AI voice bots are becoming essential call center automation tools, and rightly so. They can resolve customer issues end-to-end, operate tirelessly 24/7, handle thousands of calls at once without any delays – and they sound incredibly human-like.
With a well-implemented AI voice bot, call centers can improve customer experience, reduce the load on human reps, and cut down on operational costs significantly. No wonder the market for AI voice bots is growing super fast. Here’s a quick fact: based on a report from Market Research Institute, the global voice bot market is projected to grow from 7.10 USD Billion in 2024 to 66.24 USD Billion by 2035.
If you’re ready to put an AI voice bot at the forefront of your call center operations but not sure how to choose the right solution and what features are a must-have, this article will help you out.
What are AI Voice Bots and Does Your Call Center Need One?
Before we get to the top 10 AI voice bot features, let’s clarify what exactly AI voice bots are. These are basically AI-powered software systems built to automatically handle phone-based interactions thanks to technologies like Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs), and Text-to-Speech (TTS), to name just a few.
It’s also worth mentioning that AI voice bots are often referred to as AI voice agents or AI phone agents. Whenever terminology you prefer, here’s why implementing these solutions is a worthwhile investment for your call center:
- AI voice bots can operate 24/7: Unlike human call center reps, AI voice bots can operate around the clock. No breaks, no sick leaves, no vacations. That means no missed calls and lost opportunities.
- AI voice bots can improve customer experience: Confusing IVR menus and long wait times have frustrated customers for decades. AI voice bots respond instantly, so callers are never put on hold. That improves both the customer experience and overall satisfaction.
- AI voice bots can reduce the load on your team: They can handle customer service calls, schedule appointments, qualify leads, automate cold calls, collect customer surveys, and do so much more autonomously, taking the load off your team’s shoulders.
- AI voice bots can cut down your costs: According to statistics, a call handled by a voice bot costs about 40 cents, while a human-handled call can cost anywhere from $7 to $12, depending on the region and complexity. The cost savings are obvious.
Top 10 AI Voice Bot Features Every Call Center Needs
Below, we’ve outlined the top 10 features of AI voice bots/ AI voice agents. While you might not necessarily need all of them, you’ll get a much better understanding of what these solutions are capable of and what to pay attention to when evaluating different AI voice bot solutions:
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1. Ability to automate both inbound and outbound calls
The reality is that not all AI voice bot solutions are able to initiate and handle outbound calls automatically. Some are built specifically to answer and handle inbound calls only – these are mostly intended for customer service automation.
But if you’re looking to automate tasks like proactive service notifications, appointment reminders, debt collection, customer feedback collection, cold calls, and outbound lead qualification – look for a solution that can handle both inbound and outbound calls.
2. Low voice AI latency
Voice AI latency is the total delay between when a user stops speaking and when the AI voice bot starts to respond. Simply put, it’s about how quickly the voice bot can “think” and “answer.” Technically speaking, voice AI latency happens across multiple steps: speech recognition, language processing, response generation, text-to-speech, and even network transmission.
Why does it matter? High latency creates awkward silences and a perception that the bot is too slow or even broken, causing customers to speak over the bot or hang up before it actually responds. Ultimately, it leads to poor customer experiences, longer average handle times, and increased dropped calls.
Generally, latency under 1000 ms is ideal for keeping voice AI interactions natural and uninterrupted. VoiceSpin, Vapi, Synthflow, Retell AI, and PolyAI are some of the examples of low-latency AI voice bot solutions that are worth exploring.
3. Integrations with CRM and back-end systems
The voice bot’s ability to integrate with your back-end systems (like CRM, calendar software, helpdesk, or an ecommerce platform) is absolutely critical because it enables the bot to retrieve real-time data and take action beyond just answering basic questions. Here are two main reasons why it’s important:
- Automated workflows: When your voice bot is seamlessly integrated with your existing tech stack, it can perform tasks autonomously. These could include, for example, updating customer records in your CRM, creating support tickets, booking appointments, processing orders, initiating refunds, and much more – all without requiring a human agent in the loop.
- More personalized interactions: By accessing customer data from your CRM and other systems, the bot can greet each customer by name, know their previous interactions and purchase history, recommend relevant products or services, and deliver more personalized customer experiences.
4. Contextual call handoffs to human agents
While today’s AI voice bots are smart enough to handle calls from start to finish, they can’t resolve every single issue automatically. When it comes to complex requests or those requiring human empathy, emotional intelligence, and a deeper expertise, the voice bot should be able to smoothly transfer the call to a live agent with a brief conversation summary.
Contextual call handoffs ensure the agent instantly understands the issue and can pick up the conversation from where the voice bot left off without having to review the entire call transcript or listen to the recording. Plus, customers don’t have to repeat themselves, which might be a major source of frustration.
5. Ability to handle multiple concurrent calls
The bot’s ability to handle multiple calls at once is particularly important for call centers handling high volumes of calls. If that’s your case, look for a voice bot solution that can handle hundreds or thousands of simultaneous calls and scale up on demand.
This is also crucial for handling peak call volumes effectively (e.g., during service outages, promotions, or holidays), helping you ensure every caller gets an instant response, no matter how many customers call in at the same time. No frustrating hold times, no dropped calls. On top of that, there’s no need to hire more human reps to manage fluctuating call volumes, leading to operational cost savings.
6. Intelligent interruption handling
This feature enables the voice bot to gracefully handle situations where a customer interrupts the bot mid-sentence. Instead of getting confused or repeating itself, the bot will stop speaking immediately, process the new input, and respond appropriately. Without intelligent interruption handling, your voice bot will sound more rigid and robotic, frustrating customers and lowering the overall quality of the interaction.
7. Customization options
This refers to the ability to customize the voice bot’s personality, tone, and voice to match your unique brand’s identity and specific needs. And it’s important because it helps ensure your voice bot perfectly aligns with your brand image and delivers a consistent customer experience across every interaction. For example, a voice bot for banking and finance should sound more formal and professional, while a voice bot for a retail or e-commerce business can be more friendly, casual, and engaging.
8. Detailed reporting and analytics
Next, advanced reporting and analytics features are essential. You should be able to measure your AI voice bot’s performance across key KPIs like call containment rate (calls resolved fully by the bot) and call transfer rate – as well as more in-depth metrics like customer sentiment and common customer pain points. These insights will help you identify how well your voice bot is actually performing and where it needs more training and fine-tuning.
9. Multilingual support
If you’re serving customers across multiple regions, the voice bot’s ability to handle interactions in different languages is critical. It will expand your call center’s ability to serve a diverse customer base without having to hire and train human call center reps for every language you want to support. Fortunately, the leading AI voice bot solutions can speak 100+ languages and dialects fluently.
10. Security and compliance
Last but not least, if you operate in one of the highly-regulated industries like healthcare or finance, strong security and compliance features are non-negotiable. Your voice bot must handle interactions in accordance with industry-specific regulations (such as GDPR and HIPAA) while ensuring that your customers’ sensitive data is fully protected. That will help you prevent non-compliance issues and hefty fines, maintain customer trust, and protect the company’s reputation.
Wrapping up
AI voice bots can take your call center automation to a whole new level. From answering FAQs and scheduling appointments to handling cold calls and qualifying leads – these solutions can now automate a bunch of tasks that were once exclusively human. The key is to pick an AI voice bot solution that perfectly fits your unique use case and automation needs. When evaluating different AI voice bot providers, pay attention to the features listed above – that will narrow your choices and help you select the right solution.
