from Hacker News

Ask HN: Improving Voicemail

by obaid on 3/20/22, 3:14 AM with 3 comments

I have been calling a lot of dental offices lately to schedule an appointment for my daughter and realized that most of them just leave me hanging with a "leave a message and pray that we get back to you" mode.

I wonder if there are any meaningful ways to improve this experience? I guess having a "bot" answer my questions would be one way but beyond that could it provide some smart knowledge from just transcribing my voicemail and understanding the request and updating the CRM or something.

PS: Just a Saturday evening thought.

  • by masterchief1s1k on 3/20/22, 3:32 AM

    Usually some kind of web/mobile app or online form fit the scenario better, since using "bot" or speech-to-text to extract customer's inquiry might be excessive for brick-and-mortar businesses.

    However, some customer engagement platforms like Twilio have a feature that fit what you described, I think it's called Programmable voice.

  • by Jxl180 on 3/20/22, 8:18 PM

    Online booking for starters. If I had to schedule a haircut over the phone, I’d find a new stylist.