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AI Voice Agents - The Complete Guide to Voice Chat (2025)

Nov 23, 2025
7 mins

Learn everything about an AI voice agents, its benefits, implementation tips, and the AI voice chat applications for business success.

Longer wait times, high call volumes, and language barriers in call centers often frustrate customers. Complex interactive voice response (IVR) menus only add to the problem, leading to customer dissatisfaction. That’s why companies are adopting smarter self-service solutions like artificial intelligence (AI) voice agents. In fact, experts predict the voice bot market will reach $98.2 billion by 2027, showing a clear trend toward smarter solutions to improving customer experience.

AI voice agents technology combines Natural Language Processing (NLP), machine learning, and voice recognition to transform customer interactions. It provides quicker, more efficient service and improves the overall customer experience.

In this guide, we'll explore what AI voice agents are, their key features, practical use cases, and tips on how to implement a voice agent in your business.

What is an AI voice agent?

An AI voice agent is a two-way conversational tool that communicates with the customer. It automates inbound and outbound calls without human intervention and transfers calls to a human agent when needed.

The biggest advantage? Callers can navigate an IVR by speaking naturally, without listening to long, complex menus or pressing numbers on a keypad.

Popular AI voice agent examples include Apple's Siri, Google Assistant, and Amazon's Alexa. These tools simplify interactions, provide instant answers, and automate tasks. In contrast, advanced bots like IBM’s Watson Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana handle customer support, sales inquiries, and internal communications.

Types of AI voice agents

Here’s a breakdown of the four main types of AI voice agents and how they can benefit your business:

Rule-based AI voice agent

Rule-based voice agent use predefined sets of questions and rules to offer answers or perform tasks. Such voice agents handle routine tasks and customer FAQs. They answer all queries that fall under the if-this-then-that logic.

For example, an e-commerce site using a bot to guide customers in checking their order status or a banking site handling routine inquiries like balance checks, bill payments, transaction histories, etc.

AI-assisted voice agent

AI-assisted voice agents use machine learning and natural language to interpret conversations so they can analyze the context and grasp what the speaker means. This makes them far more capable and user-friendly than the conventional, rule-based voice agents.

Let’s suppose a user asks Alexa, 'What's the weather tomorrow?' and then follows up with, 'How about next week?' it remembers the context. This adaptability means customers don’t have to repeat themselves, creating a more contextual customer experience.

Conversational AI voice agent

Conversational voice agents make conversations using natural language. They’re more nuanced than AI-assisted voice agents as they can handle complex conversations using everyday language to create more personalized interactions.

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Google Duplex, and IBM Watson Assistant, are examples of conversational voice agents. They can make phone calls, make reservations, and handle natural conversations with a human-like tone.

Voice-activated voice agent

These bots use voice commands to answer practical questions and perform routine tasks. They are more flexible than personal voice agents that adapt to speakers and perform customized tasks.

Such bots serve as digital assistants to AI-assisted bots like Siri.

How does an AI voice agent improve customer engagement?

A customer calling your sales team wants to feel valued and understood. An AI voice agent does that. It puts the customer at the center, creating a better experience and driving business benefits as a result. Let’s understand it with a few use cases. 

Use case: Get a quick update on order status, 24/7

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Assuming the AI voice agent is integrated into your CRM, it greets the customer by name. Instead of navigating through a branched IVR to get their order status, the customer can simply say ‘order status’ and the voice bot pulls out the order details from the CRM and gives the user a real-time update within seconds.

Sheraz Ali, the Founder of HARO Links Builder states that their voice agent managed over 30% of customer interactions in one of their company projects and drastically reduced wait times.

“It also improved our response efficiency and led to a 20% increase in customer satisfaction scores and a reduction in operational costs within three months.” 

Benefits:

  • Decreased waiting time.
  • Limited IVR menu navigation.
  • No human intervention is required.
  • Quick response times.
  • Reduced business costs.
  • Tangible increase in customer satisfaction.

Use case: Improve language learning for students 

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A language learning platform uses a voice agent to provide real-time translations and personalized tutoring. So the voice agent instantly supports students in any subject by translating and clarifying complex terms in their preferred language.

Benefits:

  • Reduced requirement for multilingual staff.
  • Increases inclusivity as the bot answers in the user’s preferred language.
  • Language barriers are removed.

Use case: Improve patient outcomes in healthcare

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It's easy to miss appointments or forget to deliver prescriptions to the patient’s home timely. A healthcare service can employ a voice agent to deliver personalized care and offer preliminary health assessments, medication reminders, and easy appointment scheduling, all according to the individual patient's needs.

Benefits

  • Saves time by streamlining appointment bookings.
  • Ensures medication adherence with timely reminders.
  • Reduces workload for healthcare providers with automated support.

Use case: Streamline routine financial services 

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Once integrated with the banking system, the voice agent automates routine financial tasks, provides instant account information, processes transactions, and delivers personalized financial advice around the clock.

Benefits:

  • 24/7 access to financial services without wait times.
  • Improves customer experience with quick, accurate responses.
  • Automates routine tasks, freeing up staff for complex queries.
  • Provides personalized advice to improve financial decision-making.

Use case: Get personal shopping assistance  

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An e-commerce platform can use a voice agent to assist customers with product selection, provide personalized recommendations, and automate the sales process from start to finish.

Benefits:

  • Delivers a personalized shopping experience 24/7.
  • Boosts sales with customized recommendations.
  • Reduces cart abandonment by guiding customers to checkout.
  • Improves customer satisfaction with fast, accurate service.

Features of an AI voice agent

To understand why voice agents are so effective, let’s look at the key features that improve the overall customer service experience while streamlining business operations.

The best voice agents for businesses come equipped with:

Natural language understanding (NLU)

An AI voice agent understands user queries by converting speech into text using AI and NLP. It then forms an appropriate response and converts it back into speech using text-to-speech (TTS) technology. This ability to understand and respond in natural, conversational language sets AI voice agents apart from traditional IVR systems, which rely on rigid, menu-based responses.

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Personalization capabilities

Customers want quick, personalized responses to their queries, unlike complex IVR systems that frustrate them with lengthy menus. An AI voice agent offers contextual conversations, adapting to the user’s intent. It detects speech cues, skips irrelevant interactions, and also transfers calls to the right agent.

Hence, when comparing voice agents to IVRs, the bot's ability to offer personalized interactions like a human outshines communication systems that follow even the best IVR practices.

