Frequently asked questions

The questions owners and builders ask in their first weeks with HiloVoice, each answered in a few lines, with the topic that says more.

Getting started

How long does it take to set up an agent?

About fifteen minutes for a Receptionist that answers your number. HiloVoice writes a first draft for your kind of business in about half a minute; you then go down the steps and change whatever doesn't sound like you. See Set up your first agent.

Do I need a new phone number?

No. You can keep the number your customers know and forward it to a HiloVoice forwarding number, or, on a plan that includes it, connect your business phone system straight to HiloVoice. If you'd rather have a new number, getting one takes seconds. See Keep your number and forward it to your agent.

Can I try an agent before customers call it?

Yes. Try it, at the top of every step, lets you talk to the agent from your browser exactly as it's set up, before or after it goes live. Test calls are kept under Calls, shown with Show test calls. Once the agent is live, Call me has it ring your own phone. See Test an agent with Try it.

Who on my team can change agents?

Owners, Admins and Builders can build, publish and pause agents, and run campaigns. Analysts can open agents, calls, leads, contacts and campaigns but change nothing, apart from marking a flagged call handled and their own settings. Buying numbers and inviting people need an Owner or Admin. See Roles and permissions.

How do I add my team?

An Owner or Admin invites each person by email under Settings → Team, as an Admin, Builder or Analyst. The link in the email works for a week, once, and only for the address it went to. See Invite your team.

Can I run more than one business or location?

Yes. One organization can have several Receptionists, each answering a number of its own. A login can also belong to several organizations, each with its own agents, numbers and calls; the switcher in the sidebar changes which one you're looking at. See Roles and permissions.

Your agents

Why isn't my agent answering calls?

Check four things. The agent is live: a draft takes no calls, so click Go live on Review & Go Live. Its Phone Number step says Live — calls reach this agent (or Connected for your own number). It isn't paused, and your organization's calls aren't paused, which a red banner across the app would say. See Review and go live.

I changed the agent, but callers still hear the old version. Why?

Changes to a live agent wait in a draft until you publish them: click Publish changes on Review & Go Live, or Publish at the top of any step. Two changes reach callers at once, without publishing: pronunciations, and removing a document. See Review and go live.

Can I undo a change?

Yes. Undo and Redo, at the top of the builder, go back through your last 100 changes while it's open. For an older setup, open History in the … menu and click Restore on a version: its setup goes into your draft, and callers get it when you publish. See How the builder works.

Can I change what kind of agent it is?

No. The kind is fixed when the agent is made, and a copy is the same kind. Make a new agent of the kind you need. See The five kinds of agent.

Can I copy an agent to start another?

Yes: Duplicate this agent in its … menu, or Copy one of your agents on New agent. The copy is a draft of the same kind. Its number, calls and campaigns don't come with it, and its documents need uploading again. See Start a new agent from one you have.

Can two agents answer the same number?

No: a number answers calls for one Receptionist at a time. Any number of outbound agents can call from it, though, and someone who rings it back reaches the Receptionist. See Phone numbers and caller ID.

Can the agent speak other languages?

Yes. Under Voice settings on Voice & Purpose, choose English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish or Swedish. A caller who starts in another language is followed for the rest of the call. See Name the agent and give it a purpose.

What does the agent do outside opening hours?

It still answers every call. Under After hours on Hours of Operation, choose Take a message, which takes the caller's details for someone to follow up, or Handle calls normally. A transfer can be set to ring only in opening hours. See Set your opening hours.

Will the agent make things up?

It answers in its own words from what you give it on Knowledge Base, and for anything not covered it says someone will follow up. Never guess, on Conversation Style, keeps it from filling in what it wasn't told. After every call, HiloVoice checks for things an agent must never do, such as saying a booking went through when it didn't, and flags a call that breaks a serious one for review. See Give the agent answers.

Can the agent put callers through to my staff?

Yes. On Call Transfers, say which situations go to which number, at what times, and what the agent says when nobody picks up. People on Settings → Transfer list go straight through to a person before the agent asks anything. See Hand calls to a person.

Can it book appointments into my calendar?

Yes. Connect Calendly, Cal.com, Acuity Scheduling, HubSpot, Square Appointments, YouCanBookMe or Google Calendar under Settings → Integrations, then choose the appointment on Appointment Booking: the agent finds open times and books on the call. Any other booking page is offered as a link, by text or email. See Book appointments on a call.

Are calls recorded, and do callers know?

Calls are recorded by default: Record calls is on. Callers are told only once you turn on Say the call is recorded, which a new agent starts with off. On, every call opens with This call is being recorded for quality assurance. Both are on the Recording tab of Conversation Style. See Your responsibilities on calls.

Warning: Whether you may record a call, and what callers must be told, depends on where you and they are. Meeting those rules is your responsibility.

