Test your voice agent before publishing it, so it answers the way you want from the very first call

A voice agent is the program that answers your calls, understands what people say and replies out loud. Before it talks to a real customer, you want to hear it. Testing it is exactly that, talking to it the way a caller would and checking that it answers the way you want.

Whether the Lera team built it for you or you're fine-tuning it with Maite, the panel's assistant, you have the final say. You know your business, and you know when an answer sounds right or falls short.

Picture a hair salon. Before forwarding the phone to the agent, the owner asks it for a cut and colour on Saturday, asks how much the colour costs and says she's running late. If something doesn't feel right, she changes it and tests again, and no customer ever notices.

Every agent has two sides. The draft is what you're changing right now. The published version is the one answering your calls and your website.

When you change something, like the greeting, the instructions or the voice, the change goes into the draft. Your customers keep talking to the published version, so you can adjust and test calmly.

A test always uses the draft, with your latest changes. If you have unsaved changes, they're saved to the draft before the test starts.

When you're happy with it, press Publish. A new version is created, with its own number, and from that moment it answers your calls.

If something doesn't convince you later, open the versions button, the one showing v1, v2 or Unpublished, pick an earlier version and press Restore. It goes back into the draft, you review it and press Publish so it answers again.

An agent that has never been published can't be set to answer a number or your website. Publish it first.

Inside the agent, press Test. The Test panel opens with three tabs.

Audio. You talk to it through your computer's microphone and it answers with its voice, like a call but in the browser. It's the closest to what a caller will hear, with its voice, its pace, how long it takes to answer and what it does when you interrupt it mid-sentence.

Text. You type and it answers in writing, with the same instructions but no voice. It's handy for running through lots of questions in a row, like prices, opening hours or odd cases. If you're not on a plan, the Manual chat card tells you what each message costs before you open it.

Outbound test. The agent calls the phone number you enter, a real call, so you hear it the way your customers will. Only an Administrator can launch it, it needs a number with outbound calls switched on and this agent set as its outbound agent in Phone numbers, and for now it only calls Spanish numbers, between 9 am and 8 pm.

If your agent works in steps, with a flow, you can see in the flow diagram which step the conversation is on while you test. Reset test starts over from scratch.

If your agent books appointments in Cal.com, your calendar isn't touched during a test. It answers with test slots, such as ten, half past eleven or five, and the appointment it says it booked isn't created.

If your agent looks up or saves data in your software, through a function that calls your system's address, that request doesn't go out during a test. The function answers with its Test response, the one you write in the function itself, and if it has none, with a placeholder saying your system wasn't called. It works the same in all three ways of testing, the Outbound test included.

That way you rehearse the whole conversation without creating fake appointments or cluttering your data.

If your agent uses variables, the gaps like {{customer_name}} that your system fills in, you give them a value in Test variables and the agent uses it as if it came from your system.

The audio test can't hand the call over to a person, because it runs in the browser and there's no phone line to pass on. You check that with a real call to your number.

Testing is charged, at the same rates as real use. There's no separate free environment.

The text test is charged like a chat agent message with your agent's model. Without a plan, the price shows on the Manual chat card before you open it.

The audio test is charged like a call with that agent, by the second.

The Outbound test is a real call and is charged like an outbound call. If nobody picks up, it uses no balance.

While your free trial lasts, it comes out of that. If you're on a plan, the audio test uses your included minutes and the text test your included messages, just like real use. Once they run out, or if your plan has no messages, it comes out of your balance.

Administrators and Editors test, since they're the ones who build the agent. A Viewer can see the agent but can't test it, precisely because every test is charged.

The Outbound test is a phone call, so only an Administrator can launch it.

If testing isn't possible at some point, for example because there's no balance left, the panel tells you why.

Audio and text tests don't show up in Call history or Analytics, so they don't get mixed up with your customers' conversations. The Outbound test does show up, because it's a real call.

While it lasts, an audio test takes up one of your account's simultaneous calls.

Test the way your customers would talk, in a hurry, interrupting the agent, dictating a phone number or changing their mind, not just the easy case.

If the Lera team built the agent for you, test it all the same before forwarding your number. Whatever grates on you gets adjusted before it answers anyone.

Do my customers notice anything while I test? No. They keep talking to the published version until you press Publish.

Are test appointments created in my calendar? No. Cal.com answers with test slots and your calendar isn't touched.

Can I test that it hands the call to my team? Not in the audio test, because it runs in the browser. You check it by calling your number from another phone, with the agent already published.

Do tests show up in the call history? Audio and text tests don't. The Outbound test does.

How much does it cost to start? €20 free credit, no card needed. And if you'd rather the Lera team built the agent for you, they'll give you a quote and you test it before it answers.