Using Conversational Voice AI for Customer Support: Best Practices

Customer service has always relied heavily on phone support.

Even with the rise of digital channels, 73% of contact center interactions still involve voice - making it a crucial touchpoint for businesses.

However, traditional phone support comes with challenges: long wait times, overwhelmed agents, inefficient support, and frustrated customers.

That's where conversational voice AI comes in.

By combining natural language understanding, speech recognition, and generative AI, voice AI can automate phone support, handle a wide range of customer inquiries, and route calls intelligently.

And it does all this while delivering a seamless, flexible, and human-like customer experience.

As a result, the global market for voice AI agents is expected to grow from $2.4 billion in 2024 to $47.5 billion by 2034, indicating a rapid adoption of AI-powered voice solutions in customer support.

But while the benefits of this technology are extremely promising for the future of contact centers and customer service, voice AI has to be done right.

If it's not implemented, used, and optimised effectively, AI automation can cause more problems than it solves.

So how can businesses get the most out of conversational voice AI and avoid potential pitfalls?

That’s exactly what we'll break down in this guide. We’ll cover:

• What conversational voice AI is, and its role in customer service
• The key benefits of using voice AI for customer interactions
• How to implement, use, and optimise voice AI (8 best practices)

TL;DR: Best Practices for using voice AI in customer support...

1. Leverage natural language understanding: Use AI with advanced NLU to enable fluid, human-like conversations that adapt to accents, phrasing, and speech patterns.
2. Optimise call routing with AI prompts: Configure AI with effective prompts to direct customers efficiently, reduce misroutes, and ensure escalation handling.
3. Enable self-service for customer queries: Integrate voice AI with knowledge bases and CRMs to automate more queries, retrieve account details, and schedule appointments.
4. Balance AI automation with human escalation: Ensure seamless transitions for complex issues by passing AI-generated summaries and customer data to live agents on transfer.
5. Implement AI guardrails for accuracy & compliance: Prevent AI hallucinations, enforce data protection laws (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.), and restrict access to sensitive information.
6. Ensure multilingual capabilities: Support multiple languages, recognise accents and dialects, and maintain brand consistency across all linguistic interactions.
7. Integrate voice AI with contact center systems: Deploy AI into SIP-based telephony, CRMs like Salesforce, and other backend systems for frictionless operations.‍
8. Continuously refine & optimise AI performance: Use testing, analytics, AI-driven insights, and customer feedback to improve response quality, refine AI prompts, and fill gaps in you knowledge bases.

What is conversational voice AI?

Conversational AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that enables machines to engage in human-like interactions.

It leverages technologies like natural language processing (NLP) and generative AI to understand user intent, process information, and respond in a way that feels natural and intuitive.

Conversational voice AI, specifically, refers to AI-powered chatbots or systems that interact with users through speech-based communication.

Unlike traditional phone support systems that rely on pre-recorded prompts or IVR menus, voice AI is intelligent, flexible, and adaptive.

It can interpret spoken language, understand context, and generate dynamic responses in real time.

To do this, conversational voice AI combines multiple technologies, including:

• Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR): Converts spoken words into text for AI processing.
• Natural Language Processing (NLP): Analyses text to determine intent, context, and meaning.
• Natural Language Understanding (NLU): Helps AI interpret variations in phrasing, accents, and ambiguous language.
• Large Language Models (LLMs): Uses deep learning and generative AI to produce responses that are dynamic, human-like, and contextually relevant.
• Text-to-Speech (TTS): Converts AI responses into spoken language, enabling seamless voice-based conversations.

How conversational voice AI is used in customer interactions

In contact centers and customer service, conversational voice AI is transforming phone support and call handling.

It does this by replacing or enhancing IVR systems and automating more tasks that were traditionally handled by human agents.

