Best AI Voice Agents for Phone Call

Looking for the best AI phone answering service in 2024? This guide breaks down all of the features your business needs and compares the best platforms available. Exploring features, pros, cons and pricing, I'll share everything you need to know about the top AI phone agents on the market. In addition to handling calls, these AI phone agents can also function as AI concierge or AI receptionist services, making them versatile for various customer interactions.

Top Features to Look for in the Best AI Phone Agent

The best AI agents automate customer service by using advanced artificial intelligence to have emotive, free-flowing conversations. 

There's nothing worse than investing your time and budget into a platform just for it to be lacking in features that would have made all the difference.

Keep an eye out for the following inclusions when comparing solutions.

Natural Language Processing Capabilities

Natural language processing (NLP) is how machines understand speech. Computers use detailed algorithms that look at words and their relationships to one another. With this, intelligence is able to recognize patterns.

For example, if a customer says they are "angry" or "frustrated", the AI agent should be able to identify this emotion and respond accordingly. NLP is vital for creating authentic, human-like conversations.

Voice AI Quality and Latency 

AI phone calls use the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Your WiFi is used to make calls. As a plus, this makes for clearer voice quality, more scalability, and cheaper calls. Unfortunately, it can also mean delays due to latency issues. 

Opting for solutions with lower latencies (<900ms at a minimum) will reduce hang-ups and frustrated customers.

The customizability of the voices is crucial. Some platforms are limited to just male or female voices. Others, like Synthflow, have different accents, tones, and languages available. You can even clone your own voice and add it to your AI phone answering with our 11labs integration. 

Multi-Channel Integration

You should be able to plug your AI tool of choice into different platforms seamlessly. This makes it a lot easier to take action during calls. Synthflow, for example, has over 130+ integrations. 

You can connect it with GoHighLevel to deploy AI voice assistants and manage calls. With just two easy-to-set-up workflows, inbound and outbound calls can be fully automated. Generate call summaries, book appointments, and qualify more leads using them together. 

Other popular integrations include Zapier, Salesforce, and Hubspot.

24/7 AI Voice Availability

Around-the-clock availability is now an expectation of great customer support. Over half of customers say businesses should be available 24/7. 70% of Americans expect at the very least a same-day response rate to an inquiry. 

AI voice agents handle customer interactions even when you're unavailable. Incoming calls are answered instantly and you'll never miss an important message. The best AI solutions should be active 24/7. Guaranteed uptime agreements are always a plus. 

Live Routing

Ensuring customer satisfaction often means transferring calls to the right person for that query. Live call routing ensures your AI assistant can flick customers to real, human agents right away when needed.

Free Trial or Demo of Voice Agent

Trials give you a chance to find a solution at its pace. Free AI demos should be pretty comprehensive. If it's a great product, the dev team are proud of it and is more than happy for you to try it. Retell, for example, has an extensive demo of 10 free minutes, giving you access to tools like concurrent calling to try. 

Likewise, Synthflow's free trial is 14 days, giving you access to the Pro plan. You can add up to 5 assistants and access a full suite of streamlined mid-call APIs.  

Best AI Phone Solutions of 2024: A Detailed Comparison

Synthflow AI

Synthflow's powerful visual editor means you can automate entire workflows in minutes, including mid-call functions and post-call actions. Slash your costs on routine calls with no-code AI voice agents that can facilitate multi-human transfers and appointment booking.

With Assistant Teams, you can build multi-agent teams that share one phone number. Replacing a traditional IVR model, your Team can talk to customers and each other. Live, multi-human transfers are supported, with the ability to add notes and share files during calls. 

(Also, I may be a little biased, but we have a pretty cool video introducing our customized AI teams over on LinkedIn you can check out).

Reviewers like Synthflow's reliability and low latency. Averaging a 3.9/5 on Trustpilot, users appreciate just how easy it is to get voice agents deployed.

Shawn B is one of them, writing; "I have tried a number of Voice AI services and Synthflow is miles apart from anyone else. Their platform is more extensive and easier to use than any other product out there.."

Features

• 24/7 call answering with advanced live routing
• Mid & post-call actions (e.g., follow-ups)
• Zero latency with call analytics
• Code-free customizable workflows
• Voice personalization and cloning
• 130+ integrations

Pros & Cons 

Synthflow is personalized and efficient. You don't need any coding knowledge to set up advanced workflows. Highly customizable, the agents can handle complex business phone calls and are well-suited to a variety of use cases. 

For example, estate agents can use it to up their customer service game. They can pick up multiple calls at once, dropping hold time and ensuring they never miss any important calls.

Sadly, nothing is truly plug-and-play. We've put a lot of work into making the dashboard simple to follow. There's still a slight learning curve. But, we've put together a library of beginner-friendly guides to get you well and truly on the way. 

Pricing

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Bland AI

Users like Bland for its multi-prompt capabilities. Able to act as an AI answering service for thousands of calls at once, Bland sends text messages, books appointments and more with just 10 lines of code required.

For handling simple queries, Bland works well. Its generative AI capabilities allow it to dynamically respond based on context. It can provide relevant information to customers quickly.

Bland's voice cloning and personalization features are limited compared to competitors like Synthflow. Only enterprise clients can add in their own voices, as it's a feature Bland's engineering team have to add in for you. This limitation may be a turn-off for some clients.