How do I stop an agent for a while?

Open its … menu and click Pause this agent. Its number stays connected and tells callers the line isn't taking calls, its campaigns wait, and it doesn't count toward your plan's live agents. Resume this agent brings it all back. To stop for good, Archive this agent: its calls and history are kept, and you can restore it. See How the builder works.

Calls and leads

Where do I see what a caller said?

On Calls. Open a call for its Summary, with what was collected and what happened after, Conversation, the call line by line, and Play recording. Needs review lists the calls someone should look at. See Review your calls.

What do "Went well" and "Partly done" mean?

They're how a call did its job, under How it went on Calls: Went well, Partly done, Didn't go well, Handed off to a person, or Ended with no clear result. A call that never connected says No answer, Busy or Cancelled. See Call statuses and outcomes.

What's the difference between a lead and a contact?

A lead is someone a Receptionist decided you should follow up, made from a call. A contact is a person in your address book, usually from a campaign's list. One person can be both. See Calls, leads and contacts.

Why didn't a call make a lead?

A Receptionist makes leads only of the kinds of caller ticked under Who becomes a lead on Lead Capture. Open the call on Calls and look at After the call: it lists Added to Leads, or Added the call to their lead for someone already a lead, and says why when it was skipped. See Turn callers into leads.

How are leads scored?

With Lead scoring on, on Lead Capture, HiloVoice reads each call for the signals you set and scores the lead from 0 to 100; Hot is 80 and up. A signal counts only when the caller's own words show it, and the agent asks nothing extra for it. See Turn callers into leads.

How do I stop someone being called?

Add their number under Settings → Blocked numbers: agents won't call it, text it or take its calls. Anyone who asks an agent not to be called again is added there for you. See Block a number.

Campaigns

How does an outbound agent get people to call?

Through a campaign. Choose the agent, upload a spreadsheet with a phone number in each row, check the calling hours and retries, and launch. People can also be added from Leads with Add to a follow-up campaign…. See Create a campaign.

When will a campaign call people?

Only inside its calling window, which starts as the agent's Calling Hours and can be changed in the campaign's Settings. To start, it tries each person up to 3 times, at least 2 hours apart; a Follow-ups campaign 4 times, a day, then two, then three apart. Up to 2 calls are up at once, unless you change Calls at once. See Set a campaign's calling hours and retries.

Why has my campaign paused?

Either someone paused it, or HiloVoice did because it couldn't carry on: the agent was paused or isn't published, it has no caller ID, or calls are paused for billing. The campaign's page says Paused: and the reason. Fix it and click Resume; some carry on by themselves. See Campaign statuses.

Why wasn't someone on my list called?

Their row's Status and What happened say why: Skipped when the number is on your block list, Waiting with Outside calling hours until the window opens, or Not completed when the attempts ran out. A row with no usable phone number never joined the list: the import's report shows it. See Recipient statuses.

Does a voicemail count as an attempt?

Yes, whether or not the agent leaves a message. Whether the person is then called again depends on Voicemail under Try again after, in the campaign's Settings: ticked to start on a Follow-ups campaign, unticked on the others. See Recipient statuses.

Can I call someone again after a campaign has finished?

Not from that campaign: a Completed or Cancelled campaign never calls again, so start a new one. While a campaign is still going, a person's … menu has Call again, or Reopen and call again for someone marked Done. See Call a recipient again.

Connections and your account

Can it send leads to my CRM or to Slack?

Yes: to HubSpot, Slack, Zapier, or your own system through a lead endpoint, connected under Settings → Integrations. CRM connections and lead endpoints aren't on every plan. See What you can connect.

Can the agent text or email people after a call?

Yes. A Receptionist sets texts and emails for each kind of caller on Caller Handling; an outbound agent on After the Call. They go out on real calls only, never on a test call. See Send messages after a call.

What happens when the free trial ends?

Calls pause until an owner chooses a plan: callers hear that the line isn't taking calls right now, and campaigns pause. Your agents, calls and settings are kept, and paused campaigns carry on by themselves once calls are back on. Numbers HiloVoice got for you are kept for 30 days, then released. See Plans, minutes and limits.

The app says "We'll be right back". Are my calls still answered?

Yes. HiloVoice is down for maintenance, and the app shows We'll be right back until it's done. Calls to your agents keep being answered. The page checks by itself and reopens HiloVoice as soon as it's back, with anything you had open still there. Check again checks straight away.

Is HiloVoice HIPAA compliant?

HiloVoice's SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR work is in progress; none of them is complete. See Your responsibilities on calls.

Warning: People may tell an agent about their health or money. Deciding what your agents may ask and hear, and meeting the rules that apply to your business, is your responsibility.

Related

• Glossary — the words HiloVoice uses
• Error messages — what the app says when something goes wrong, and what to do
• A tour of HiloVoice — the app two months in