Call Handling and Greeting

Your ChurchWiseAI Voice Agent follows a natural conversation flow when handling calls. Here is how it works from the moment someone dials your number.

The Default Greeting

When a caller reaches your voice agent, it greets them by name:

"Thank you for calling [Your Church Name]. How can I help you today?"

This greeting sets a warm tone and immediately lets the caller know they have reached the right place. You can customize this message in your dashboard under Settings.

How the Agent Handles Questions

After the greeting, the agent listens to the caller and responds based on what it knows about your church:

1. Direct answers — If the agent knows the answer (service times, address, office hours), it responds right away
2. Guided conversation — If the question is vague, the agent asks follow-up questions to understand what the caller needs
3. Prayer requests — When a caller wants to pray or share a concern, the agent gently collects the request and saves it to your dashboard
4. Escalation — If the agent cannot help, it lets the caller know their request will be passed to a staff member

Call Routing Rules

The voice agent follows these priorities when deciding how to respond:

• Known information — Answers directly using your church profile data
• Appointment booking — If Cal.com is connected (Voice Pro plan), it can schedule meetings with your pastor or staff
• Planning Center lookup — If connected (Voice Pro plan), it can look up upcoming events and service times from your Planning Center calendar
• Prayer and care requests — Gently captures prayer requests, visitor interest, and callback requests, then saves them to your dashboard
• Staff referral — For complex or sensitive requests, it logs the call for follow-up by your team

The voice agent uses Twilio ConversationRelay with ElevenLabs for natural-sounding speech and Deepgram for accurate speech-to-text transcription, powered by Claude AI from Anthropic.

When the Agent Cannot Answer

Sometimes a caller asks something the agent does not have information about. In these cases, the agent will:

1. Acknowledge the question honestly rather than guessing
2. Offer to take a message for your staff
3. Collect the caller's name and callback number
4. Log the interaction in your Calls tab for follow-up

This ensures callers always feel heard, even when the agent cannot provide a direct answer.

After-Hours Handling

The voice agent does not differentiate between business hours and after hours — it provides the same friendly service around the clock. However, it is aware of your office hours and can tell callers:

"Our office is open Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM. I would be happy to help you with your question now, or I can have someone from our staff call you back during office hours."

This gives callers the choice to get help immediately or wait for a human follow-up.

Dashboard Tabs

Your admin dashboard at churchwiseai.com/admin/[your-token] has six tabs to help you manage everything:

• Overview — At-a-glance summary of recent activity and analytics
• Calls — Full call history with transcripts and AI summaries
• Requests — Prayer requests, visitor contacts, and callback requests captured by the agent
• Care — Care messaging tools for following up with your congregation
• Settings — Church info, greeting, integrations, and team management
• Upgrade — View your current plan and upgrade options

Tips for a Great Caller Experience

• Keep your church info current — The agent is only as good as the information you provide
• Write a natural greeting — Avoid overly formal language. Write it the way your receptionist would say it
• Review call logs regularly — Check for questions the agent could not answer and update your church details accordingly
• Test periodically — Call your number once a month to make sure everything sounds right
• Check the Requests tab — Prayer requests and callback requests deserve timely, personal follow-up from your team