Shopping for phone coverage means wading through jargon. Here are the terms you'll see most often on AI receptionist and answering service websites, explained in plain English.
The terms
- AI receptionist
- Software that answers business calls in natural language, answers approved questions, takes messages, books appointments and hands calls to people.
- Answering service
- A company whose staff answer your calls, take messages and sometimes book appointments, usually priced by minutes or calls.
- Virtual receptionist
- A remote receptionist, usually a person, who answers calls in your business's name. Some providers now use the term for AI too.
- Conditional call forwarding
- Forwarding that only happens when you don't answer, are busy or are unreachable, so your phone rings first.
- Unconditional call forwarding
- Forwarding every call away from your phone. Your phone doesn't ring.
- Overflow calls
- Calls that come in when every line or person is already busy.
- After-hours answering
- Coverage for calls outside your business hours: nights, weekends and holidays.
- Warm transfer
- Handing a call to a person after briefing them on who's calling and why.
- Cold transfer
- Sending a call straight to another line without a briefing.
- IVR (phone tree)
- Interactive voice response: recorded menus where callers press or say a number to be routed.
- Intake
- The set of questions asked to a new caller, such as name, contact, reason for calling and urgency.
- Lead qualification
- Questions that help decide whether and how fast to follow up, like timeline, budget or service area.
- Call summary
- A short written recap of a call, sent after it ends.
- Transcript
- A word-for-word text version of a call.
- Speech recognition (ASR)
- Technology that turns spoken words into text.
- Text-to-speech (TTS)
- Technology that turns text into a spoken voice.
- Large language model (LLM)
- The type of AI that reads the conversation and writes the next reply.
- Hallucination
- When an AI states something false with confidence. Limiting it to approved facts and testing reduces the risk.
- Knowledge base
- The approved facts an AI receptionist can use, such as hours, services, policies and FAQs.
- Escalation rules
- Your instructions for which calls go to a person, and how.
- Number porting
- Moving a phone number from one provider to another. Different from forwarding.
- One-party consent
- A recording rule where one person on the call can consent to recording. New Jersey currently follows it.
- All-party consent
- A recording rule where everyone on the call must consent. Pennsylvania generally follows it.
- TCPA
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law that restricts automated and artificial-voice calls and texts to consumers.
- BAA
- Business associate agreement: a HIPAA contract required when a vendor handles protected health information for a health practice.
- A2P 10DLC
- The US registration system businesses use to send texts from regular 10-digit numbers through software.
- Spam filtering
- Screening out robocalls and sales calls before they reach the receptionist or you.
- Speed to lead
- How quickly a business responds to a new inquiry.
Where to go next
- What is an AI receptionist?
- How to choose an AI receptionist
- How to forward calls when you're busy
- Recording calls in New Jersey
Sources
- FCC Declaratory Ruling FCC 24-17
- HHS: Business associates under HIPAA
- NJ Legislature: A1211 showing N.J.S.A. 2A:156A-4(d)
This guide is general information, not legal or technical advice for your specific setup.