Getting Started

Signing In to Your Dashboard

Your Octa Voice AI dashboard — the Tenant Portal — is where you manage everything about your AI receptionist. Think of it as mission control for your phones.

To sign in:

  1. Open your web browser and go to app.octavoice.ai
  2. Enter the username and password you received when your account was created.
  3. Click Sign In.
Tip: If you're having trouble signing in, double-check that your username is entered exactly as it was given to you. If you still can't get in, reach out to your administrator to reset your credentials.

Once you're signed in, we recommend changing your password to something personal and secure. You'll find the option under Account in the left sidebar.

First-Time Setup Checklist

Getting your AI receptionist up and running takes just a few minutes:

  • Add your business details — Name, hours, address, and transfer number
  • Set up your Knowledge Base — Add at least 10-15 frequently asked questions
  • Add your services — List what you offer, with pricing and duration
  • Choose your conversation mode — Pick Smart AI for natural conversations or Flow Script for structured scripts
  • Make a test call — Call your AI phone number and experience it as a customer would

Don't worry about getting everything perfect right away. You can update any of these at any time.

Understanding Your Dashboard

When you sign in, you'll land on the Overview page — a snapshot of how your AI receptionist is performing.

Here's what you'll see:

  • Calls Today — The number of calls your AI has handled so far today, updated in real time.
  • Bookings Today — How many appointments have been booked today.
  • Calls This Week — Your total call volume over the past seven days.
  • Total Appointments — All-time count of appointments booked through Octa Voice AI.
  • Call Volume Chart — When calls come in throughout the day, hour by hour.
  • Call Outcomes — How calls ended: booked, transferred, or answered.
  • Recent Calls — Your most recent calls with time, caller number, duration, and outcome.

Setting Up Your Business Profile

Your business profile is the foundation of your AI receptionist. This is what your AI draws on when speaking with callers.

Business Name

Your business name exactly as you'd like callers to hear it. Your AI uses this name when greeting callers:

  • "Thank you for calling Riverside Dental!"
  • "Welcome to Tony's Barbershop!"

Choose the version that sounds most natural when spoken aloud.

Business Hours

Enter your hours in a simple, readable format. Your AI shares these with callers who ask.

Tip: If your hours change seasonally or on holidays, remember to update them here.

Transfer Number

The phone number your AI forwards calls to when a caller asks to speak with a real person. This could be:

  • Your personal cell phone
  • Your front desk line
  • An office manager's direct line
  • Any number where a team member can pick up
Tip: Make sure the transfer number is one that someone will actually answer. Consider using a number that rings to multiple people.

Language & Voice

You can pick the language your AI speaks and the voice it uses on every call. Both settings live on the AI Settings page in your portal, in the "AI Voice & Language" card at the bottom.

Choosing a language

Octa Voice supports 6 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Portuguese. Pick one from the Language dropdown — the change takes effect on the next call.

Choosing a voice

You can pick from 12 voices ranging from warm and friendly to professional and authoritative. Each voice is hand-selected to sound natural over a phone line:

  • Female: Matilda, Rachel, Sarah, Domi, Dorothy (British), Elli
  • Male: Adam, Antoni, Josh, Arnold, Sam, Daniel (British)

To try one out:

  1. Open AI Settings and scroll to AI Voice & Language.
  2. Pick a voice from the dropdown.
  3. Click ▶ Preview to hear a sample of that voice saying a short receptionist greeting.
  4. If you like it, click Save Voice. New calls will use it from that point forward.
Tip: Different voices land differently with different audiences. A warm female voice like Matilda or Sarah works well for service businesses; a deeper male voice like Adam or Josh suits legal or medical clinics. Try a few previews to find the one that matches your brand.

Teaching Your AI — Knowledge Base

Why Your Knowledge Base Matters

Your Knowledge Base is the single most important part of your setup. Think of it as your AI's brain — everything it knows about your business lives here.

When a caller asks a question, your AI searches the Knowledge Base for the answer. The more complete your Knowledge Base, the smarter your AI sounds.

Adding FAQs

FAQs are the heart of your Knowledge Base. To add them:

  1. Click Knowledge Base in the left sidebar.
  2. Click + Add FAQ.
  3. Type the question and answer.
  4. Repeat for as many questions as you'd like.
  5. Click Save Knowledge Base.

