> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.brilo.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Voicemail

> How voicemail works with Brilo: your agent answers instead of sending callers to voicemail, and detects voicemail on outbound calls.

**Brilo does not give your agent a voicemail box.** Inbound, that is the point: your agent answers and takes a
message in conversation, which gets you a name, a number, and what the caller wanted rather than a recording
somebody has to listen to. Outbound, your agent recognises when it has reached somebody else's voicemail and
can leave a message.

## Inbound: a message instead of a voicemail

When somebody rings your number, your agent picks up. If it cannot help, it takes the details you told it to
collect and the whole call is written up: a transcript, a summary, and the details your agent pulled out.

That is better than a voicemail box in three ways. The caller gets a conversation rather than a beep. You get
structured details rather than a recording. And nothing sits unheard, because the message is on the call
record the moment the call ends.

What to write in your instructions:

```
When you cannot help, take a message. Collect their name, their phone number, what they need,
and how urgent it is. Read the phone number back to confirm it. Tell them when somebody will
be in touch.
```

See [Write what your agent says](/agents/write-what-your-agent-says).

## Getting messages to your team

The message is on the call record, but nobody wants to check a dashboard. Send it where your team already
works:

* **Text or email it to yourself** as the call ends. See
  [Send a text or email](/actions/send-a-text-or-email).
* **Write it into your CRM** as a note or a task. See [Update your CRM](/actions/update-your-crm).
* **Have it emailed as part of a scheduled report** if a daily digest is enough.

## Outbound: when your agent reaches a voicemail

On a campaign or a callback, your agent works out that it has reached a voicemail rather than a person. What
happens next is a setting rather than a matter of instructions. Open your agent, go to **Configure**, and find
**Voicemail Behavior** in the **Call Settings** block.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Turn on Voicemail Behavior">
    Switch it on. Two choices appear.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose Hang up or Leave a message">
    **Hang up** ends the call the moment a voicemail is detected. Use it for reminders that only work as a
    conversation, and for anything where a recorded message would confuse people.

    **Leave a message** speaks a message you write, then ends the call. Use it for confirmations and
    reminders that still do their job as a one way message.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write the message, if you chose to leave one">
    The message box is required once you pick **Leave a message**, and the block will not save without it. Keep
    it to two sentences: who is calling, why, and what to do next.

    You can drop contact details into the text as variables, written in double curly braces, so each person
    hears their own name or appointment time rather than a generic line.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save and test it">
    Save, then run a test call to a phone you can let ring through to voicemail, and listen to what lands.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Two things follow from either choice. A call answered by voicemail **uses call minutes**, because the line
answered. And a voicemail is not a failed call, so it will not be retried unless your sequence includes a
later step. See [What counts towards my usage](/account/what-counts-towards-my-usage) and
[Outbound follow up](/recipes/outbound-follow-up).

### What to put in a voicemail message

* **Your business name first.** Nobody returns a call from a message that never says who rang.
* **The reason, in one clause.** "About your appointment on Thursday."
* **One instruction.** A number to call back, or a link you have texted them. Not both.
* **No questions.** There is nobody there to answer them.

Leave out anything time sensitive that will have passed by the time the message is heard, because people
listen to voicemail hours later.

### Getting past mobile call screening

A screened mobile is not the same as a voicemail. Newer iPhones and Android handsets ask who is calling before
they ring at all, and that is a separate setting on the same tab. See
[Get past call screening on mobiles](/calls/mobile-call-screening).

## If your callers still reach your old voicemail

That means the call is not getting to Brilo at all. Your phone provider is answering it first, usually because
forwarding is set to go to voicemail after a number of rings, or was never changed. See
[Use your existing number](/phone-numbers/use-your-existing-number).

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How do I stop my Brilo agent leaving voicemails?">
    Open your agent, go to **Configure**, and find **Voicemail Behavior** in **Call Settings**. Set it to
    **Hang up** and your agent ends the call as soon as it detects a voicemail instead of speaking to it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can my agent leave a voicemail message on outbound calls?">
    Yes. Turn on **Voicemail Behavior**, choose **Leave a message**, and write the message. The message field
    is required, so the setting will not save until you fill it in.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can my agent take a voicemail?">
    There is no voicemail box, and there does not need to be. Your agent answers the call and takes a message
    in conversation, which produces a name, a number, and the reason for the call instead of a recording
    somebody has to sit through.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where do messages go?">
    Onto the call record, with the transcript and summary, straight after the call. Have them texted or emailed
    to you, or written into your CRM, so nobody has to open the dashboard to find them.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I get a written version of the message?">
    Yes. Every call has a transcript and a summary, and the details your agent collected are pulled out
    separately, so a message is text you can read rather than audio you have to play.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can my agent leave a voicemail when it calls somebody?">
    Yes. On outbound calls it recognises a voicemail and can leave a short message, or hang up without one,
    depending on what your instructions say. Decide which before running a campaign.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does a call that reaches voicemail cost me minutes?">
    Yes, because the line answered. This is worth knowing before a large campaign, since a good share of
    outbound calls reach voicemail. See
    [What counts towards my usage](/account/what-counts-towards-my-usage).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Why do my callers still reach my old voicemail?">
    Because the call never reaches Brilo. Your provider is answering first, usually forwarding to voicemail
    after a set number of rings. Change the forwarding at your provider, not in Brilo.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I turn recording off but still get messages?">
    The message and the transcript come from the conversation rather than from the recording, so you keep the
    useful part. See [Recordings, transcripts and retention](/compliance/recordings-and-retention).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Related

* [Write what your agent says](/agents/write-what-your-agent-says) for what to collect in a message
* [Send a text or email](/actions/send-a-text-or-email) to get messages to your team
* [Use your existing number](/phone-numbers/use-your-existing-number) if callers reach an old voicemail
* [Outbound follow up](/recipes/outbound-follow-up) for what to do when a campaign hits voicemail
* [Find and listen to a call](/reports/find-and-listen-to-a-call) to read a message back