Multi-language support

AI voice agents break down language barriers, supporting multiple languages to provide a more inclusive and accessible customer experience. Businesses can easily connect with diverse customer bases across the globe.

For instance, Plivo supports speech recognition in 27 languages and their regional variants. 

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Integration with other platforms and services

AI voice agents easily integrate with platforms like customer relationship management (CRM) systems, Enterprise resource planning (ERP) tools, and ticketing software. They access and update customer data in real time to ensure accuracy.

These bots also pull relevant details, automate follow-up actions, and sync with communication channels like email or chat. This creates a personalized and consistent customer experience across all touchpoints.

Benefits of voice agents

Let’s now look at the benefits of AI voice agents.  

Enhanced user experience

Many businesses have concerns over the quality of a voice agent for customer service. However, a voice agent answers queries quickly regardless of the time of the day. Speedy, reliable answers are important to providing excellent service, making voice agents an invaluable tool for businesses looking to improve customer satisfaction.

Additionally, businesses can:

  • Handle routine queries and common tasks faster than human agents.
  • Remove the need for users to navigate complex IVR menus.
  • Manage high-volume calls without errors.

Better cost efficiency

An AI voice agent doesn’t just save time, it also saves money. It boosts user satisfaction and reduces support times by automating repetitive queries. This frees up staff for higher-value tasks, and interacting with customers after hours has improved lead conversion.

The direct benefits to businesses are:

  • Reduces the need for a larger customer support team.
  • Allows human agents to focus on complex, high-value inquiries.
  • Engages users outside business hours to boost marketing return on investment (ROI).
  • Lowers training costs and minimizes the risk of providing incorrect information.

Accessibility for users with disabilities

With over one billion people living with disabilities worldwide, voice agents make services more inclusive. They enable hands-free, accessible interactions, allowing customers with visual, motor, or cognitive impairments to engage with the business easily. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also broadens the company’s reach to a more diverse audience.

Data collection and analysis for improved services

Voice agents don’t just serve customers — they also gather insights. Use this data to analyze data and improve services, personalize marketing efforts, and make more informed business decisions.

24/7 availability

Unlike human agents, voice agents are always accessible. They ensure customers get help whenever they need it, contributing to a more consistent and reliable customer experience.

Future of AI voice technology

As IBM's data engineer, Chris Hay puts it, "We're entering an era where every mom-and-pop shop can have the same level of customer service as an enterprise." This statement captures the transformative potential of voice recognition technology.

AI voice chat applications benefit businesses of all sizes by delivering top-tier customer experiences. Tech giants are already paving the way. Microsoft has updated its Copilot AI with advanced voice capabilities, allowing it to handle complex queries with natural language reasoning, while Meta has introduced voice AI to its messaging apps.

AI voice assistants will move beyond smartphones, integrating into wearable devices like the recently unveiled Meta Orion augmented reality glasses. For businesses handling sensitive client relationships, this could mean smarter, empathetic bots that mirror the tone and approach of a human assistant.

Key upcoming trends:

  • Hyper-personalization: Customized voices and targeted recommendations.
  • Advanced problem-solving: Managing complex queries using natural language.
  • Real-time analytics: Analyzing customer tone for deeper insights.

Yet, challenges remain. Arvind Rongala, the founder of a skill-management solution provider, shares, “There are still issues, especially with data privacy and ensuring interactions are human-like. In addition to resolving problems with bias in training data and regulatory compliance, businesses must strike a balance between automation and personalization. For example, adhering to GDPR regarding the storage of voice data can be challenging, but doing so is essential to fostering trust.”

Ultimately, businesses need to prioritize data security, explore multi-device integration options, and develop stronger contextual understanding for natural interactions.

Launch an AI voice agent with Plivo

Any scaling business needs a voice agent that's easy to integrate, globally accessible, and cost-effective without sacrificing quality.

Plivo checks all these boxes, offering seamless integration, seven global points of presence for low-latency interactions, and competitive rates starting at just $0.0040 per minute. It's ideal for businesses willing to scale while keeping operational costs in check.

In fact, Plivo can reduce operational costs by up to 40%.

Moreover, its commitment to reliability is backed by a 99.99% uptime guarantee, with failover capabilities that switch within two seconds if any disruptions occur.

You can launch voice agents with Plivo using just a few lines of code.

  • Log in to your OpenAI Account: Secure your API key and RealTime API access.
  • Log in to your Plivo Account: Sign up and get a voice-enabled number.

With integration options for leading speech-to-text (STT) and TTS providers like Deepgram and ElevenLabs, you can launch AI voice agents in multiple regions, including India, using local numbers.

Use Plivo-powered voice agents for: 

  • Personal shopping assistance: Offer personalized recommendations, go through product selections, and close sales. 
  • Healthcare automation: Improve patient outcomes with medication reminders, and appointment scheduling, and offer preliminary health assessments.
  • Inclusivity in education: Break language barriers in learning with real-time translations and personalized tutoring across multiple subjects.
  • Routine financial services automation: Provide instant account information, personalized financial advice, transaction processing status, etc. to customers.

With a 24/7 AI voice agent, your business can handle these tasks around the clock, ensuring that customers are never left waiting. Want to improve customer experience with Plivo? Contact us today.

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Jan 21, 2026
5 mins

AI Voice Agents for Real Estate (2026): 10 Tools Compared, Real Limitations and What Actually Scales

Compare 10 AI voice agents for real estate in 2026. Evaluate response time, CRM integration, multi-channel support, and scalability to find the right solution.

AI voice agents in real estate are all about response time, coverage and quick follow-through. If your system can't answer calls immediately, qualify intent, book tours and update your CRM without manual cleanup, it's not helping you win more deals; it's adding another layer for you to manage.

This guide isn't for browsing tools. It's for operators deciding whether to commit to AI voice agents in 2026 and ship something that actually helps you scale. We compare 10 platforms based on how they perform after signup, how fast you can go live, what breaks under real lead volume, and what it takes to keep them working week after week.

Top 10 AI Voice Agents for Real Estate (2026)

The goal here is simple: Helping you choose an option that you can launch confidently, not replace after the first integration headache.

