Testing Your AI Receptionist

After completing Receptionist Setup, you should test your Cognivox AI receptionist before using it to handle live customer enquiries.

Testing allows you to hear how the receptionist behaves during a real conversation and identify any information or instructions that need to be adjusted.

Why testing is important

Your receptionist combines several different parts of your Cognivox configuration, including:

• Receptionist name and voice
• Opening greeting
• Call-handling settings
• Receptionist Instructions
• Business hours
• Company Overview
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Products and Services
• Additional Information
• Employee information
• Appointment configuration
• Connected integrations

Testing these together is the best way to determine whether the receptionist represents your business correctly.

Start with a normal customer call

Begin with a simple enquiry that a real customer might make.

For example:

Hello, can you tell me what your company does?

Listen to how the receptionist responds.

Check that the answer accurately reflects the Company Overview you configured.

Test the opening greeting

Start a new conversation and listen carefully to the opening greeting.

Check that:

• The company name is correct.
• The receptionist name is correct.
• The greeting sounds natural.
• The greeting is not unnecessarily long.
• The receptionist gives you an opportunity to respond.

If the greeting needs changing, return to the Call section of Receptionist Setup.

Test the selected voice

Listen to the receptionist during a complete conversation rather than judging the voice only from a short preview.

Consider:

• Is the voice clear?
• Is the speaking pace appropriate?
• Is it easy to understand over the telephone?
• Does it sound appropriate for your organisation?
• Does it remain natural during longer responses?

If necessary, return to Receptionist Setup and select another voice.

Test caller-name handling

If Ask Caller Name is enabled, check how naturally the receptionist obtains your name.

After providing your name, continue the conversation.

The receptionist should not repeatedly ask for information you have already supplied.

Test reason-for-call handling

If Ask Reason for Call is enabled, make several calls with different purposes.

For example:

I'd like to arrange an appointment.

I have a question about one of your services.

I'd like to speak with someone.

I need some help with an existing service.

Check that Cognivox identifies the purpose of the call and follows the appropriate receptionist instructions.

Test one-question-at-a-time behaviour

If Ask One Question at a Time is enabled, test an enquiry requiring several pieces of information.

The receptionist should avoid asking several unrelated questions at once.

For example, instead of asking:

Can I have your name, telephone number, email address and the reason for your call?

it should collect the information naturally during the conversation.

Test concise responses

If Keep Responses Concise is enabled, ask several general questions.

Responses should provide enough information to answer the question without turning into unnecessarily long explanations.

Remember that information suitable for a website is not always suitable for a telephone conversation.

Test your Company Overview

Ask general questions about your organisation.

For example:

What does your company do?

Tell me about the company.

What type of business are you?

The answers should be consistent with the Company Overview saved in your company knowledge.

Test Frequently Asked Questions

Ask several questions that you added during the FAQ stage.

Do not always use exactly the same wording as the saved question.

For example, if your FAQ contains:

Can I book an appointment?

try asking:

I'd like to arrange a meeting. Can you do that?

This helps verify that the receptionist can use the underlying knowledge naturally rather than relying on exact wording.

Test Products and Services

Ask questions about the products or services you configured.

For example:

What services do you provide?

Do you provide [service]?

Can you tell me more about [service]?

Check that the receptionist:

• Describes existing services accurately.
• Does not invent additional services.
• Does not present future services as currently available.
• Does not invent prices.
• Correctly explains any important restrictions.

Test business hours

Ask questions about your opening hours.

For example:

What time do you open?

What time do you close today?

Are you open on Saturday?

Are you open tomorrow?

Check that the answers match the business hours configured in Receptionist Setup.

Remember that the AI receptionist may answer calls 24 hours a day even though your business itself is closed.

Test an out-of-hours scenario

Where possible, test how the receptionist behaves when the business is closed.

Check that it does not confuse the AI receptionist being available with the business being open.

Depending on your configuration, the receptionist may still:

• Answer questions
• Take messages
• Collect contact information
• Handle supported appointment enquiries
• Explain when the business normally reopens

Test unknown information

This is one of the most important tests.