Example FAQs for a barbershop:

QuestionAnswer
What are your hours?We're open Monday through Saturday, 9am to 6pm. Closed on Sundays.
Do you accept walk-ins?We do accept walk-ins, but appointments are recommended, especially on weekends.
How much is a haircut?Men's haircuts start at $25. We also offer fades, beard trims, and hot towel shaves.

Example FAQs for a dental office:

QuestionAnswer
Are you accepting new patients?Yes, we are! We'd love to welcome you to our practice.
Do you accept my insurance?We accept most major dental insurance plans, including Delta Dental, Cigna, and Aetna.
Do you offer emergency care?Yes. If you're experiencing a dental emergency, we'll do our best to see you the same day.

Adding Services & Pricing

List your services so the AI can answer "What do you offer?" and "How much does that cost?"

  1. Click Services in the left sidebar.
  2. Click + Add Service.
  3. Fill in the Service Name, Price, and Duration.
  4. Click Save Services.

Writing Tips for Great Answers

Your AI is having a phone conversation, not writing a letter. Answers should sound natural when spoken aloud:

  • Keep it short. One to three sentences is ideal.
  • Be conversational. Write the way you'd talk to someone on the phone.
  • Answer directly. Start with the answer, then add details.
  • Think like a caller. Use the words real people use.
  • Read it out loud. If it sounds stiff, rewrite it.

Best Practices

  • Start with 10-15 FAQs based on your last 20 phone calls.
  • Check "Top Questions" regularly and fill gaps.
  • Update as your business changes — new services, pricing, hours.
  • Add variations of common questions ("What time do you close?" and "How late are you open?").
  • Include friendly redirects for things you don't offer.

Auto-Generate from Your Website

Don't want to write your AI prompt manually? Let us do it for you:

  1. Go to the AI Settings page.
  2. Find "Auto-Generate from Website" at the top.
  3. Enter your business website URL (e.g. https://mybusiness.com).
  4. Click Generate — the system scrapes your site and uses AI to create a complete system prompt and knowledge base.
  5. Review the preview, then click Apply Both to use both the prompt and knowledge base.
  6. Click Save Prompt to finalize.

The whole process takes about 20-30 seconds. You can always edit the generated content afterward.

Conversation Flows

What Are Flows?

A conversation flow is a step-by-step script that your AI follows during a call. Think of it like a decision tree — the AI greets the caller, asks specific questions in order, and guides the conversation toward a goal like booking an appointment.

Choosing a Template

Octa Voice includes ready-made templates:

  • Barbershop / Salon Receptionist — Collects booking details and confirms appointments.
  • Restaurant Receptionist — Handles table reservations and common questions.
  • Medical / Dental Office — Screens for emergencies first, then books appointments.
  • Real Estate Lead Qualifier — Qualifies leads and books consultations.
  • Start from Scratch — A blank canvas.

How Flows Work

Every flow follows a natural arc:

  1. Greeting — "Thank you for calling Riverside Dental! How can I help you today?"
  2. Questions — "What service are you looking to book?" / "Do you have a preferred date?"
  3. Action — Book an appointment, transfer the call, or provide information.
  4. Closing — "You're all set! We'll see you Thursday at 2pm."

Prompt Mode vs Flow Mode

Flow Mode is structured and predictable. Best for appointment-heavy businesses, situations where consistency matters, and new users.

Prompt Mode (Smart AI) is flexible and conversational. Best for businesses with varied call types, unpredictable questions, and a well-built Knowledge Base.

Tip: Many businesses start with Flow Mode, then switch to Smart AI once their Knowledge Base is comprehensive enough.

You can switch between modes anytime in AI Settings.

Managing Appointments

Automatic Booking

When a caller wants to schedule, your AI handles the entire process:

  1. Recognizes the intent — "I'd like to book an appointment"
  2. Collects the details — Service, date, time, name, phone, email
  3. Confirms the booking — Reads everything back for confirmation
  4. Saves the appointment — Appears in your dashboard immediately

Viewing Appointments

Click Appointments in the sidebar to see a calendar view with all bookings, including caller name, service, date, time, phone, and email.

Cancellations & Rescheduling

Your AI handles both over the phone. It looks up the appointment by name or phone number, confirms the action, then processes it. The caller always confirms before any changes are made.

