Glossary: AI Receptionist, Texting and Phone Terms

AI receptionist: Software that answers a business phone with a natural voice, understands what the caller needs, and completes tasks such as booking an appointment, taking a message or answering common questions, handing the call to a person when needed. Learn more
Answering service: A service that answers calls on behalf of a business, traditionally staffed by live operators who take messages and follow a script. Newer services use AI to answer and complete tasks directly. Learn more
Virtual receptionist: A remote receptionist, human or AI, who answers calls for a business without being on site. Live virtual receptionist services bill per minute or per call. Learn more
Missed-call text back: An automatic text message sent to a caller the moment a business misses their call, so the conversation continues by text instead of the caller dialing a competitor. Learn more
Two-way business texting: Sending and receiving text messages with customers from a business phone number, with conversations shared by the whole team in one inbox. Learn more
10DLC: Ten-digit long code: a standard local phone number registered with US mobile carriers for business texting. Businesses register a brand and a messaging campaign so legitimate traffic is not filtered as spam. Learn more
A2P messaging: Application-to-person messaging: texts sent by a business system to a person, as opposed to texts between two people. US carriers require A2P traffic to be registered. Learn more
The Campaign Registry: The organization US carriers use to register the brands and campaigns behind 10DLC business text messaging. Learn more
TCPA: The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the US federal law that governs telemarketing calls, automated calls and texts, consent and opt-out rights. It applies alongside state laws. Learn more
HIPAA: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the US law that sets privacy and security rules for protected health information held by healthcare providers and their business associates. Learn more
Business Associate Agreement (BAA): A contract required by HIPAA between a healthcare provider and a vendor that handles protected health information on its behalf, setting out how that information is safeguarded. Learn more
Minimum necessary standard: The HIPAA principle that uses and disclosures of protected health information should be limited to the minimum needed for the purpose, which shapes what belongs in a text message or voicemail. Learn more
Text to pay: Collecting a payment by texting the customer a secure link to a hosted payment page, so the business never handles the card number. Learn more
Speed to lead: How quickly a business responds to a new inquiry. In local services the first company to respond usually wins the job. Learn more
CRM integration: A connection that sends records from one business system to a customer relationship management (CRM) app, such as HubSpot or Salesforce, so contacts, calls, appointments and leads are logged automatically. Talos Connect sends them one way to the CRMs, chat and automation apps on its list. Learn more
No-show rate: The share of booked appointments where the customer does not arrive and does not cancel. Reminders, confirmations and waitlist backfill reduce it. Learn more
Recall: A reminder sent to a customer who is due to come back, such as a six-month dental cleaning or a seasonal HVAC tune-up. Learn more
Quick Fill: Offering a newly opened appointment slot to customers on a waitlist by text so a cancellation does not become lost revenue. Learn more
Review gating: Asking customers how they feel first and sending only the happy ones to a public review site. It violates Google policy, and Talos Connect does not do it. Learn more
Call intelligence: AI analysis of recorded business calls that produces a transcript, a summary, the caller's sentiment, the reason for the call and any follow-up needed. Learn more
Screen pop: Customer details shown on screen while the phone is still ringing: name, next appointment, balance and notes. Learn more
VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol: business phone service delivered over the internet instead of copper lines, with extensions, voicemail, routing and mobile apps. Learn more
Auto attendant: A phone menu that greets callers and routes them by keypress or by schedule, such as press 1 for scheduling. Learn more
Call queue: A feature that holds callers in line with music and announcements until a team member is free. Learn more
Number porting: Moving an existing phone number from one carrier to another so a business keeps its number when it changes phone service. Learn more
Call-tracking number: A dedicated phone number used for one advertising source so a business can see which marketing makes the phone ring. Learn more
Conversational AI: Technology that lets software hold a natural spoken or written conversation, combining speech recognition, a language model and speech synthesis. Learn more

The front-desk glossary, in plain English.

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