Businesses can deploy voice AI virtual agents to:

• Automate phone calls: Engage in human conversation, answer questions, provide information, and guide customers through self-service options.
• Enhance self-service: Allow customers to retrieve order details or shipping updates, arrange returns/refunds, amend account information, schedule appointments, make bookings, and more, without human intervention.
• Optimise call routing & transfers: Accurately direct calls to the right team or live agent based on customer needs and intent, eliminating misroutes. Transfer calls to human agents only when needed, along with key information and customer details.
• Deliver personalised experiences: Integrate with CRM and backend systems to tailor responses based on customer data.

These use cases help mitigate many telephony challenges that traditional call centers struggle with.

With voice AI-powered customer service, businesses can harness the efficiency of automation while improving the speed, accuracy, and consistency of phone support at the same time.

What's more, agents will gain more time for complex queries and high-value tasks, creating a synergy between automated customer service and human intervention.

Benefits of using conversational AI technology for customer calls

The adoption of voice AI in contact centers is growing rapidly, and for good reason.

When used effectively, this technology can yield numerous benefits for businesses and consumers, including:

• 24/7 availability: Voice AI can handle calls around the clock so customers can access support, information, and self-service even when agents are unavailable.
• Shorter queues & wait times: AI reduces the number of calls needing human intervention and improves routing accuracy, meaning customers can get the assistance and resolutions they need faster.
• Multilingual support: Advanced AI systems can detect a caller's language and respond accordingly, eliminating language barriers.
• Cost savings: Automating more conversations and optimising the call routing process maximises operational efficiency, leading to reduced costs over time.
• Scalability: Businesses can handle high call volumes and fluctuations without hiring additional staff.
• Better customer experience: AI delivers human-like, fluid interactions and a more engaging experience than traditional automated phone support.

Ultimately, businesses that leverage voice AI successfully can enhance telephony efficiency and streamline operations - without sacrificing service quality or customer satisfaction.

How to use voice AI for customer calls: Best practices

It's clear that voice AI has the potential to revolutionise call centers and customer service - when it's utilised effectively.

By following the best practices in this section, you can set yourself up for success and ensure maximum ROI from an AI voice bot.

1. Leverage natural language understanding for human-like conversations

As we've covered, voice AI is meant to simulate fluid, natural conversations that feel far more intuitive and humanised than traditional automated systems.

To ensure the AI delivers this, make sure you implement a solution that's equipped with advanced natural language understanding (NLU) capabilities so that it can:

• Recognise different accents, dialects, and languages for more inclusive customer interactions.
• Understand variations in phrasing, allowing customers to express themselves naturally rather than following strict keyword commands.
• Adjust responses dynamically based on context, customer data, and real-time input.
• Maintain conversational flow, even when customers pause, stutter, interrupt themselves, or change direction mid-sentence.

These capabilities reduce customer frustration, improve comprehension, and create a more seamless customer experience.

In addition to natural language understanding (NLU), the voice of AI agents plays a crucial role in creating a human-like experience.

This means it's best to use a solution that allows you to choose a custom voice that aligns with your brand personality and specific use cases.

With Talkative, for example, you can choose from a library of voices with a wide range of accents, dialects, and tones.

We recommend testing different options to see which best represents your company identity.

By combining natural language capabilities with thoughtful voice selection, you can make AI interactions much more enjoyable and engaging callers.

This is essential if you want voice AI to be a hit with your customers. After all, a positive experience that adds value for the user is vital for successful adoption.

The last thing you want is voice AI to be another robotic system (like IVR) that customers try to avoid.

2. Optimise call routing with voice AI prompts

Efficient routing is crucial for minimising wait times, preventing misrouted calls, and delivering a positive customer experience.

Traditionally, contact centers have relied on IVR and manual call distribution for routing, often leading to frustration, long hold times, friction, and unnecessary transfers.

Because of this, over half (51%) of consumers will end a call entirely just to avoid navigating an IVR menu.

With voice AI, businesses can eliminate outdated routing methods, replacing them with AI-driven call handling that's intelligent, dynamic, and flexible.

