Agent behaviour

The agent talks too long, makes things up, interrupts, speaks the wrong language or hangs up too early. Causes and solutions.

Three things determine how your agent talks: the prompt, the Call Settings in the Personality tab and the tools that are switched on. Almost every behaviour problem can be fixed in one of these places.

The agent talks too long

Possible causeSolution
The prompt doesn't ask for brevityAdd a clear rule: "Answer in two sentences at most and only ask one question at a time."
The prompt contains long lists that the agent reads outPut only the key points in the prompt and details in the knowledge base
Creativity is set far to the rightMove the slider towards Precise

How to test it: In the audio test, ask an open question such as "What do you offer?". The answer should finish in two or three sentences and end with a follow-up question.

The agent makes up information

Possible causeSolution
The information isn't anywhereAdd it to the prompt or the knowledge base
The prompt allows guessingAdd: "If you don't know something, say so openly and offer a callback."
Spots from a template haven't been filled inFill in all the spots in square brackets. The dashboard counts them under Unfilled spots in the prompt
Creativity too highSlider towards Precise

How to test it: Ask specifically about something that isn't in the prompt, such as a price for a service you don't offer. The agent should say that it doesn't know.

The agent interrupts the caller

Possible causeSolution
Response time is set to FastMove it towards Patient. The agent then waits longer before answering
Callers dictate numbers or addresses with pausesAdd to the prompt: "Let the caller finish numbers and addresses completely."
Strong background noise on the caller's sideThe agent mistakes noise for speech. In the prompt, ask for a short confirmation before it continues

The agent answers too slowly

Possible causeSolution
Response time is set to PatientMove it towards Fast
A tool is waiting for a slow systemCheck in Main Logs which tool ran. Add a Waiting text so the caller knows something is happening, and shorten the timeout
The Incoming Webhook responds lateThe greeting waits for your webhook. See Webhooks
The prompt is very longCut it down to the essentials. Rare details belong in the knowledge base

The agent speaks the wrong language

Possible causeSolution
A different language is set on the agentCheck the agent's language or choose Multi-Language
The agent is multilingual and the caller started in another languageIntended: in Multi-Language mode the agent follows the caller
The prompt is written in a different language from the agent languageWrite the prompt in the agent's language

The agent hangs up too early or too late

Possible causeSolution
The Silence timeout is shortIncrease it, for example to 30 seconds or more if callers look things up
The Max. call duration has been reachedIncrease it, up to 30 minutes
The prompt doesn't say when the call is overAdd: "When everything is settled, summarise briefly, say goodbye and end the call."

The agent mishears names or numbers

Possible causeSolution
Unusual names or spellingsAdd: "Ask callers to spell names and repeat them to confirm."
Poor connection, for example in the carHave the agent repeat and confirm important details
Technical terms from your industryWrite them into the prompt. The agent recognises words better when it knows them

What the agent understood is shown in the call's Transcript. If it differs from what was said, the cause is speech recognition, not the prompt.

The agent doesn't know your business

Possible causeSolution
The prompt is too short or consists almost entirely of placeholdersBelow 50 characters after removing placeholders, the agent ignores the prompt. The dashboard warns with Prompt arrives almost empty
The prompt wasn't savedSave and start a new test. A call in progress doesn't pick up changes
The number belongs to a different agentCheck the Agent column under Phone Number

Further help

If none of this helps, send us the time, number and a short description, see Report a problem.