Before you start
- Minutes left for the month: both tests use them.
- For the Web Call, a microphone and headphones; for the phone test, a number assigned to the agent and your mobile phone.
#The two tests
Press Test Call in the agent's top bar and choose one of the two tabs.
| Web Call | Phone Call | |
|---|---|---|
| How | “Test the audio directly from your computer.” | A real phone call, between the agent and your mobile. |
| Needs a number | No | Yes |
| With the agent paused | Works | No: the call is rejected |
| Transfer, phone keys, automatic hang-up | Not available | Work |
| Where you find it afterwards | In Calls, “Voice web chats” channel, as “Anonymous” | In Calls, with the other calls |
| Plan minutes | Uses them like an inbound call and takes up one of the simultaneous calls | Uses them like customers' calls |
| End-of-call email and webhook | Sent, if you've turned them on, under the same conditions as real calls | Sent, if you've turned them on |
| Statistics and automations | Doesn't count in the statistics and doesn't trigger Telephony automations | Counts like customers' calls |
#The Web Call
- Open the test
Test Call → Web Call. “Call your Agent” opens, with the agent's face and name and the status “Ready to talk”.
- Start
Press Start call and allow the browser to use the microphone.
- Talk to the agent
When you see “In call” and the timer running, the agent says the greeting. Talk the way a customer would.
- Hang up
Press End call. You see “Call ended” with the duration and the Call again button.
- If the browser blocks the audio, Enable audio appears: press it. If the status stays on “Connecting...”, close the window and try again.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Allow microphone access to talk with the agent.” | Give microphone permission in the browser settings, then press Try again. |
| “The agent did not accept the call…” | Check the month's minutes and that there aren't too many calls in progress. |
#Testing on the phone
If the agent doesn't have a number, the window says “No number linked” — “Assign a phone number to the agent to proceed.” How to do it is in Assigning and managing numbers.
#Inbound agent: you call
Test Call → Phone Call. The window shows a QR code — “Scan the QR with your phone to call the agent.” — and the number, with Copy number. If the agent has several numbers, choose which one to test in Number to call: the QR code and Copy number follow your choice. Call that number from your mobile or from an outside landline, not from a number on your account: see why.
#Outbound agent: the agent calls you
- Type your number
In Your number, choose the country in the code (it's usually already the right one) and type the number without the code, for example 333 1234567.
- Have the agent call you
Press Get a call. While your phone rings, you read “We're calling you, answer your phone.”
- Answer
The window says “The call is in progress. You'll find it in the call list.” The agent behaves as it would with a real contact.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Enter a valid number for the selected country.” | Check the country of the code and the digits of the number. |
| “No answer within the ring time. Try again.” | Answer sooner, or lengthen the Ring time. |
| “The call was blocked…” | The phone carrier isn't letting the call through: try another number. |
| “This number belongs to a blocked contact.” | Unblock the contact in Contacts, or use another number. |
| “Unable to start the call. Try again.” | Check that your plan includes “Outbound calls”, that there are minutes and free lines, that the agent is active and that its number can make calls. |
#If the call is rejected
An inbound call rejected before the greeting stays in Calls as “Unsuccessful”, and the summary says why. This applies to phone tests and to customers' calls. For outbound calls, only a call rejected with “Outbound calls not included in the plan” stays in the list; in the other cases the call doesn't start and the test window shows the error. A rejected Web Call doesn't appear either: you see the rejection only in the test window, with the message “The agent did not accept the call…” described above.
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Agent paused at call time” | Set the agent back to Active. |
| “Voice minutes exhausted” | The month's minutes have run out: add a “Minute pack” (as an add-on, or let automatic purchase do it) or wait for the new month. See Add-ons and automatic purchase. |
| “All lines busy” | All the simultaneous calls in your plan were already in progress. |
| “Blocked contact” | The caller is a blocked contact. Unblock them if it's a mistake. |
| “Number not in service” | The number has been stopped because of your plan. See Forced pause. |
| “Outbound calls not included in the plan” | Your plan doesn't include outbound calls. |
| “Number linked to a non-voice assistant” | The number appears to be linked to an agent that isn't a voice agent, for example a chat agent. The console doesn't allow this link, so it's a rare case: in AccountTelephony, use Disconnect assistants on the number's row, then link the voice agent again. If it happens again, write to support. |
| “Transfer to one of the account's own numbers rejected” | The call came from a number on your account: see below. |
On the Telephony page, and in some messages, the console calls voice agents “assistants”, as in Disconnect assistants: they're the same agents.
A call that comes from a number on your account, for example another agent's number, is also rejected. So for tests, call from your mobile or from an outside landline.
#After the test: where to check
- In Calls: recording, transcript, action labels, outcome and summary.
- In your inbox, if you've turned on email notifications: they arrive for successful calls.
- On the Dashboard, for phone tests only.
#The tests to run before going live
Run them on the phone, like a real customer. After each one, read the transcript and fix the prompt if needed. The general checks, such as the greeting and the summary email, are in Before going live.
- Frequently asked questions. Ask the five questions customers ask you most often: hours, prices, services.
- A question the agent can't answer. It must say it doesn't know and offer an alternative, without making anything up.
- Your details. Spell out your name, number and email: the agent repeats them and asks you to confirm.
- Interrupting. Interrupt the agent while it's talking: it stops and listens to you.
- Silence. Stay silent: the call ends after the time you've set.
- The appointment. Book one and check the calendar: see How to test it.
- Hours. If you use greetings or destinations tied to opening hours, make one call during opening hours and one outside them.
- The end of the call. Say goodbye and check that the agent hangs up. Then check the outcome and summary in Calls.
If you record with consent, add one test: say you don't want to be recorded and check that the “Recording declined” label appears.