AI can identify customer intent, triage calls precisely, and direct customers to the right team or self-service option from the start.

What's more, customers can speak naturally to AI systems and express queries or requests in their own words - rather than being restricted to a static, limited list of options.

This not only creates a more intuitive and seamless experience for the caller, but it also means calls are routed faster and more accurately than with traditional routing systems.

One of the most effective ways to optimise routing with voice AI is by configuring an AI prompt to guide the system's decision-making.

An AI prompt is a set of predefined instructions that shape how an AI system interprets user inputs, generates responses, and handles interactions.

When writing a voice AI prompt, it's best practice to...

• Define the AI's role: Clearly explain the AI's function and task (e.g. "You are handling incoming calls for the customer service team at [Business Name]. Your role is to provide a conversation flow for the following scenarios:...".)
• Specify call scenarios: Outline common customer inquiries and specify how the AI should handle them (e.g. "If a caller asks to return an item, ask for their order number and retrieve their order details. If the item is eligible according to our policy, explain the returns process. If it’s outside the returns policy, offer store credit.")
• Account for ambiguous queries: Instruct the AI on how to clarify unclear customer requests before making a routing decision (e.g. "If the customer’s request is vague, ask a follow-up question to clarify, for example: 'Can you specify whether you need help with login issues, billing, or another account-related matter?'".)
• Include escalation triggers: Specify when calls should be transferred to a live agent, ensuring seamless handoffs (e.g. "If a customer has a complaint, escalate the call to a senior member of the customer service team immediately.")

By incorporating these elements into your voice AI prompt, you can ensure smarter call routing, faster resolutions, and a more efficient and seamless support experience overall.

3. Enable self-service for a range of customer queries

Today’s customers expect fast, convenient self-service options - but many businesses aren’t delivering.

In fact, 81% of consumers want more self-service options, and only 15% are satisfied with the tools currently provided.

Voice AI agents can help bridge this gap by automating a variety of customer service queries and tasks.

This allows callers to resolve more issues independently, without waiting on hold for a human to become available.

The result is reduced agent workloads and significantly shorter wait times for the customers who do need the human touch.

To deliver optimal self-service with voice AI, you need a solution that can integrate with a knowledge base and retrieve data from your CRM and other backend systems.

This enables voice AI agents to...

• Provide instant, precise answers: AI systems can pull relevant information directly from your knowledge base content (e.g. product/service details, company policies, support documentation, etc.).
• Resolve more queries: When integrated with a comprehensive knowledge base, AI can answer a much wider range of customer questions with high accuracy.
• Retrieve order information: Voice AI can track order status for callers and provide shipping/delivery updates.
• Access account details: Customers can use voice AI to check balances, update personal information, reset passwords, and more.
• Schedule appointments: Voice AI allows callers to schedule appointments, arrange callbacks, and manage cancellations or re-arrangements autonomously.
• Make bookings/reservations: Businesses in industries like travel or hospitality can use voice AI to automate routine tasks like hotel bookings and restaurant reservations.

By combining voice AI with backend integrations and strong knowledge bases, you can dramatically expand your self-service offerings, making life easier for both your customers and your agents.

4. Balance AI automation with human escalation

While voice AI agents can handle numerous scenarios and interactions, there will always be situations where human expertise is needed.

Whether it’s a particularly complex issue, a frustrated customer, or a sensitive request, knowing when to escalate a call from AI to a human is key to maintaining customer trust and satisfaction.

A well-balanced approach ensures that AI automation improves efficiency, while seamless handoffs to human agents provide the support callers need when AI reaches its limits.

With this in mind, voice AI virtual agents should be designed to recognise when automation is no longer the best option and escalate calls at the right moment.

