Test your assistant before going live

Before you give your number to customers, talk to your assistant yourself. A few test conversations show whether it greets callers the way you want, knows your prices and hours, and books or takes messages correctly. You can test by phone, in your browser, in a text chat, or on a preview of your website widget.

Ways to test

To place test calls you need permission to place calls (owners, admins and members). Save the assistant first: the test buttons appear once it exists.

Call me to test

The assistant calls your phone and starts the conversation, just as a caller would hear it.

1. Open Assistants, then the assistant.
2. Press Call me to test.
3. Under Your phone number, enter your number in international format, for example +14155550132.
4. Press Call me now.

The call comes from the assistant's own number. If it has none yet, we lend a number for the test, so you can try the assistant before you buy one.

Call in browser

Press Call in browser and allow the microphone when your browser asks. You talk to the assistant through your computer, with no phone involved. While the call runs you can Mute and Hang up. Use a current version of Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox.

Playground

The Playground tab is a text chat with the assistant. It uses the same instructions, company data and tools as a call, and shows which tools the assistant used. Bookings and messages are simulated here, so nothing is saved. Press Reset to start again.

Playground messages are counted:

The playground is quick for checking facts and wording. Test the voice and the timing with a real call.

Website widget preview

On the Website widget tab, Preview shows a sample page with your widget exactly as visitors get it. Calls you make there are recorded as test calls. See Website widget.

How test calls behave

• Every test call is limited to 3 minutes.
• Test calls use your plan's minutes like any other call.
• They appear under Calls with the transcript and summary. The call page marks them as Test call.
• The caller is not added to your contacts, and nothing is sent to your connected apps. A message or callback request the assistant takes during the call can still appear in your Inbox.
• Orders and room reservations taken on a test call are saved, but no notifications or webhooks are sent for them. A test call can place up to three of each.
• Appointments booked on a test call are real. They appear on your Appointments page and block the time. Cancel them after testing.
• You get an email when a test call is finished, unless you switched off Setup tips under Settings → Notifications.

What to check

Play the part of a real customer. Try a few calls like these:

1. The greeting. Does it say your company name and its own name clearly?
2. Common questions. Ask about opening hours, prices, parking or anything your customers often ask. Are the answers correct and short?
3. Something it does not know. Does it offer to take a message instead of guessing?
4. A booking or order, if you switched that ability on. Does it offer real free times, repeat the details back and confirm?
5. A message. Does it collect your name, number and reason, and does the message show up in the call summary?
6. Interruptions. Talk over it. Does it stop and listen?
7. After hours, if you use business hours. Does it give the after-hours message or take a voicemail?
8. Other languages, if you set up several.

After each call, open it under Calls to read the transcript. See Reading a call.

Tip: Change one thing at a time in the instructions or the knowledge base, save, and test again. It makes it clear what fixed the problem.

Before you go live

• The assistant's status is Active — answering calls.
• A phone number is assigned to it. See Connect a phone number.
• Your workspace has a plan or prepaid credit to pay for the minutes.
• Any test appointments are cancelled.

Troubleshooting

"Test calls need a plan or credit" or "Test calls are available on a paid plan." Call me to test needs a paid plan. Call in browser needs a plan or prepaid credit. Choose a plan or add credit under Billing.

The Call in browser button is locked. Browser test calls are part of the Team and Scale plans.

"Microphone access was blocked." Allow the microphone for this site in your browser settings and try again.

"All lines are busy right now." Your plan's limit on calls at the same time is reached. Wait for a call to finish.

"No playground messages left." You have used this month's playground messages, or your 3 free ones without a plan. Test with a call instead, or wait for your next billing month.

"Use international format, e.g. +14155550132." Enter your phone number with + and the country code, without spaces.