Twilio (phone)
Connect a Twilio number so your agent answers inbound phone calls.
Overview
Connect a Twilio phone number and your agent answers inbound calls. It greets callers with the message you choose, understands what they say, and answers from the same data sources, instructions and procedures as your chat agent.
What you can do
Have your agent pick up the phone with the same knowledge and instructions as your chat agent.
Good to know
Already have a number with another carrier or your own phone system? See SIP trunk and existing numbers.
Before you start
- A Twilio account with at least one voice-capable phone number.
- Your Twilio Account SID and Auth Token, from the Twilio Console home page.
- A Zetra account with an agent. If you haven't built one yet, create a free account and follow the Quick start.
- A Standard plan or above. See pricing.
How to connect Twilio
Open the Phone channel
Open your agent, click Channels and then Setup on the Phone card. (The same settings are under Playground → Voice.)
Enter your Twilio details
Paste your Account SID (starts with
AC, then 32 characters) and Auth Token, and enter your Twilio number in international format, for example+14155551234. Turn on Enabled and click Save. The Auth Token is stored encrypted and never shown again.Point your Twilio number at Zetra
Copy the Webhook URL shown on the Phone page. In Twilio, open Phone Numbers → Manage → Active numbers, click your number, and under Voice configuration → A call comes in choose Webhook, paste the URL and pick HTTP POST. Save.
Set the voice and greeting
Under Settings → Voice, set the agent's Initial message (what callers hear first), its Language, the Error message, and call limits such as Max call duration and Allowed no. of daily calls.
Check it works
Call your Twilio number. The agent answers with your initial message and replies to your questions. The call appears in Analytics → Conversations.
How calls work
- Calls to the number go to this agent.
- The agent greets the caller with its initial message, then listens and answers turn by turn.
- Answers follow the agent's instructions, data sources and procedures, just like a chat.
- Each call is saved as a conversation in Analytics → Conversations, marked as a phone call.
- Calls stop at the maximum duration you set, and the daily and concurrent call limits protect your credits.
Try it without a phone
In Playground → Voice, Talk to this agent lets you speak with your agent through your computer's microphone.
Managing the number
To stop the agent taking calls, turn off Enabled on the Phone page; your setup is kept. Also change the number's A call comes in setting in Twilio (for example to forward to a person), otherwise Twilio plays its own error message to callers. To move the number to another agent, set its webhook in Twilio to the other agent's URL.
Limitations
- One number per agent on the Phone page. For more numbers, point each one at the same webhook URL in Twilio.
- Standard plan or above. On other plans callers hear a message saying the line isn't available.
- Transferring a live call to a person isn't available yet.
- Twilio bills call minutes to your Twilio account.
Troubleshooting
Callers hear “an application error has occurred”
Possible cause: the webhook URL is missing or wrong on the number, or it's set to HTTP GET.
Twilio reports 403 Invalid signature
Possible cause: the Auth Token saved in Zetra belongs to a different Twilio account (or was rotated).