Some key escalation triggers include:

• Customer frustration signals: If the caller repeats themselves, expresses dissatisfaction, or requests a human agent, the AI should immediately escalate.
• Complex or high-stakes issues: Scenarios like fraud concerns, account security issues, or billing disputes often require human judgment and intervention.
• Unclear or ambiguous queries: If the AI cannot confidently determine customer intent, it should escalate rather than provide incorrect or unhelpful responses.
• Emotional conversations: AI lacks emotional intelligence, so matters related to complaints, grievances, or other sensitive issues are best handled by humans.

It's also important to make the transition to human support as streamlined as possible.

A frustrating handoff experience - where callers have to repeat themselves after waiting on hold - can undo all the benefits of AI customer service.

It's why Talkative's voice AI was designed for smooth and context-aware escalations, providing...

• AI-generated call summaries: When a call is escalated, the AI automatically provides a concise summary of the conversation, giving the agent context.
• Key information: The AI captures key customer details and pulls relevant data from CRMs and APIs to include on transfer.
• Call transcripts: In addition to an AI summary, agents can also view a full transcript of the AI conversation if needed.

These features create a seamless customer experience and ensure that callers never have to start from scratch when transferred to a human agent.

By balancing AI automation with intelligent escalations, businesses can maximise efficiency while maintaining high-quality service - ensuring every caller gets the right support when they need it.

5. Implement AI guardrails for accuracy & compliance

While voice AI virtual agents can enhance customer interactions, they must be carefully managed to ensure accuracy, reliability, and compliance.

Without proper guardrails, generative AI systems may produce incorrect or misleading responses (i.e. AI hallucinations) and can even mishandle sensitive data.

This can frustrate customers, damage brand reputation, and potentially lead to regulatory issues.

With this in mind, it's imperative to take measures so that voice AI remains a valuable tool for customer service while complying with data protection laws and industry regulations.

To ensure voice AI delivers accurate information while remaining compliant, you should implement the following guardrails:

• Restrict AI access to sensitive data: AI should only retrieve and process information within pre-approved guidelines to avoid exposing confidential customer details.
• Set clear conversational boundaries: Define specific topics and use cases that AI can handle, preventing it from providing speculative, misleading, or off-topic responses.
• Utilise fallback mechanisms: Configure AI to defer to your support team or provide pre-approved fallback responses if it encounters uncertain, ambiguous, or high-risk queries.
• Validate AI responses: Regularly test AI-generated responses to ensure they are factually correct, brand-aligned, and contextually appropriate.
• Refine AI training data: Continuously refine the AI's knowledge base to fill any information gaps. Ensure all knowledge base content is kept up-to-date with accurate business policies, product information, and customer service protocols.
• Enable conversation tracking & auditing: Call transcripts should be recorded and stored securely for compliance auditing, quality assurance, and AI performance monitoring.
• Follow global data protection laws: Ensure AI-powered voice assistants adhere to GDPR, CCPA, and other industry regulations, keeping customer data safe and secure.
• Provide clear disclaimers: When using AI for voice interactions, businesses should transparently communicate AI usage to customers at the start of a call.

By backing conversational AI solutions with strong compliance measures and accuracy safeguards, you can reduce risks, build customer trust, and ensure voice AI provides secure, reliable support.

6. Ensure multilingual capabilities for a global audience

Multilingual customer service is critical for both international brands and those who serve a diverse customer base.

In today’s globalised world, many customers expect support in their native language, and failing to provide this can lead to dissatisfaction or even lost opportunities.

When callers can speak naturally and be understood in their preferred language, it reduces miscommunications and puts the customer at ease.

It also allows you to eliminate language barriers, improve accessibility, and give every caller a personalised and localised customer experience - all without the need to hire additional multilingual staff or outsource translation services.

So, if multilingual support is relevant to your business, it’s important to deploy a voice AI solution that can:

• Support and converse fluently in a range of languages to serve diverse markets and customer segments.
• Adapt to different accents, dialects, and linguistic nuances to ensure accuracy across different regions and demographics.
• Standardise brand messaging, tone, and accuracy across languages, preventing misinterpretations or poor translations.

