Voice call capture options

Overview

Voice call capture options determine how your AI Agent collects input from end users during phone calls and how it confirms what it captured. When configuring Actions, Playbooks, or Processes for Voice, you can specify whether end users provide information by speaking, using their phone’s keypad, or responding to an SMS message. For spoken responses, you can also choose how the Agent confirms a captured value by reading it back to the end user.

Configuring appropriate capture and confirmation settings helps set your AI Agent and your end users up for success, as different options suit different types of information being captured.

Limitations

Voice call capture options have the following constraints:

SMS requires consent: Before sending any SMS messages to an end user, your AI Agent must obtain consent. This consent only applies to sending a single SMS as part of the conversation—you cannot use it to add end users to marketing lists or send additional messages for other purposes.
SMS only works for mobile devices: End users may be using landline phones or may not want to receive SMS messages, so be prepared for SMS capture to not work in all cases.

Use cases

Voice call capture options support different scenarios based on the type of information being collected.

Collect spoken responses: Use Speech capture for text-based information like names or addresses.
Capture numeric input via keypad: Use Speech and keypad for numbers that are easier to enter than speak, such as account numbers or PINs.
Provide an SMS fallback: Use Speech and SMS when end users may have difficulty speaking information clearly, such as email addresses or complex alphanumeric codes.
Confirm high-stakes values: Use a read-back confirmation for values that must be exact, such as order numbers or email addresses, so mistakes are caught before the conversation continues.

Capabilities & configuration

Voice call capture options vary depending on where you configure them and the type of input being captured.

Voice capture settings for Action inputs

When configuring inputs for Actions under Get inputs from conversation, the available Voice capture settings depend on the input Type (for example, Boolean inputs are captured by speech only):

Input type	Voice capture settings
Text	Speech: Captures input from the end user’s spoken response. Speech and SMS: Gives the end user the option to speak the input or respond to an SMS message.
Number	Speech: Captures input from the end user’s spoken response. Speech and SMS: Gives the end user the option to speak the input or respond to an SMS message. Speech and keypad: Gives the end user the option to speak the input or use their phone’s keypad.
Boolean	Speech: Captures input from the end user’s spoken response.

Voice confirmation settings

For spoken responses, the Voice confirmation settings control whether and how your AI Agent reads a captured value back to the end user before continuing. This lets you verify high-stakes values, such as order numbers, while keeping low-stakes values fast. Confirmation applies only when the caller used speech.

Confirmation setting	Description
None	The Agent does not read the value back.
Implicit	The Agent uses the value naturally, without asking the end user to confirm — for example, “Thanks, Mark.”
Echo	The Agent reads the value back in full and asks the end user to confirm — for example, “I heard Thursday the 15th at 2pm. Does that sound right?”
Spell	The Agent reads the value back character by character and asks the end user to confirm — for example, “I heard A, 1, B, 2. Is that right?” Best for alphanumeric values.

Your AI Agent always applies the capture and confirmation settings you select — it will consistently spell, read back, or confirm as configured. The exact wording it uses is generated and may vary from the examples shown.

Confirmation settings follow these defaults and rules:

For Action inputs, Text and Number inputs offer all four options; newly added inputs default to Echo, while inputs created before this release keep Spell. Boolean inputs support None, Implicit, and Echo.
When the capture setting is keypad or SMS, spoken confirmation is skipped automatically.

Ask steps in Playbooks

Capture and confirmation settings are also available for Playbooks Ask steps. Configure them per variable under the Ask step’s Voice settings. Ask-step variables default to Implicit. Available confirmation settings depend on variable type: Text and Number offer None, Implicit, Echo, and Spell; Boolean offers None, Implicit, and Echo (no Spell).

Capture options for autocapture variables in Processes

When creating autocapture variables in Processes, you can select a Voice call capture option that defines how your AI Agent collects those variable values.

Capture option	Description
Speech	Captures input from the end user’s spoken response.
Speech and SMS	Gives the end user the option to speak the input or respond to an SMS message from the AI Agent.

If your autocapture variable name reflects that the variable being captured is numerical (for example, phone number, amount), your AI Agent will also allow end users to provide this value using their phone’s keypad in addition to speaking it. Before capturing a value, your AI Agent automatically tells end users that they can either say the number or enter it into their keypad.

If you find that the AI Agent is not providing this option for an autocapture variable and you want it to, try updating your autocapture variable name to make it clearer that it is numerical.

If you find that the AI Agent is providing this option for an autocapture variable and you don’t want it to, try updating your autocapture variable name to make it clearer that it is not numerical.

Before sending any SMS messages to an end user, your AI Agent must obtain consent. Your AI Agent asks for consent before sending an SMS message.

Important considerations for SMS consent:

This consent only applies to your ability to send a single SMS to the end user as part of the conversation. You cannot use this consent to add the end user’s phone number to marketing lists or send them additional SMS messages for other purposes.
SMS only works for mobile devices. End users may be using landline phones, or may not want to receive SMS messages, so be prepared for end users not to be able to use SMS capture in all cases.

These features work with Voice call capture options:

Actions: Configure API integrations that collect input from end users.
Processes: Create workflows with autocapture variables.