Outbound AI IVR replaces the recorded "press 1" menu with a voice bot that speaks, listens and answers back. VoiceOI's version calls your leads, asks qualifying questions in plain conversation and hands qualified calls to your closers. You build it without code and pay per bot, with no per-minute AI fee.
Outbound only. VoiceOI places calls for outbound campaigns. It does not answer inbound calls, route callers to departments or run self-service menus, so if you are replacing an inbound IVR, this is not the right product.
Both place automated calls. What changes is how the person answers, and how much one call can find out before a person picks up.
| On an outbound call | Keypad (press-1) IVR | Conversational AI IVR (VoiceOI) |
|---|---|---|
| How people respond | By pressing a key: a keypad menu is built to take button presses. | By answering out loud, in their own words. |
| What one call can ask | Whatever fits a menu of numbered options. | Several qualifying questions, each with its own branch. |
| Unexpected answers | A keypad menu recognises only the keys it offers. | Recorded-voice scripts follow the branches you wrote; AI agents keep the conversation inside limits you set in the builder. |
| Objections | Only an objection turned into a menu option can be answered. | Objection branches you script, such as "call me later" or "not interested". |
| Handoff to a person | "Press 1 to be connected." | A live transfer when the answers meet your rule, with AI-written comments for the closer on the Good Fronter tiers. |
| Building and changing it | Menu prompts recorded and configured in the IVR system. | Built in a no-code builder and tested in a simulator before it dials. |
The keypad column defines how a keypad menu works in general, not any one vendor's product.
A traditional IVR is a menu: it can only act on the keys it offers. An AI voice agent works from speech. It hears the answer, decides which branch it belongs to and replies, so one call can confirm interest, check a few criteria and handle a first objection, the job a human fronter used to do.
In VoiceOI that takes two forms. A recorded-voice bot plays your own lines and branches on what the person says, so the wording never changes. An AI agent is driven by a language model that holds the conversation inside limits you set in the builder, for freer qualifying calls.
Response time matters more in a conversation than in a menu: in VoiceOI's testing, replies took about a second per turn. Speech recognition is English-first, so plan English-language campaigns.
A conversational IVR still needs limits. These are the controls around an AI agent, with scripts built in the no-code AI voice agent builder.
A language model holds the conversation inside limits you set in the no-code builder, not a free-for-all.
Switch on a disclosure that plays at the start of the call, before your opening line.
A spoken request that matches your editable DNC phrase list ends the call and is recorded.
Voicemail greetings that match your machine phrase list end the call, logged as AM.
Try the agent in the simulator first, so you hear how it handles your offer before a lead does.
Read or replay real calls afterwards to see where the conversation worked and where it lost people.
Whatever the agent is saying, a spoken do-not-call request that matches your DNC phrase list ends the call. Recorded-voice bots are the choice when wording must never vary.
Five stages, with the side exits a call can take along the way.
The bot calls the next lead from a CSV list in the built-in dialer, or takes a call from your VICIdial campaign as a remote agent.
What the called person says is checked against your machine phrase list.
Machine: the call ends and is logged as AM. No message is left.
Your optional AI-voice disclosure plays, then the opening line.
Do-not-call request: the call ends and the request is recorded.
The bot asks your questions and follows the branch that matches each spoken answer.
Doesn't qualify: a polite close and a disposition.
Fronter and closer bots hand qualified calls to a closer over SIP. LG bots, which don't transfer, capture the answers instead; the Pro LG tiers (from $65) write them to Google Sheets.
For a fuller walkthrough of lists, use cases and features, see outbound IVR software, and for the handoff itself, AI live transfer.
Bots join your campaigns as remote agents, provisioned in bulk, and write each outcome back to VICIdial. See the VICIdial AI voice bot.
Twilio, Telnyx or your own trunk, added by pasting its sip.conf or pjsip.conf block into the Carrier Manager. See SIP trunk for AI voice agents.
Asterisk-based phone systems connect over SIP. See the Asterisk AI voice bot page.
Per-minute AI pricing ties your bill to talk time. VoiceOI charges a prepaid price per bot instead, so capacity follows the number of bots you run. Speech recognition, voices and the language model run on VoiceOI infrastructure by default, so there is no per-minute AI fee; your carrier bills the call minutes.
All tiers are on the per-bot pricing page, and AI voice agent pricing compared lists published per-minute rates from other platforms.
Comparing VoiceOI with a general-purpose AI voice platform? See VoiceOI vs Synthflow.
Since the FCC's February 2024 ruling, AI-generated voices count as "artificial" voices under the TCPA, so telemarketing calls that use them need the called person's prior express written consent. On a spoken call, the optional AI-voice disclosure plays before your opener and do-not-call phrase handling ends the call when someone asks; timezone windows and recordings with transcripts round out the controls. You stay responsible for compliance, and this is not legal advice.
See also TCPA rules for AI-voiced calls and how DNC phrases end a call.
Outbound AI IVR is an automated outbound call that holds a spoken conversation instead of playing a keypad menu. The bot calls the lead, asks questions out loud, understands the answers and decides what happens next, such as a live transfer to a closer or a logged outcome.
No. VoiceOI is outbound only. It doesn't answer inbound calls, route callers to departments or run self-service menus, so it isn't a replacement for an inbound IVR.
A traditional IVR is a menu that acts on the keys a caller presses. An AI voice agent works from speech: it hears the answer, picks the matching branch and replies, so it can ask several questions and handle scripted objections. In VoiceOI that can be a recorded-voice bot that branches on spoken answers, or an AI agent driven by a language model inside the limits you set.
No. VoiceOI bots ask questions out loud and listen for spoken answers, then follow the branch that matches what the person said.
Yes, with fronter and closer bots: when the answers meet your transfer rule, the live call goes over SIP to the closer your routing rules pick, and the bot's part of the call ends. LG (generative AI) tiers don't include live transfers.
In VoiceOI testing, replies took about a second per turn. Try your own script in the simulator to hear how it flows before you launch.
Conversations are English-first: speech recognition is built for English. If your campaigns need other languages, VoiceOI isn't the right fit today.
Per bot, prepaid: list prices run from $25 to $155 per bot per month, and capacity follows the number of bots you run. There is no per-minute AI fee; your carrier bills the call minutes, and volume discounts go up to 60%.
Build an outbound script, hear it in the simulator and point the transfers at your closers.