Collect data over the phone with a voice agent that reads it back

Collecting data over the phone means your voice agent asks the caller for what you need to get something done, such as a policy number, what happened or a contact number, and records it in your software.

The tricky part is that a misheard detail does not sound wrong. The call can go perfectly and the claim still end up with one digit off, and nobody notices until someone dials a number that does not exist. That is why a person on the phone repeats the details before hanging up.

Lera’s read-back does the same. At an insurance brokerage, a customer calls to report a car accident. The agent asks for the details one at a time, reads back the policy number, when it happened and the phone number, and only when the customer says yes does the claim reach your software and the agent give them its reference.

Once it has the details, the agent says something like this. “Let me read your details back to make sure they are right. The policy, 482017. When it happened, yesterday afternoon.” Then it reads the phone number digit by digit and finishes with “Is that all correct?”.

If the customer replies “no, it ends in 19”, the agent does not read everything again. It only re-reads what changed. “Correcting that, the policy, 482019. Is that right now?”

Lera builds that sentence from the saved data, word for word, rather than leaving it to the model that holds the conversation. So no digit gets swapped while it is read out, and you do not need to explain the read-back in the instructions.

Until the customer confirms, the step that logs the claim stays closed. A passing “yes” before the read-back, as in “yes, sure, here’s my number”, does not count. Only the yes that answers the read-back does.

In Agents, click Create agent, choose Voice agent and the Conversation flow type, and pick the claims template in the Insurance category.

It asks one at a time for the policy number, the type of insurance (home, car, health or other), what happened, when, the caller’s name and a phone number. Then it reads back the policy, the date and the phone number, and logs the claim.

It also covers what happens around the claim. If anyone is hurt or in danger, the first thing the agent says is to call 112, the emergency number. If callers ask about a claim they already made or want to change their policy, it takes a message for your team. And it never assesses cover or talks about amounts, because that is the claims handler’s call.

All that is left is telling it where to send the claim. In the agent’s page, under Tools, open the registrar_parte function and enter your software’s address. A function is the message the agent sends your software mid-call, with the details, and right under the address the panel shows you what it will receive.

A conversation flow is an agent that takes the call through stages, like a form filled in by talking. The read-back lives in one of those stages.

First, a stage with an Extract data node that asks for the details. If one is a phone number, tick “is a phone number”, and if it has a fixed length, like a national ID, enter how many digits it has. That way Lera checks the detail is complete before moving on.

Next, in the stage that reads back, go to Data & read-back and open “Read the data back and wait for confirmation”. Click “Add field” for each one, with its variable, how it is named when spoken (“the policy”) and how it is read, normal, digit by digit or letter by letter.

Underneath is the “Variable that opens the exit”, called datos_confirmados by default. If the panel warns that it is missing, click “Create it”. Without it the agent would read the details back but could never move on.

Finally, point the exit to a Function node, which does the job as soon as the call enters it, with the exact rule {{datos_confirmados}} == "si". If you would rather not touch the canvas, ask Maite, the panel’s copilot.

Only read back the details that lose you the job if they are wrong, such as the policy and the phone number. Every extra field makes the call longer. Digit by digit suits a phone number or an ID, so the voice does not read it as an amount, and letter by letter suits a code or a number plate.

Lera does not keep a detail that nobody said on the call. If the agent makes one up, it is discarded and the agent asks again.

If your software does not answer or returns an error, the agent never says the claim is logged, and in the template it takes a message so your team can call back. The call history shows which details arrived and what your software replied.

Try it first with Test, on the agent’s page. During a test the function returns a sample response and does not touch your software.

During the free trial you can use everything. If you then choose a plan, functions that call your software come with the Professional plan and above.

What if the customer does not confirm? The conversation stays on the read-back until they confirm or correct something. If they say a detail is wrong without giving the right one, the agent asks for it. If they say goodbye, the call ends with nothing logged.

Does it work for an ID number? Yes. You set how many digits the field has and Lera checks it is complete before moving on. A final letter does not count as a digit, and you can set the read-back to say it digit by digit.

Does it work with a single prompt? There you have “Repeat back to confirm” under Behaviour, which asks the agent to repeat key numbers, but nothing checks that it does. The read-back that Lera speaks, that only re-reads corrections and waits for a yes, belongs to conversation flows.

Is it only for insurance? No. It works for a sign-up, a booking, a new account or a breakdown report. What changes is which details you ask for and which you read back.

How much does it cost to try? €20 free credit, no card needed. You can create the agent from the template, test it in the panel and call it before you decide anything.