Custom Fields

Beyond standard fields (name, phone, email, date, service), you can add custom fields like:

  • "Insurance Provider" (dental office)
  • "Vehicle Make and Model" (auto repair)
  • "Type of Legal Matter" (law firm)
  • "Stylist Preference" (salon)

Connecting Your Tools

Google Calendar

Every appointment booked through your AI automatically appears on your Google Calendar. No manual entry, no double-booking.

  1. Go to Settings and find Google Calendar.
  2. Click Connect Google Calendar.
  3. Sign in with Google and grant permission.

Every new booking creates a calendar event with all the details.

SMS Notifications

Customers automatically receive text message confirmations after booking — including your business name, service, date, and time. Reduces no-shows and builds trust.

Webhooks

Send appointment and call data automatically to your existing business tools — CRM, scheduling platform, or marketing tool — in real time. Ask your administrator to set this up.

Understanding Your Calls

Call History

Click Call History to see every call with date, caller number, duration, and outcome (Booked, Transferred, or Ended). Use filter tabs to narrow your view.

Call Analytics

Your analytics dashboard includes:

  • Conversion Funnel — Calls to bookings, with conversion rate.
  • Busiest Hours — When your phone rings the most.
  • Daily Trends — Call volume day by day and week by week.
  • Channel Breakdown — Performance across voice, chat, SMS, and WhatsApp.
  • Top Questions — What callers ask about most.
  • Week-over-Week — How this week compares to last.
Tip: If you see a frequently asked question that your AI doesn't answer well, add it to your Knowledge Base.

Live Agent Chat

When a customer on your chat widget asks to speak to a human, they're placed in a queue for your live agents.

Setting Up Agents

  1. Go to the Live Chat page in the portal.
  2. Click + Add Agent to create agent accounts.
  3. Fill in name, username, password, and max concurrent chats.
  4. Share the Agent Login Link with your team: https://app.octavoice.ai/agent/

How Agents Work

  1. Agents log in at the agent dashboard using their own credentials.
  2. When a customer requests a live agent, all online agents see the notification.
  3. Any available agent clicks Accept to start chatting.
  4. The agent sees the full AI conversation history for context.
  5. Messages are relayed in real-time between customer and agent.
  6. Agent clicks End when done.

Agent Statuses

  • Available — Ready to accept new customers.
  • Busy — At maximum concurrent chats (auto-set).
  • Away — Manually set by agent, won't receive new assignments.

If no agent is available within 2 minutes, the customer is shown a phone number to call instead.

Your Plan & Usage

Octa Voice AI offers three plans:

PlanBest For
StarterSmall businesses and solo operators just getting started
ProGrowing businesses with higher call volume
EnterpriseHigh-volume operations with compliance needs

Your plan tracks call minutes and number of calls. Your portal shows usage at a glance — how many minutes and calls you've used, and how close you are to limits.

Tips & Best Practices

  • Start simple, then expand. Begin with basics — business details, 10-15 FAQs, core services.
  • Review "Top Questions" weekly. The fastest way to improve your AI's performance.
  • Keep responses short. Aim for 1-3 sentences per answer.
  • Test by calling your own number. The #1 quality assurance tool you have.
  • Keep information up to date. Outdated information erodes trust.
  • Pay attention to calls that don't convert. Each one is a clue to improve.

Your First Week

DayAction
Day 1Sign in, set up business profile, add first 10 FAQs, make a test call
Day 2List your services with pricing and duration, test pricing questions
Day 3Add trickier FAQs: policies, parking, insurance, payment methods
Day 4Set up your conversation flow, test the full booking process
Day 5Connect Google Calendar, enable SMS confirmations
WeekendGo live! Check your dashboard on Monday

Need Help?

Contact your account administrator for voice selection, advanced flow configuration, integration setup, plan changes, and access issues.

Or reach our support team at support@octavoice.ai.

Common Questions

  • Can I change my AI's greeting? Yes — edit the first step in your flow or update your AI's instructions in AI Settings.
  • Can my AI handle multiple calls at once? Absolutely. Your plan includes simultaneous call capacity.
  • What if my AI gives a wrong answer? Check your Knowledge Base and update the FAQ with the correct information.
  • How do I add a new phone number? Phone numbers are managed by your administrator.