help configuring your AI receptionist

Business hours

Control when your team rings and when the agent answers