By ensuring multilingual capabilities, you can tap into global markets, expand your customer base, and provide truly inclusive support to consumers of all backgrounds.

7. Integrate voice AI with existing contact center systems

For voice AI to be implemented successfully, it must integrate seamlessly with your existing infrastructure.

This includes SIP-based telephony, CRMs, and other contact center systems.

Without proper integration, businesses risk fragmented workflows, inefficient call handling, and friction in both the customer and agent experience.

It's for this reason that Talkative's voice AI was built to work alongside existing telephony systems and CRMs - ensuring smooth call handling, accurate data capture, and seamless agent handoffs.

To provide a frictionless experience, Talkative’s Voice AI supports integration with:

• SIP-based telephony & PBX systems: Businesses can connect Talkative’s Voice AI to their existing SIP-based phone infrastructure or route calls via PSTN, eliminating the need for a complete system overhaul.
• Mitel & other advanced telephony systems: With built-in Mitel integration, businesses using Mitel IVR and SIP traffic can easily deploy voice AI to handle and route calls intelligently.
• CRM platforms: Talkative can integrate with leading CRM systems like Salesforce, enabling AI to retrieve CRM data and personalise interactions.

By integrating directly into existing systems, businesses can quickly deploy voice AI without major infrastructure changes - minimising disruption while maximising operational efficiency.

8. Continuously refine & optimise voice AI performance

Deploying voice AI is just the beginning.

Continuous optimisation is essential to maintain high-quality AI responses and deliver the best customer experience.

Like any AI-powered system, voice AI needs regular monitoring, testing, and refinement to improve accuracy, user experience, and overall effectiveness.

By leveraging analytics, reporting, and customer feedback, you can identify trends, uncover bottlenecks or knowledge gaps, and make targeted improvements.

To keep voice AI operating at peak performance, businesses should:

• Analyse AI interactions: Use call transcripts, interaction logs, AI interaction summaries, and sentiment analysis to measure AI effectiveness and identify improvement areas.
• Refine AI prompts: Update the AI's instructions and conversational flows based on real-world interactions, query trends, and customer feedback.
• Update knowledge bases: Ensure AI always has access to the most up-to-date information and resources (e.g. product/service details, company policies, FAQs, etc.).
• Monitor AI analytics: Track key performance metrics such as call duration, first call resolution rates, CSAT score, and escalation frequency to assess AI performance.
• Leverage AI-driven insights: Use AI-powered reporting tools to detect patterns, optimise workflows, and identify gaps in the knowledge base.

Ongoing optimisation ensures that voice AI continues to evolve, enhancing accuracy, efficiency, and customer satisfaction - while driving greater ROI over time.

The takeaway

Conversational voice AI is transforming phone-based customer support, making it more efficient, scalable, and customer-friendly.

When implemented and used effectively, voice AI virtual agents can streamline call handling, improve self-service, and automate more complex tasks and queries - all while maintaining a human-like, engaging experience.

It's why we’ve released our own voice AI solution.

Designed to replace clunky IVRs and optimise call handling with 24/7 phone support, Talkative’s voice AI offers...

• Humanised AI conversations: Choose from a library of voices or use your own to automate a personalised customer experience.
• Easy setup & management: Build, customise, and train your voice AI chatbot with custom AI prompts and private AI Knowledge Bases.
• Seamless handoffs: Smoothly escalate calls to human agents when needed, with AI-generated call summaries, real-time transcripts, and key customer details surfaced to agents on transfer.
• Multilingual support: Serve customers in multiple languages at any time of day or night, freeing your agents up for cases that need the human touch.
• AI analytics & reporting: AI-generated transcripts, interaction summaries, reports, knowledge base insights, and more.

In addition to voice AI, we offer a suite of digital customer contact channels and capabilities - including live chat, AI chatbots, video chat, email AI, cobrowse, messaging, and more.

Want to learn more?

Book a demo with Talkative today, and check out our interactive product tour.