AI receptionists are everywhere right now, and they range from surprisingly good to pretty terrible.
The problem is that almost all of them sound good on a feature list.
Answers calls 24/7. Books appointments. Transfers callers. Integrates with your CRM. Great.
But that doesn’t tell you whether you actually want this thing answering your business’s phone.
So if you’re comparing AI receptionists, here are 10 questions I’d ask, plus how our own AI Agents at 800.com handle each one.
1. What does it do when it doesn’t know the answer?
Start here.
Your AI receptionist is eventually going to get a question it can’t answer. What happens next?
Ideally, you can decide. Maybe it takes a message, transfers the caller, collects their information, or simply says it doesn’t know.
This is also something I’d test in a demo. Ask it something you know it wasn’t trained to answer and see what happens.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: If your agent can’t confidently handle the call, it can collect the caller’s information, take a message, or route the caller to the right person. You decide how those calls should be handled.
2. How much can you customize it?
There’s a big range here.
Some AI receptionists basically let you choose a voice, enter your business information, and turn it on.
Others can be trained around your services, processes, FAQs, pricing, locations, employees, and specific rules for different types of calls.
Think about the questions you actually get.
“Can someone come out today?”
“Do you service my area?”
“I’m already a customer and my basement is flooding.”
Then find out how the AI would handle them.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: You can train your agent using your website, business information, documents, FAQs, service details, pricing notes, and your own instructions. You can also customize its greeting, voice, language, call handling instructions, routing rules, and what information it collects from callers.
3. Can it actually do anything after answering?
For some businesses, answering the phone and taking a message might be enough.
But AI receptionists can also do things like:
- Book appointments
- Qualify leads
- Transfer calls
- Send information to other systems
- Answer customer questions
- Collect information for quotes
- Update your CRM
Figure out what you actually need yours to do.
You might not need 25 different features. But if the whole point is booking more appointments, make sure it can actually book the appointment.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: You can set up your agent to answer common questions, qualify leads, handle customer support, book appointments, or combine multiple skills. It can book directly into connected calendars during the call and transfer callers when they need a person.
4. Can you call it before you buy?
Please do.
And don’t just say, “Hi, what are your hours?”
Interrupt it. Ramble. Change your mind. Ask something weird. Give it a long explanation.
Basically, talk to it the way your customers are actually going to talk to it.
You’ll learn a lot more from a five-minute phone call than a feature page.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: You can actually call one. Our demo line is (844) TRY-800-AI. Try to throw it off. We’d rather you hear what an AI Agent actually sounds like before deciding whether you want one answering your calls.
5. How do transfers work?
If you want the AI to transfer calls to your team, get specific about how that works.
Can different types of calls go to different people?
What if nobody answers?
Can you decide which calls should be transferred?
Map this against what your business does today. You probably don’t want a new sales lead, an existing customer, and someone calling about an emergency all handled exactly the same way.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: You can set routing and call-handling rules so your agent knows when a caller needs a real person and where that call should go. You can also use the agent only when you need it, such as after hours or when your team is unavailable.
6. Does it work with the software you already use?
Look at the tools your team uses every day.
Your CRM. Calendar. Scheduling software. Help desk. Industry-specific software.
Then ask what the AI receptionist can actually do with them.
“Integrates with my CRM” could mean a lot of things. Find out what information goes into it, when it gets there, and what the AI can actually do with the connection.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: 800.com supports CRM integrations along with Zapier, Make, API, and webhook access. For scheduling, you can connect tools including Google Calendar and Calendly so the agent can check availability and book appointments during the call.
7. How easy is it to change?
This one is easy to overlook.
Say you change your hours tomorrow. How do you tell the AI?
What about adding a new employee? Changing your pricing? Adding a service? Changing how you want emergency calls handled?
Find out whether you make those changes yourself or someone does it for you.
If you’ll be managing it yourself, ask to see the actual process.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: You can update your business information and instructions and change how the agent handles calls as your business changes. Depending on your plan, you can set it up yourself or get hands-on onboarding and help configuring and testing your agents.
8. What will it actually cost?
AI receptionist pricing is all over the place.
Some charge by the minute. Some by the call. Some have monthly usage limits. Some charge extra for certain features or integrations.
Don’t try to compare them based only on the starting price on the website.
Pull up your actual call volume and ask what your bill would have been last month.
That’s a much more useful number.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: Our AI Agent plans currently start at $59/month when billed monthly, with 250 AI Agent minutes included. Higher plans include 1,000 or 2,000 minutes, and additional AI Agent usage is $0.60 per minute. Annual billing saves 15%.
So yes, you can actually do the math before signing up.
9. What can you see after a call?
At minimum, I’d want to be able to see who called, what they called about, and what happened.
Depending on the platform, you may also get recordings, transcripts, summaries, outcomes, lead information, and reporting.
This can actually be one of the more useful parts of switching to an AI receptionist.
You might find out that people keep asking a question you should answer on your website. Or that you get way more calls after 5 p.m. than you thought. Or that your team has been spending a surprising amount of time answering the same three questions.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: Calls can include recordings and transcripts, plus 800 Intelligence gives you AI-generated call summaries, next steps, and call scoring. So when you come back in the morning, you can see what happened instead of listening through a pile of voicemails.
10. What calls do you actually want AI answering?
You don’t have to hand over your entire phone line on day one.
Maybe you just need after-hours coverage.
Maybe you want AI answering whenever your team can’t pick up.
Maybe new leads go through AI, while existing customers go straight to your staff.
Or maybe you do want it answering everything.
Before you start comparing AI receptionists, figure out what problem you’re actually trying to solve. It makes the rest of these questions a whole lot easier.
How 800 AI Agents handle it: You choose when your agent answers. Use it after hours, during busy periods, when your team doesn’t pick up, or as your full-time receptionist. It can also handle multiple calls at the same time, so a sudden rush of callers doesn’t create another missed-call problem.
Before you choose one, call your own business
Seriously.
Pay attention to your calls for a few days.
When do you miss them? Why are people calling? Which calls need a person? Which ones are mostly repetitive? What happens to a caller when nobody answers?
Then start shopping.
You’ll have a much better idea of what you actually need from an AI receptionist.
And if you want to see how 800.com stacks up against these 10 questions, give our AI Agent a call at (844) TRY-800-AI.
