How to setup Birdeye Receptionist?
The Receptionist works by answering calls that are forwarded to its number from the business’ main phone line. For each location, the Receptionist is hosted on a dedicated phone number.
SETTING UP RECEPTIONIST
- Click on the ‘Settings' tab.
- Select ‘Inbox’ and click on the ‘Receptionist’ option.
- You can customize the voicemail greeting message and the auto-reply text message on the 'Setup Receptionist' page.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR VOICEMAIL GREETING
This section allows you to create a customizable voicemail greeting for all business locations to ensure a consistent experience.
To add tokens and personalize the voicemail greeting.
- Click the 'Personalize' button.
- To preview the voicemail greeting, click on the ‘Play’ button at the bottom.
CUSTOMIZE YOUR AUTO-REPLY TEXT MESSAGE
This section allows you to configure an auto-reply text message that will be sent to customers after they hang up the phone.
You can configure a message for callers whether they leave a voicemail or not. These messages can be personalized using tokens.
IMPORTANT
This message is sent if a customer calls from a mobile phone.
SET UP CALL FORWARDING
Birdeye supports major service providers such as Verizon, Comcast Business, CenturyLink, Frontier, and more. The Receptionist number for your account will be visible on the bottom. For a multi-location account, click on the ‘See list of numbers’ button to view Receptionist numbers for all your locations.
NOTE:
Each Receptionist number is linked to an individual Birdeye location. The Receptionist number for each location is unique and will be different from the existing text messaging number.
For more information on the service providers supported by Birdeye, read the help article: How to set up call forwarding from your business phone number to the receptionist?
HOW DOES THE RECEPTIONIST WORK?
As soon as a customer sends a voicemail, you will be able to view the voicemail and the transcript within your Inbox. Businesses can read the transcripts of the voicemails or listen to the audio recording, then continue the conversation through text, photos, and attachments.
FAQs - FOR RECEPTIONIST SETTINGS
Q. Can I record and upload my own greeting?
Ans - No. For now, you cannot record and upload your own greeting.
Q. What if my phone provider is not listed on the page?
Ans - There are hundreds of phone providers supported by Birdeye. If it’s not listed, our support team will work with the phone provider and set up the call forwarding for you.
Q. Can all the calls be forwarded to the Receptionist?
Ans - We encourage you to set up your phone system in a way that only the unanswered calls are forwarded to the Receptionist.
Q. Can multiple numbers or extensions be forwarded to the Receptionist?
Ans - Yes. Apart from the Location’s main phone line, any number of other lines or extensions can be set up by their phone provider to forward calls to the Location’s Receptionist.
FAQs - For Receptionist in the Inbox
Q. What if a caller does not leave a voicemail?
Ans - In the Inbox, you will see a status “Caller called but did not leave a voicemail”.
Q. What if voicemail is not clear?
Ans - The transcription may be unclear or unavailable.
Q. How long are the voice files kept by Birdeye servers?
Ans - All the voicemails will be stored within Birdeye for up to 30 days.
Q. How long can the voicemail be?
Ans - The duration of voicemail can be up to 3 minutes. However, we recommend less than one minute for the best transcription.
Q. Will, I be notified when a voicemail is received?
Ans - Yes. Notifications for voicemails are the same as any other notifications.
Q - Can I enable call forwarding on all the extension numbers for my business?
Ans - Yes. You can enable call forwarding for all the extension numbers of your business.
Q. Is the voicemail attached to the email notification?
Ans - No. However, the email notification will have a full transcript and you can listen to the voicemail on the mobile without going to the Birdeye app.
HIDDEN CALLS IN INBOX
To help reduce clutter, Birdeye filters out the following types of incoming calls from the Inbox. Here’s what will no longer appear in the Inbox.
Missed calls from Unknown Callers: All missed calls from contacts that have not been added will not be visible in the Birdeye Inbox.
Voicemail from Unknown Callers:
- The Birdeye Inbox will automatically hide all voicemail messages from unknown callers that are less than five seconds in length.
- Voicemails from unknown callers that are 5 to 16 seconds long and do not contain transcription will be automatically hidden in the Birdeye Inbox.
Businesses will not receive alerts for the aforementioned missed calls and voicemails. Spam and junk calls will also not be considered when generating Inbox reports.
How unknown caller activity appears in the Birdeye Inbox
If an unknown caller sends a text message, it will appear in the Inbox along with the history of any previous missed calls from that number.
If the unknown caller leaves a valid voicemail, it will also appear in the Inbox along with any prior missed call history.
Criteria for voicemail validity from unknown callers:
Voicemail duration less than 5 seconds → Invalid
Voicemail duration between 5 and 16 seconds with transcription available → Valid
Voicemail duration between 5 and 16 seconds without transcription → Invalid
Voicemail duration over 16 seconds → Valid
Important:
Search by Number: Users can search the Inbox using the phone number from which they received a missed call to locate that specific call.
Backend Feature for Weekends: A backend-only feature (available on request) ensures all missed calls received over the weekend are displayed in the Inbox by default. To enable this feature, please contact Birdeye Technical Support at 1-800-561-3357 (Ext. 3) or email support@birdeye.com.