Ask a question for which you deliberately have not provided an answer.

For example, ask about:

• A product you do not provide
• An unsupported service
• Information not present in your company knowledge
• An unknown policy
• A price that has not been configured

The receptionist should not invent an answer.

It should follow your configured unknown-information instructions and offer an appropriate next step where possible.

Test incorrect assumptions

Try deliberately making an incorrect assumption.

For example:

I understand you provide [service that your business does not provide].

The receptionist should rely on your configured company knowledge rather than simply agreeing with the caller.

Test employee enquiries

If employees have been configured, ask to speak with or arrange an appointment with a particular employee.

For example:

Can I make an appointment with Sarah?

Check that Cognivox correctly identifies the employee.

If multiple employees could match the request, the receptionist should clarify which employee the caller means rather than guessing.

Test appointment availability

If appointment functionality is configured, ask for an appointment.

For example:

Can I make an appointment tomorrow afternoon?

Check that Cognivox obtains actual availability before offering a specific appointment time.

The receptionist should not assume availability based solely on your business opening hours.

Test the complete appointment process

Perform a complete test booking.

Check that Cognivox:

1. Understands that you want an appointment.
2. Identifies the appropriate employee where required.
3. Checks availability.
4. Offers an available appointment.
5. Waits for you to accept the proposed time.
6. Collects the required contact information.
7. Creates the appointment.
8. Confirms that the appointment has been created.

After the conversation, check the appropriate calendar to verify that the appointment actually exists.

Test unavailable appointment times

Ask for a time you know is unavailable.

The receptionist should not confirm the unavailable time.

It should check availability and offer an appropriate alternative where possible.

Test message taking

Create a situation where the receptionist should take a message.

Check that it obtains the information required by your Receptionist Instructions.

Depending on your configuration, this might include:

• Caller name
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Company name
• Reason for calling
• Message

The receptionist should not repeatedly request information the caller has already provided.

Test security behaviour

Try asking the receptionist to handle information that should not be collected.

For example, do not provide real credentials, but test whether the receptionist attempts to request:

• Passwords
• Authentication codes
• API keys
• Secret keys
• Complete payment-card information

The receptionist should follow the security requirements configured for your business.

Never use genuine sensitive credentials when testing.

Test integrations

If your Cognivox account uses external integrations, test the functionality that depends on them.

This might include:

• Google Calendar
• Microsoft 365
• Twilio
• Other configured services

Do not assume an integration is working simply because it has been configured.

Test the actual customer workflow.

Test several conversation styles

Customers will not all speak in the same way.

Try:

• Very short questions
• Longer explanations
• Interruptions
• Changing the subject
• Correcting previously supplied information
• Asking follow-up questions
• Providing several details naturally in one sentence

The receptionist should maintain the context of the conversation without unnecessarily repeating questions.

Keep notes while testing

When you notice something that needs improvement, identify which part of the configuration is responsible.

For example:

Correct the underlying information rather than trying to compensate for every problem with additional instructions.

Retest after making changes

After changing your receptionist configuration, repeat the relevant test.

For significant changes, perform another complete test call.

This confirms that the change has produced the expected result without negatively affecting another part of the conversation.

Test regularly

Receptionist testing should not only happen during initial setup.

Retest Cognivox whenever you make significant changes to:

• Receptionist Instructions
• Business hours
• Company information
• Products and services
• FAQs
• Employees
• Appointment settings
• Calendar integrations
• Telephone configuration

Regular testing helps ensure that your AI receptionist continues to represent your business accurately.

Your receptionist is ready

Once you are satisfied that the receptionist:

• Represents your business accurately
• Uses the correct voice and greeting
• Follows your call-handling instructions
• Understands your business hours
• Answers known questions correctly
• Does not invent unknown information
• Handles appointments correctly
• Takes messages appropriately
• Follows your security requirements

your Cognivox AI receptionist is ready to begin handling customer enquiries.