1. Plivo

When aiming to build and scale AI voice agents for real estate, you care about two things: reaching prospects first and converting more inquiries into confirmed showings. Plivo excels here since it gives you production-ready AI voice agents that place instant callbacks, answer listing questions from your data, and book tours directly on your agents' calendars. They operate reliably across phone, SMS, WhatsApp and chat without stitching together telephony, AI models and messaging vendors.

Plivo is the AI agent builder platform for voice-first, omnichannel experiences—built on a carrier-grade telephony network trusted by Uber, Meta, Zomato, and thousands of businesses worldwide. Business teams can launch agents without writing code using Vibe agent. Engineering teams can orchestrate custom voice agents in code with full control. The foundation is Plivo's global communications infrastructure spanning 190+ countries: 15+ years of proven reliable infrastructure, low latency, and the call quality enterprises demand.

Core Capabilities:

  • Inbound & Outbound AI Voice Agents: Handle live calls end-to-end, qualify intent, route intelligently and escalate to human agents when needed.
  • Multi-Channel Agent Coverage: Run the same AI agent across phone, SMS, WhatsApp and chat with shared context across channels.
  • No-Code AI Agent Builder (Vibe): Build and deploy voice agents using plain-English instructions, no prompt engineering or coding required.
  • Build your way: Business teams launch with no-code tools; engineering teams build custom voice agents with full-code control. You're never forced into a single way of working.
  • Vertically Integrated Telephony (CPaaS): Voice runs on Plivo's own global telephony infrastructure, avoiding third-party carrier dependencies.
  • Low-Latency Voice AI Stack: Integrated TTS, STT and LLM orchestration enables sub-500ms response latency, critical for natural voice conversations.
  • Enterprise-Grade Reliability: Built on Plivo's proven CPaaS platform with 99.99% uptime, 15+ years of reliable infrastructure, and global carrier connectivity across 190+ countries.
  • CRM & Workflow Integrations: Pull customer context in real time and write call outcomes back to CRMs and support tools automatically. Connect Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, BoomTown, Salesforce, HubSpot, Google Calendar, Outlook, and your MLS/IDX feed.
  • You own the stack: You get to choose your speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS), and LLM while keeping prompts and data portable and avoiding lock-in.

Best fit if you:

  • Need real-time voice agents that can operate continuously at scale.
  • Want to avoid stitching telephony, AI and messaging vendors together.
  • Plan to deploy across multiple channels, not voice alone.
  • Have defined workflows for lead qualification, routing or follow-ups.

Not a fit if you:

  • Only need a lightweight voice demo, basic IVR or short-term experiment.
  • Want a fully turnkey, real estate-specific tool with no configuration or workflow control.
  • Don't plan to integrate voice agents into your CRM, data stack or operations.

2. Luron AI

Luron AI is best suited for teams that need 24/7 AI voice agents that never miss calls and qualify leads automatically. It supports multilingual conversations and keeps pacing tight across accents and speaking styles. The system handles inbound and outbound voice conversations in dozens of languages and automates bookings and follow-ups without human staffing.

Core Capabilities:

  • Instant call answer & qualification: AI answers every call, gathers intent, and qualifies leads without hold times.
  • Multilingual support: Handles AI conversations in 45+ languages to cover diverse lead sources.
  • Inbound & outbound support: Manages both types of calls and can also run outbound follow-ups.
  • SMS, chat & email automation: Extends voice agents to text and messaging channels for a unified engagement approach.
  • CRM & integration options: Connects to existing phone systems via SIP trunking and can integrate with CRMs and ticket systems.

Best fit if you:

  • Want 24/7 lead capture and qualification without adding staff.
  • Need multilingual voice conversations for global or diverse markets.
  • Expect to automate bookings, follow-ups and reminders on voice and messaging channels.
  • Have a CRM or existing phone system you must integrate with.

Not a fit if you:

  • Only need a simple inbound answering or IVR replacement without automation.
  • Want a solution focused on voice only, with limited channel reach.
  • Prefer fixed, transparent pricing tiers publicly listed.

3. Callers AI

Callers AI is a platform for automating customer conversations with human-like voice agents that handle both inbound & outbound calls and messaging channels, powered by your brand's data and tone. It's focused on scaling high-volume voice interactions while maintaining contextual continuity across channels in a single branded voice experience.

Core Capabilities:

  • Omni-channel AI interactions: Voice agents run across phone, SMS, WhatsApp and chat from a central AI brain.
  • Human-like voice calls: Agents answer and place calls in a natural conversational style.
  • Lead workflows & use cases: Supports lead qualification, cold call automation, appointment confirmation, retention flows and more.
  • 24/7 availability & language breadth: Designed to handle calls and messaging around the clock, in multiple languages.
  • Context remembering: Conversations carry context across voice and messaging so follow-ups feel continuous.
  • Integrations & automation: Connects to CRMs and tools (300+ integrations) so call outcomes can update your systems.

Best fit if you:

  • Want both inbound and outbound AI calling with consistent, natural-tone responses across channels.
  • Need an AI system that can qualify leads, confirm appointments and manage follow-ups automatically.
  • Are scaling high call volumes 24/7.
  • Prefer a central "brain" that keeps context across channels and workflows.

Not a fit if you:

  • Only want a basic voice or outbound dialer with limited cross-channel logic.
  • Need a tool focused exclusively on simple IVR or basic routing without AI conversation layers.
  • Prefer a product you can set up and forget in minutes without upfront configuration or workflow definition.

4. SquadStack AI

SquadStack AI is best suited for teams that want AI-assisted sales and voice engagement workflows supported by configurable human-in-the-loop automation. It blends automated outreach and qualification with options to escalate to human agents where needed, helpful for revenue teams that are focused on pipeline speed.

Core Capabilities:

  • Automated Lead Engagement: AI enabled workflows proactively contact prospects and qualify them using data-driven sequencing.
  • Voice & Messaging Channels: Supports outbound dialing, ringless voicemail, SMS and multi-touch sequences.
  • Human-in-the-Loop Escalation: Configurable handoffs to live agents when conversations need human judgment.
  • Sales Workflow Automation: Built-in logic for lead routing, prioritization and follow-ups across channels.
  • CRM Integration + Data Sync: Sync outcomes and engagement data back to CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.

Best fit if you:

  • Want inbound and outbound automated voice interactions with natural conversation flows and multilingual capability.
  • Need AI that handles lead qualification, follow-ups and reminders as part of sales or customer engagement sequences.
  • Are automating sales outreach and conversational workflows alongside voice calls.

