AI call routing for a multi-department retailer
A conversational front door that answers inbound calls, resolves simple questions and transfers the rest to the right department.
The problem
A retail business with several departments wanted incoming calls to reach the right team on the first attempt, without a human receptionist screening each one.
How the system works
Conversational triage
An ElevenLabs voice agent answers and asks callers what they need in natural conversation, in place of a fixed phone-tree menu.
Department routing
From what the caller says, the agent makes a blind transfer to the right department line. This implementation covers seven departments.
Knowledge layer
An embedded prompt database gives the agent company-specific details such as opening hours, policies and common answers, so simple questions can be settled without a transfer.
Result in production
Callers reach the correct department without working through menus, and straightforward questions are answered on the spot.
Who this pattern fits
We built it for a retailer, and it suits any organisation with comparable call volumes or coordination needs across several teams. The stack is stable, can be self-hosted where necessary, and can be run by a small team.
Tools used
ElevenLabs
Speech synthesis for the voice agent, chosen for production-grade latency and voice quality.
Twilio
Telephony carrier for inbound and outbound calls, SMS and call recording.
Blind transfer
Hands the call to the chosen department line as part of the routing stack.
Embedded prompt database
Holds company information the agent uses to answer simple queries.
Related
Frequently asked questions
How is this better than a standard IVR menu?
Callers say what they need in their own words rather than working through a menu. That tends to route them faster and avoids the abandonment that makes traditional IVR data hard to trust.