Features

• Live answering assistant - route important calls 24/7
• Multi-prompt voicebots - handle calls and appointments
• CRM integrations
• Multi-language voices

Pros & Cons 

Bland is great at handling massive call volumes. It functions well as a call center software and can handle up to 20,000 calls/hr for enterprises.

Unfortunately, Bland's pricing structure is very confusing. We've down a breakdown here. It can get expensive for start-ups and smaller businesses. It can also be a little complicated to set up, with some users reporting bugs like the agent talking before the calls even picked up. If you're still not satisfied, you may want to explore alternatives to Bland AI.

Pricing

Basic calling starts from $0.09/minute. You have to contact the sales team directly to learn fee specifics. 

Vapi AI

If you're looking to automate calls like availability, service offerings, menu inquiries or product information, Vapi is a solid option. Developers can get conversational bots operating fast, taking advantage of in-built latency optimizations, proprietary endpointing models and interruptibility.

Users like it for single-prompt bots, but find it's a little complex to use it for multi-action workflows. Like Syntfhlow, Vapi has a large variety of quality, human-sounding voices to choose from and voice cloning is available. The former has more voice customizability options if you're looking to provide a more tailored service.

Features

• Function calling
• Customizable workflows for AI voice agents
• Voice recognition, NLP & text-to-speech
• Multi-human real-time transfers

Pros & Cons 

Developers love Vapi. Deployment and testing are easy and repeatable. You can use it like an AI virtual receptionist, getting it to answer customer messages and schedule your calendar. Smaller businesses, like barbershops and dental offices, benefit a lot from Vapi's quality, single-prompt call flows.

The coding knowledge required to get a decent agent off the ground is immense. It takes a lot of time to set up. Time-strapped business owners may have to outsource this at an additional cost. 

As you'll see below, basically everything in Vapi is billed as an extra. It averages $0.13/min, making Vapi a pricier solution compared to Synthflow, Retell and Bland. 

Pricing

Check out Vapi AI alternatives here

Retell AI

Retell is designed to deploy HIPAA-compliant, multi-action voice agents that can handle sensitive conversations. Its use case is best suited to healthcare institutions, where privacy and empathy are top priorities. Retell's AI voice agents can handle multiple tasks simultaneously, such as scheduling appointments and providing account information.

The customizability is a little limited. Retell opts for easy integration over flexibility, which may not work for businesses that need more control over their voice agents.

Features

• HIPAA, SOC 2 and GDPR-compliant
• OpenAI voices with some customizability
• Pre-built templates for multi-prompt workflows
• Preset functions
• Humanlike voices

Pros & Cons 

Retell is a great solution for businesses in healthcare that require strict compliance with privacy regulations. It's SOC 2 compliant, which is a standard in data compliance for the technology industry.

Reviewers love the smoother user experience when compared with Bland and Vapi. Users have to give over their billing details to be able to access the free trial and can't see the available latency until they've done so.

The lack of user management is also a negative. Comparatively, Synthflow's Growth and Agency plans both allow you to have numerous subaccounts. Your team members can join and you’ll be able to monitor their access, projects, and progress.

Pricing

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Benefits of Using Top AI Agents

Enhanced Customer Experience

• 61% of customers prefer talking to AI rather than waiting on hold.
• Nearly 2/3rds of customer experience leaders believe AI form a better rapport with callers. 

Boosting customer satisfaction ultimately leads to higher retention rates and repeat business. With automatic calling, customers get 1:1 service 24/7. It shows you truly care about your clients.

Reduced Operational Costs

• US labor costs will be slashed by over 80% by 2026 thanks to conversational AI.

Imagine how much time is freed up with customer calls handled by AI. Instead, agents can analyze data and improve their responses to customers, leading to better service and lower costs.

Improved Efficiency and Productivity

• Businesses see an increase in qualified leads of 451% using AI in their marketing. 

AI assistants reduce missed calls, hold times, and average call duration, making the process more efficient for agents and customers alike.

Conclusion

Choosing an AI agent involves weighing up your business's specific needs and the features each platform offers. All the top contenders provide value. Ultimately, the best solution for your business depends on how the platform's features support your needs.

Synthflow offers advanced customization, integration, and scalability at an affordable price point. With Synthflow, you'll have access to cutting-edge AI technology and dedicated support to help your business thrive. Try it out today and see the difference for yourself!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Synthflow's AI Phone Agent Secure? Synthflow is one of the top AI phone platforms for security. We use industry-standard, top-end security measures across all plans. Enterprise clients have access to a private database on-premise. We're also [soon-to-be] GDPR, SOC2, and HIPAA compliant.  

How Can Synthflow's AI Phone Agent Improve Customer Service? On LinkedIn, Ramya Raghavan uses Synthflow to answer calls fast and keep customers happy. An expert in B2B SaaS and AI marketing automation, Raghavan recommends us for businesses that want to help customers 24/7. Synthflow's virtual agent provides around-the-clock, personalized service. Cut down wait times and never miss an inbound call with Synthflow.

What Are the Costs Involved in Implementing Synthflow's AI Phone Agent? We use subscription billing to keep our fees affordable. Each plan has included minutes and integrations, workspaces and bots (active assistants) to suit your needs. Implementation costs are minimal. You may need to purchase an 11labs or Twilio subscription for some features.