Not a fit if you:

  • Need an AI platform focused on low-latency, bespoke voice agent infrastructure tied tightly to your own telephony stack.
  • Are building a multi-channel bot with CRM/telephony hooks and developer control from the ground up at scale.

5. Telgent

Telgent leans into MLS and portal context. It is best for businesses that want always-on voice AI calling with automated scheduling, intelligent call handling and quick setup. Its platform emphasizes immediate activation, seamless integration with existing phone systems and natural AI responses that handle calls, schedule meetings and engage customers day and night.

Core Capabilities:

  • 24/7 AI voice calling agents: Always-on call automation that answers and routes customer calls at any hour.
  • Lead engagement & scheduling: Automatically books appointments, meetings and showings based on natural language conversations.
  • Inbound call handling: AI answers incoming inquiries, qualifies intent and routes prospects with minimal human intervention.
  • Automated inquiry responses: Provides instant answers to property questions and responds to rental or sales leads.
  • Integration with real estate systems: Works with Zillow, Realtor.com, MLS platforms, Follow Up Boss, kvCORE, BoomTown, Salesforce and HubSpot for CRM continuity.

Best fit if you:

  • Need round-the-clock call handling that captures leads and books appointments without missing inquiries.
  • Want your voice AI to integrate with core real estate tools and CRM systems so client details are synced automatically.
  • Are focused on lead conversion and showing scheduling as part of your customer engagement workflows.

Not a fit if you:

  • Only require basic outbound calling with simple scripts rather than inbound + scheduling automation.
  • Expect a no-config, plug-and-play voice bot that requires zero setup or customization.
  • Want a platform that handles only one channel (voice only) without extending into SMS/WhatsApp/chat automation.

6. AIOnCalls

AIOnCalls is positioned as a virtual receptionist that never misses calls or opportunities. Best for teams that want an always-on voice AI assistant that handles inbound and outbound calls around the clock, engages callers in natural language, qualifies leads, books appointments and updates CRM data.

Core Capabilities:

  • 24/7 Inbound & Outbound Voice Handling: AI answers and places calls around the clock across all hours and holidays.
  • Lead Qualification & Follow-Up Automation: Qualifies callers in real time and automates follow-ups via voice, SMS and email.
  • Appointment Scheduling & Calendar Invites: Books appointments and sends confirmations during calls.
  • CRM & Workflow Integrations: Integrates with CRMs like Zoho, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Google Calendar for real-time lead syncing and activity logging.
  • Multilingual Conversations: Supports multiple languages and can handle simultaneous call sessions.
  • Live Agent Escalation: Transfers complex calls to human agents when needed.
  • Real-Time Analytics & Transcriptions: Provides live call monitoring, transcripts, sentiment analysis and dashboards.

Best fit if you:

  • Need an AI voice agent that never misses inbound calls and engages leads immediately, 24/7.
  • Want automated lead qualification, booking and follow-ups in voice, SMS, and email without human staffing.
  • Are integrating call outcomes and engagement data into CRM or calendar workflows.
  • Operate in industries where speed-to-lead matters and missed calls are costly.

Not a fit if you:

  • Only need simple IVR or on-premise call routing without conversational automation.
  • Prefer a pure telephony or developer API platform without built-in AI conversational layers.
  • Are looking for a voice agent with deep, specialized industry templates.

7. Brilo AI

Brilo AI is a business-focused AI phone and voice call agent platform that enables teams to automate real-time voice interactions across industries like real estate. It promises fast setup, natural human-like voice responses, 24/7 coverage, integration with business tools and built-in analytics, all without needing a technical team to get started.

Core Capabilities:

  • 24/7 AI voice call agents: Always-on AI phone agents handle inbound calls and customer engagements at any hour.
  • Human-like voice interactions: Conversational voice responses built to sound natural and engaging.
  • Appointment booking & scheduling: Voice agents can book appointments with synced calendars and handle reminders.
  • CRM and business integrations: Integrates with a broad range of business apps (6,000+ app connections claimed) to sync customer context and outcomes.
  • Real-time analytics & insights: Live call transcripts, sentiment analysis, intent tracking and topic detection support actionable insights post-call.
  • Lead qualification automation: Agents engage prospects, capture intent and route high-value leads in real time.

Best fit if you:

  • Need 24/7 automated voice engagement that never misses inbound or high-volume calls for lead capture, scheduling or support.
  • Need a platform that books appointments, manages follow-ups and drives customer engagement without manual management.
  • Plan to integrate the voice agent with CRM, calendar tools and analytics pipelines to maintain context across systems.

Not a fit if you:

  • Simply need a basic phone tree, IVR or traditional call routing system.
  • Are focused solely on developer-centric API telephony without AI built in.
  • Require industry-specific compliance guarantees (HIPAA, PCI, etc.) documented publicly.

8. VocalDesk

VocalDesk is an AI-enabled voice and contact automation platform that helps teams automate calling, lead follow-up, support interactions and scheduling. Its focus is on automated voice conversations and multi-channel engagement with CRM integration and configurable workflows that replace manual outreach tasks.

Core Capabilities:

  • Automated Voice Conversations: Handles inbound and outbound calls using AI to engage, qualify, and route callers.
  • AI-Driven Lead Qualification: Automated conversation flows that marks lead intent and priority.
  • Appointment Booking & Reminders: Schedules meetings and sends reminders as part of automated flows.
  • Multichannel Messaging: Engages customers across voice, text and messaging platforms.
  • CRM & Workflow Sync: Connects with CRM systems and business tools to log interactions and maintain records.

Best fit if you:

  • Want to automate call handling and lead follow-up without manual dialing.
  • Need a solution that combines voice and messaging outreach with CRM context.
  • Are focused on lead qualification and scheduling as part of broader sales engagement.

Not a fit if you:

  • Only need basic call routing or IVR without AI handling.
  • Require explicit developer control over telephony APIs.
  • Rely on hard metrics like latency, concurrency limits or multi-region telephony SLAs.

9. Calldock

Calldock is an AI voice agent platform intended for instant lead engagement, automatic qualification and scheduling. Its system calls leads within seconds of form submission, conducts natural conversations and integrates with calendars and workflows to automate follow-ups and booking.

