AI phone answering with Dazza and Twilio

Dazza can answer your phone. Callers talk to the same agent as your website chat, with the same knowledge, rules and workflows, in a natural voice. When someone needs a person, Dazza puts them through to your team, or takes their name and number when you’re closed. Every call lands in the inbox with its transcript.

Phone calls are on Growth and above. Only admins can connect a number.

How it works

Dazza uses your own Twilio account. Twilio turns what the caller says into text and reads Dazza’s answers out loud (its ConversationRelay service), and Dazza answers over a live connection, a sentence at a time. Twilio bills your account for the number, the call minutes and the speech service. In Dazza, each call counts as one conversation on your plan, like a chat.

Set up Twilio

Sign in to the Twilio Console. On its home page, under Account info, you’ll find your Account SID (it starts with AC) and your Auth Token (press Show).
Go to Voice → Settings → Privacy & Security, read and accept the predictive and generative AI/ML features addendum, and press Save. Twilio needs this before ConversationRelay can answer calls.
If you don’t have a number yet, go to Phone Numbers → Buy a number and choose one with Voice in your country. In some countries, including the UK, Twilio asks for your business address or documents before it gives you a local number.
If your account is still a trial, upgrade it before you go live. On a trial, callers hear Twilio’s trial message first.

Connect the number

In Dazza, open Channels. Under Phone calls, press Connect a Twilio number.
Paste the Account SID and Auth Token, then press Find my numbers.
Pick the number Dazza should answer and press Connect.

That’s all: Dazza points the number’s calls at itself through Twilio’s API (its voice webhook, a fallback and the call status), so there’s nothing to change in the Twilio Console. A number already answered somewhere else is taken over, and Disconnect puts it back as it was. A number on an Elastic SIP Trunk can’t be used, because the trunk keeps its calls.

Call the number to try it. Your agent must be published.

How Dazza answers

The greeting is said as soon as Dazza picks up. Change it in the settings under the number. Saying it’s an AI assistant keeps callers’ trust.
Short, spoken answers. Dazza keeps to a sentence or two, says prices, times and dates the way people say them, reads numbers digit by digit and spells email addresses. It never reads out links or source numbers.
One thing at a time. When a workflow needs details, Dazza asks for them one by one and reads each back to check it.
Callers can talk over Dazza. It stops, listens and answers the new question. The transcript keeps only what the caller actually heard.
The keypad works too. 0 asks for a person at any time. When Dazza asks “Shall I go ahead?”, 1 means yes and 2 means no. Callers can type a number (a phone number to call back, an order number) and press #.

Voices and languages

Pick a voice under the number: Lily, George, Alice or Daniel (British), Matilda (American), Charlie (Australian), or Standard, a natural voice Twilio chooses for the language. To hear one, save it and call your number. If Twilio ever refuses a voice, the call carries on in the standard voice and Channels says so.

Under More options, choose the language Dazza listens for and speaks: English (UK, US or Australia), French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese or Polish. Automatic follows whatever language the caller speaks.

When a caller needs a person

Dazza hands over when the caller asks for a person, presses 0, is upset, or needs something only your team can do.

Put callers through to: enter the number your team answers, with its country code. While you’re open, Dazza says it’s putting them through and transfers the call. Whoever answers first hears a short note of who’s calling and why, then the caller is connected.
If nobody answers within about 20 seconds, Dazza comes back on the line and takes a message.
Outside opening hours, Dazza takes a message, or, if you choose Put calls through anyway, transfers as usual. Opening hours come from Settings → Opening hours. Without any, your team counts as always in.
With no transfer number, Dazza always takes a message.

Taking a message, Dazza asks for the caller’s name and the best number to call back (offering the one they’re calling from), reads both back, and checks they’re right. The conversation then waits in the inbox for your team with who to call back, and the team gets the usual handover email and Slack alert. If a caller hangs up before leaving a message, the inbox still asks your team to call them back.

Workflows on calls

Workflows work on calls, with the same decisions and approvals as in the chat. Where the chat shows a Confirm button, Dazza reads the details back and asks “Shall I go ahead?”, and a yes or no (or 1 or 2 on the keypad) settles it. Workflows that show a link are left out on calls.

Workflows that need a verified customer stay off until the caller proves who they are. Dazza asks for the email address on their account, spells it back and emails them a 6-digit code, which they read out or type on the keypad. The number they’re calling from isn’t proof: caller ID can be faked, and a phone number isn’t linked to anyone’s account in Dazza.

Calls in the inbox

Each call is a conversation on the Phone channel, with the caller’s number as the contact. While the call is going on, the transcript fills in live and the call shows On the call now. Afterwards, the call card at the top shows how long it took, how it ended (answered by Dazza, put through, message taken, or hung up waiting), a short summary and, when the team should ring back, a Call button.

A written reply can’t reach a caller, so phone conversations take notes only. Ring the caller back, then leave a note or resolve it. Calls Dazza dealt with on its own, and calls put through and answered, are resolved for you.

Take over during a call puts the caller through to your team if someone can answer, or tells them the team will call back.

Insights counts calls by channel and shows how calls ended, the minutes in all and the average length.

Dazza answers on or off

The Dazza answers switch beside the number turns answering off without disconnecting. Calls then go straight to your transfer number, or, without one, callers hear that you can’t take calls just now. If your agent isn’t published, calls do the same.

Recording notice

With Recording notice on (under More options), Dazza says “This call is recorded and transcribed.” in the greeting, before asking how it can help. Dazza keeps a written transcript of every call, so most businesses leave it on.

If something goes wrong

Calls don’t reach Dazza. Check the number in the Twilio Console: under Phone Numbers → Active numbers, its voice webhook should point at app.dazza.io/api/voice/…. Connect it again if not.
Calls end straight after ringing. Make sure the AI/ML features addendum is accepted (step 2 above). Channels shows a note when Twilio couldn’t start a call with Dazza.
Dazza can’t answer for a moment (a technical problem): the call goes to your transfer number, or the caller hears an apology and your team is asked to call them back.