Core Capabilities:

  • Instant lead callbacks: Calls website leads within ~60 seconds of a submission, boosting early engagement.
  • Calendar booking: Agents can book appointments directly to your calendar during live calls.
  • Multi-channel follow-up: Agents send SMS and email follow-ups as part of the call workflow.
  • Seamless handoff & callbacks: You can trigger human handoffs in natural language and schedule intelligent callbacks.
  • API, webhooks, & integration ecosystem: Support for APIs and pre-call webhooks lets you fetch context before calls and connect with Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Zapier and thousands more.
  • Developer playground & documentation: Provides API documentation and code examples for triggered calls and automated workflows.

Best fit if you:

  • Want immediate lead engagement that happens in seconds.
  • Need voice agents that qualify, book and follow up automatically across voice, SMS and email.
  • Plan to integrate voice engagements with calendar and business workflows.
  • Need a voice agent that works with easy templates for common industries with minimal setup.
  • Want a low-code or no-code setup that goes live with simple configuration.

Not a fit if you:

  • Need proper inbound/outbound calling with API integration.
  • Require deep telephony infrastructure control or enterprise telephony SLAs.
  • Are building highly custom dialogue systems that need proprietary LLM tuning beyond the existing templates.

10. Ylopo

Ylopo is a digital marketing and lead gen platform built for the real estate industry. It combines lead capture, nurturing, AI voice calling, AI texting, branded websites and marketing automation into one system that integrates with CRMs and helps real estate teams generate and convert leads.

Core Capabilities:

  • AI Voice Follow-Up: Automatically calls new and existing leads to qualify interest and connect them to agents.
  • AI Text Conversations: Runs two-way SMS conversations to nurture leads until they're ready to talk.
  • AI² Voice + Text System: Combines calling and texting into one coordinated follow-up engine.
  • Automated Appointment Transfers: Delivers live transfers or booked appointments when leads are qualified.
  • Lead Generation & Nurture: Includes PPC ads, remarketing and IDX websites to capture and feed leads into AI follow-up.
  • CRM & Website Integration: Syncs AI conversations and lead activity with CRMs and branded real estate websites.

Best fit if you:

  • Want lead capture with nurturing as a unified system rather than isolated voice interaction tools.
  • Are a realtor or team that wants AI to automatically engage leads by text and phone, not just manage manual contacts.
  • Need branded websites with IDX search and integrated lead capture feeding into automated follow-up.
  • Plan to keep leads engaged over longer time horizons (e.g., 90-day voice follow-up).
  • Value combined marketing + AI follow-up rather than a single channel (voice only).

Not a fit if you:

  • Are looking for pure AI voice agent infrastructure like a telephony-first CPaaS platform.
  • Need tools focused on enterprise-grade telephony performance, low-latency voice systems or custom telephony workflows.

What Matters Most in AI Voice Agents (Beyond the Basics)

1. Telephony Ownership vs. Vendor Stitching

Many AI voice tools rely on third-party telephony stitched together with AI layers. This often introduces latency, call drops and limited routing control at scale.

What to prioritize:

  • Built-in telephony with direct carrier connectivity
  • End-to-end control over call routing and quality
  • Fewer external dependencies

Plivo runs on its own global CPaaS and carrier-grade telephony stack, removing third-party voice dependencies.

2. Real-Time Performance (Latency & Uptime)

Voice conversations break down quickly when responses lag or calls fail. Sub-second latency and high uptime aren't "nice to have"—they're mandatory.

What to validate:

  • Sub-500ms voice response latency
  • 99.99% uptime or better
  • Real-time STT, TTS, and LLM orchestration

Plivo's vertically integrated Voice AI stack is designed for low-latency, real-time conversations on proven infrastructure.

3. Multi-Channel Context, Not Disconnected Bots

Leads move between calls, SMS, WhatsApp and chat. Treating each channel as a separate bot creates broken experiences and duplicate work.

What to look for:

  • Shared context across voice and messaging
  • Unified conversation history
  • Seamless handoffs between channels

Plivo supports multi-channel agents that share context across phone, SMS, WhatsApp and chat from a single system.

4. Integration Depth (CRM, Calendars, Workflows)

Voice agents don't operate in isolation. Without deep integrations, they become another silo your team has to manage.

Prioritize platforms that:

  • Read from and write to CRMs in real time
  • Trigger workflows during live calls
  • Integrate cleanly with calendars and support tools

Plivo integrates directly with CRMs and business systems, allowing agents to act on live data and update records automatically.

5. Built for Scale, Not Just Launch

Many tools work well for pilots but struggle under sustained call volume or multi-region deployment.

Ask:

  • Can this run continuously without degradation?
  • Are pricing and performance predictable as usage grows?
  • Will this still work when channels or regions expand?

Plivo's AI agents are built on infrastructure that already powers enterprise-grade voice and messaging at global scale.

FAQs

What's the fastest way to go live without breaking existing operations?

Start with a single, contained flow like after-hours inbound calls or instant lead callbacks. Connect your phone numbers, CRM and calendar, define escalation rules and launch! You can expand coverage once live data validates the flow.

How do I ensure voice quality doesn't feel robotic or laggy?

Voice quality depends on latency and telephony control. Platforms with integrated telephony and real-time STT/TTS orchestration keep responses sub-second, which is critical for natural conversations that callers don't hang up on.

How does the agent stay accurate and compliant with real estate data?

The agent should pull from a restricted, curated knowledge source (MLS, IDX, listings) and operate within defined guardrails. When questions exceed scope like pricing nuance, legal terms, fair-housing-sensitive topics, it escalates to a human automatically.

What happens when call volume spikes or multiple leads call at once?

Calls don't fail—they should queue. High-intent conversations can be routed to live agents, while others are qualified, scheduled or followed up asynchronously. Every outcome is logged so nothing gets lost.

How does this fit into my CRM and follow-up workflows?

The agent reads live CRM data during calls and writes outcomes back automatically in the form of notes, disposition, next steps and booked appointments. Your team picks up conversations with full context instead of starting from scratch.

Try Plivo Free

Curious how an AI voice platform performs in your workflows, not just in theory? Plivo offers a free trial account with credits so you can experiment with voice, SMS, WhatsApp and chat services before committing. When you sign up, you get trial credits, can add a phone number and start testing features like real-time voice interactions and multi-channel engagement using APIs or visual tools like PHLO. This lets you validate performance, integrations, and call flows with your actual data—all without upfront cost.

Plivo's trial lets you test core capabilities immediately, making it easy to see how quickly you can build, launch, and refine agents that handle calls, qualify leads and update systems in real time.

Get started with your free trial now and begin building your first agent today.

AI Voice Agents Infrastructure Hub
Jan 20, 2026
5 mins

Best AI Voice Agents for Customer Support and Service (2026): What to Deploy Now

Compare 10 AI voice agent platforms for customer support. Get a practical 30-day pilot framework, implementation workflow, and outcome-driven selection guide.

1) Plivo — The fastest path to production-grade AI voice agents for customer support

A recent Gartner survey found that most customer service leaders plan to explore or pilot conversational GenAI in 2025—making a clear, near-term mandate to deliver something that works on the phone channel, not just in chat. That's your cue to build a reliable voice front door with an AI agent builder platform designed for voice-first, omnichannel experiences.

Why Plivo is #1

Plivo is the AI agent builder platform that lets you build your way. Whether you're a business leader who needs to launch fast or an engineering team building custom workflows, Plivo meets you where you are. Start with no-code tools that let non-technical teams deploy agents in hours. Go deeper with low-code orchestration for more control. Or build from scratch with full-code frameworks that integrate into your existing stack. You're never forced into a single way of working.

What it does for you

Plivo's Voice AI stack is modular by design. Want speed? Use the fully integrated platform—STT, LLM, TTS, and telephony—pre-configured and ready to go. Want control? Orchestrate your agents using code with Plivo's Agentic STT models and Telephony, alongside your preferred LLM providers. Want just the connectivity layer? Use audio streaming or SIP trunking and bring everything else yourself. You decide where Plivo ends and your stack begins.

Underlying it all is a reliable, carrier-grade telephony platform that scales for enterprises—global PSTN/SIP connectivity, number provisioning and porting, call routing with failover, recording with consent, and clean human handoff with full context into your CRM or help desk.

Segment-by-segment fit

If you're SMB, launch fast with no-code tools that let you deploy agents in hours, plus a simple dashboard and connectors for Shopify and Calendly. If you're mid-market, use low-code orchestration for more control, with a modular stack that lets you use what you need—swap in your preferred LLM, STT, or TTS. If you're enterprise, build with full-code frameworks that integrate into your existing stack, plus a modular Voice AI stack to pick-and-choose what you need, governance features (RBAC, audit transcripts, data residency), and contact center integration for high availability and reporting.

Start with Voice, go everywhere

Voice is the hardest channel to get right—and it's where Plivo leads. But the same flexible building experience extends to WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, and Chat. Build once, deploy across channels, and meet customers wherever they are.

Suitable for

  • Fintech customer service: consent-first flows, secure keypad capture, dispute status, and callbacks.
  • Healthcare scheduling: multilingual intake, appointment changes, escalations with a summarized handoff.
  • Retail and logistics: order status, returns, delivery windows, and SMS/WhatsApp follow-ups.

No more choosing between a locked-in platform that's easy but limiting, or a DIY approach that's flexible but painful. Plivo gives you both—simplicity when you want it, depth when you need it.

Explore the Voice API, check pricing, review compliance, handle numbers & porting, browse case studies, or jump into the quickstart.

2) Google Dialogflow CX — Complex, branching flows without spaghetti

Key features

Dialogflow CX uses a flow-and-page model to capture state and branching, so you can manage multi-step intents like returns, warranty claims, and multi-factor verification without dozens of brittle intents. It supports voice and text and includes versioning, experiments, and test tools. For telephony, you can use partner gateways or SIP; for global reach, put Plivo at the edge and connect to CX.

Why it matters

Complicated support journeys need explicit state. CX gives you that structure. If your "Where's my order?" workflow forks based on identity checks, fulfillment method, and policy windows, you can keep logic readable and testable. CX also plays well with multilingual experiences and mixed initiative, so callers can change course mid-conversation.

Implementation steps

Start with a single high-volume journey and draw it as a CX flow. Add a fallback page with a short menu for noisy lines. Ground the bot in your knowledge base and order system, then add handoff rules. Put Plivo in front for numbers, routing, and recording consent, and pass summaries back to your ticketing system.

Suitable for

Teams with multiple brands or product lines, where branching grows quickly and consistency matters across regions.

3) Amazon Lex + Amazon Connect — AWS-first voice automation that ops can own

Key features

Lex handles the speech and NLU for voice and text. Connect adds the contact-center fabric: routing, IVR, call recording, and agent desktop. It's a natural fit if your data and apps live in AWS and security prefers IAM-managed access. For global numbers or bring-your-own carrier control, front with Plivo and route into Connect.

Why it matters

Staying inside AWS accelerates procurement, security reviews, and monitoring. You can call Lambdas for tool use, search knowledge with Kendra, and use Connect metrics and contact flows your ops team already knows. That shortens time to value and concentrates governance in one place.

Implementation steps

Define one call flow in Connect (ID&V → status lookup → handoff). Build Lex intents from your top FAQs. Add Plivo for number management, routing, and failover. Send summaries back to your CRM or help desk. Keep a barge-in plan for noisy environments and a keypad fallback for payment flows.

Suitable for

IT-led programs where AWS standardization, auditability, and a single pane of glass for monitoring are priorities.

4) IBM Watson Assistant — Governance-first deployments in regulated industries

Key features

Watson Assistant supports omnichannel conversations with documented security and governance options, including deployment paths designed for regulated workloads. If your risk office leads the decision, IBM provides clear guidance on audit logging, data handling, and architectural choices. Add Plivo to handle PSTN/SIP, call consent prompts, and compliant recording policies.

Why it matters

Financial services and healthcare teams often need auditability from day one. When you need clear data-handling boundaries and deployment models that align with internal controls, IBM's documentation and support track help you pass reviews without months of back-and-forth.

Implementation steps

Map your data-classification rules to Watson's deployment options. Keep contact recordings and transcriptions in your approved storage. Use Plivo's routing and consent prompts to standardize intake across regions. Summarize calls into your case system for full traceability.

Suitable for

Organizations with heavy compliance needs, strict data residency, or formal audit trails for every customer interaction.

5) Cognigy.AI — IVR modernization with fine-grained voice control

Key features

Cognigy combines a visual designer with a voice gateway that supports streaming ASR, interruptibility, and transfer control. It integrates with multiple speech providers and enterprise systems like SAP and Salesforce. This lets you tune barge-in sensitivity, error handling, and handoff cues rather than living with a one-size-fits-all IVR.

Why it matters

If callers still hear a menu tree, you're wasting time and goodwill. Cognigy helps you replace rigid menus with natural conversations and graceful escalation. You keep the levers you need—timing, sensitivity, fallback prompts—so the agent feels human, not scripted.

Implementation steps

Start with the two intents that create the most queue time. Set barge-in thresholds conservatively and widen them after you test in live traffic. Put Plivo at the edge to manage numbers, recording policies, and failover. Send summaries with disposition tags to your CRM.

Suitable for

Enterprises with legacy IVRs, high call volumes, and a clear need to reduce effort without ripping out the contact-center core.

6) Salesforce Agentforce — CRM-native service automation where your team works

Key features

Agentforce brings AI agents into the Salesforce console and data model. Your service team stays in the view they know, while the agent handles common intents, drafts summaries, and routes cases. Add Plivo for calling so every phone interaction lands in Salesforce with the right context.

Why it matters

When everything you need to resolve an issue already lives in Salesforce, keeping the agent there shortens integration time and improves analytics. Supervisors can coach on the same dashboard and review case summaries, while admins maintain clear governance over data and automations.

Implementation steps

Pick one queue with repetitive calls. Tie identity checks to account data and warranties. Keep a "press 0 for a human" fallback and make sure the agent passes a clean summary with next steps. Use Plivo for the phone edge so call recordings and consent are consistent across regions.

Suitable for

Service teams that treat Salesforce as the system of record and want automation to feel native—not bolted on.

7) Zoom Virtual Agent for Phone — A 24/7 receptionist and concierge

Key features

Zoom's Virtual Agent for Phone handles greetings, routing, and the most common requests. You train it from existing docs and site content, then turn it on for after-hours or full-time reception. It's built for quick wins like appointment scheduling, store hours, and simple status checks with transfers when needed.

Why it matters

If reception lines clog your switchboard, a front-door voice agent can deflect simple questions without new headcount. As you add skills, you can expand from triage to completing tasks. For broader reach, connect Plivo to add global numbers and transactional notifications via SMS or WhatsApp.

Implementation steps

Start with greeting, business hours, and routing. Add appointment booking next. Keep live-agent transfers one click away. If you outgrow the PBX perimeter, bring Plivo in to manage numbers and cross-channel follow-ups.

Suitable for

Single-number switchboards, high-volume reception desks, and teams that need a quick, always-on front door.

8) Sierra — Enterprise "autonomous" agents with category momentum

Key features

Sierra focuses on enterprise-grade AI agents for customer service with an emphasis on agentic workflows. The leadership and market traction give executives confidence to back bigger bets. If you're evaluating multi-channel automation with rigorous SLAs, Sierra is a credible short-list option. Plug it into Plivo for reliable telephony, recording consent, and global routing.

Why it matters

Momentum reduces perceived risk. When you need cross-functional buy-in, a vendor that's already in enterprise production helps. You still need the phone edge right: numbers, routing, and failover that won't buckle under peaks.

Implementation steps

Define two end-to-end journeys (e.g., ID&V + order update; returns approval). Keep human handoff one step away and capture every call summary in your case system. Instrument containment and transfers, then iterate weekly.

Suitable for

Large teams planning multi-channel agents and looking for vendor accountability with clear deliverables and timelines.

9) Tidio (Lyro) — SMB eCommerce chat that pairs well with voice

Key features

Tidio blends live chat, an AI agent, and eCommerce integrations. It's a practical way to resolve repetitive questions, free up your team, and capture intent while buyers are on your site. Add Plivo for a simple order-status line and SMS/WhatsApp updates so customers get answers by phone as well as chat.

Why it matters

eCommerce teams need fast coverage more than complex architectures. You can start with FAQs, then add checkout and account questions. When phone calls spike—promos, holidays—route a basic voice flow through Plivo and keep your agent consistent across channels.

Implementation steps

Load your top FAQs and shipping policies, add a returns flow, and set clear handoff rules. For voice, route a single Plivo number to a lightweight agent that authenticates by order ID and ZIP code, then offers a callback option during peaks.

Suitable for

Lean teams that want to reduce repetitive chat volume now and add phone coverage without standing up a full contact center.

10) Robylon — Multi-channel AI agents focused on support teams

Key features

Robylon specializes in AI-driven customer support across voice, chat, email, and messaging. It integrates with help desks like Zendesk and Freshdesk, supports multiple languages, and offers analytics dashboards designed for service leaders. It's a pragmatic fit if your help desk is the hub of your operation.

Why it matters

You want human-like conversations that escalate cleanly. Robylon's positioning around support workflows means your ticketing, SLAs, and dispositions stay intact. For reliable calling, use Plivo for numbers, routing, and recording consent so your phone channel matches the quality of your chat channel.

Implementation steps

Start with account updates and appointment scheduling. Ground the agent in your help-desk knowledge base and macros. Track resolution time and transfer reasons; refine weekly.

Suitable for

Mid-market support teams who want a focused system that plugs into existing help-desk processes and expands to voice without heavy lifting.

How to run a safe, high-signal pilot in 30 days

Define success first

Pick three metrics: containment, transfer rate, and average resolution time. Write a one-line target for each and a go/no-go threshold. Everyone should know what "good" looks like before you take your first call.

Start with narrow, high-volume intents

"Where's my order?", appointment changes, returns, account updates. These are predictable, frequent, and measurable. Script your handoff sentence so agents never start from zero.

Build the right guardrails

Add a consent prompt, a keypad fallback for sensitive inputs, and a short backup menu for noisy environments. Keep the escalations simple: one route for billing, one for everything else.

Ground every answer

Connect the agent to your CRM/help desk and knowledge base. If the answer doesn't exist in your source of truth, escalate. Summarize every call into the ticket with disposition and next steps.

Iterate weekly

Review 20 call transcripts together. Fix the top three friction points. Update prompts and knowledge. Ship changes. Repeat.

FAQ

What's the fastest way to launch a voice agent without changing my stack?

Keep your telephony and routing on Plivo, connect your preferred conversation engine, and ground it in your CRM/help desk and knowledge base. Start with one number, one intent, and a simple fallback.

How should I measure success in the first 30 days?

Track containment, transfer rate, and resolution time. Listen for barge-in moments and interruptions—they reveal prompt and timing issues that you can fix quickly.

How do I implement consent, recording, and PCI/PHI safely?

Play a clear consent prompt before any recording. Use keypad input for payments or sensitive data. Store recordings and transcripts in approved systems and keep audit logs.

When is Dialogflow CX better than Lex, IBM, or Cognigy?

Choose CX for complex branching flows and multilingual journeys; Lex when your team standardizes on AWS; IBM when governance and deployment control are paramount; Cognigy when you're modernizing IVR with fine-grained voice settings.

How do I handle accents, noise, and barge-in in production?

Use a robust ASR, tune your barge-in sensitivity, and keep a keypad fallback. Test in noisy environments and shorten prompts. Summaries help human agents pick up without asking callers to repeat themselves.

Conclusion: Build the voice edge once, then scale what works

A measured result to anchor ROI. McKinsey reported that, at one company with thousands of agents, applying generative AI raised issue resolution and lowered handling time—small percentage gains that compound into real savings at scale. That's the kind of lift your leadership expects—and the reason to start with a focused pilot that moves one metric.

Bring your "brain" of choice, but keep the phone edge on Plivo so every call connects, every consent is captured, and every handoff carries context. Define three KPIs, pick one journey, and go live with a human fallback. Review transcripts weekly, then scale to the next two intents.

Ready to hear what real-time voice feels like? Build your agent or talk to an expert today.

Jun 19, 2025
5 mins

RCS Marketing 101: Your Complete Guide

Discover how RCS marketing delivers rich, branded messages that drive engagement for your business.

SMS marketing works, but let’s be honest: it feels a bit outdated compared to modern apps.

But what if you could send rich, interactive messages with branded content, images, buttons, and carousels straight to your customers’ native messaging apps?

Rich communication services (RCS) makes that possible.

If you’re ready to explore how RCS marketing can transform your engagement strategy, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know. Let’s get started.

What is RCS marketing? 

RCS marketing uses rich communication services to send interactive, branded messages through a customer’s default messaging app. It’s a modern upgrade to SMS that lets businesses share images, buttons, carousels, and more — all without needing third-party apps.

A user on Reddit summed up this perfectly:

Screenshot of a Reddit comment explaining what RCS is
RCS explained by a Reddit user

RCS lets you send messages that are visually branded with logos and colors while remaining interactive. This turns static updates into an app-like experience inside a message.

This shift is part of a broader industry move, led by Google and backed by major mobile carriers, to upgrade messaging infrastructure and make RCS the default standard on Android devices.

As support continues to grow, businesses are adopting RCS as part of their customer engagement strategy. Platforms like Plivo make that adoption easier with a reliable, enterprise-grade gateway to deliver rich, reliable RCS campaigns at scale.

RCS vs. SMS marketing: A quick comparison

Marketers today are looking for ways to deliver more interactive and visual communication, and RCS is clearly leading the way.

While SMS still works well for simple alerts, it lacks the creativity and engagement that RCS marketing offers.

Let’s take a quick look at RCS vs. SMS marketing.

Key feature SMS marketing RCS marketing
Message length Limited to 160 characters; with longer messages split Up to 8,000 characters in a single message
Multimedia Supports only plain text and links; needs MMS for multimedia Natively supports high-resolution photos, videos, audio, and GIFs
Security and verification No built-in sender verification Includes verified sender profiles with business name, logo, and custom colors
Read receipts No standardized way to know if a message was delivered or read Provides delivery and read receipts for real-time engagement tracking
Typing indicators Doesn't show when the other party is typing Displays typing indicators, creating a more conversational feel
Interactive buttons Not supported; calls to action (CTAs) are limited to plain text links Allows interactive buttons with predefined replies and actions
User experience Static, text-heavy, and transactional Dynamic, visually rich, and conversational — feels more like a mobile app
Analytics and reporting Basic delivery tracking (if supported by carrier) Advanced analytics: opens, clicks, conversions, and user behavior tracking

4 key benefits of RCS marketing

RCS marketing makes messaging feel more natural for both you and your customers. And since you can see what’s working and what’s not, it’s easier to pivot your strategy and get better results.

Here are its four key benefits.

1. Improved user interaction

One of the biggest advantages of RCS marketing is how seamless it makes the experience for your customers. Instead of typing out replies or clicking a link to open a website, users can just tap a button right inside the message.

Want them to book a demo, check order status, or browse products? It’s all possible with just a tap.

Fewer steps mean less effort, and that leads to more people following through. In fact, individuals spend up to 37 seconds engaging with RCS messages, which is a lot longer than most other types of mobile messaging.

 Image showing the engagement results of RCS messaging
People engage more with RCS than any other platform

That extra time and interaction can make all the difference when you’re trying to convert interest into action.

2. Consistent brand experience

RCS marketing doesn’t just tell people who you are — it shows them.

Verified business profiles help people know they’re getting messages from the real brand. Every message shows your brand’s logo, name, colors, and a checkmark. These small details make it clear that the message is coming from a genuine source.

Image showing that MAYI - HOMES sends a verified RCS message with branding
Verified RCS message from MAYI - HOMES

This consistency matters because 88% of people are more likely to buy from a brand they trust.

3. In-depth analytics

With RCS marketing, you can track open rates, button clicks, and how people interact with each part of your message.

You get clear visibility into what’s working and where users are dropping off. 

This makes it much easier to measure the return on investment (ROI) and fine-tune your campaigns. The more you understand how people engage, the better you can shape your messaging for results.

4. Higher conversion potential

RCS marketing makes it easier for customers to take action — whether that’s browsing products, booking a service, or making a purchase — all within the message itself.

With fewer clicks and no need to switch apps, the path to conversion feels effortless. And when it’s that easy, more people follow through.

For example, EaseMyTrip used RCS to run a post-COVID travel survey. They added quick-tap answer options and followed up with a thank-you coupon. The campaign saw a 4x higher click-through rate than email, 10x more survey completions, and a 2.7% increase in conversion rate.

5 major use cases of RCS marketing

Here are five major use cases showing how brands are using RCS marketing effectively.

1. Product promotions

RCS makes product promotions feel more like browsing a store than reading a message. Brands can send image carousels that customers can swipe through to explore new arrivals, check product details, and see what’s available without leaving their messaging app.

Verified RCS message highlights a 25% off promotion on all items
Verified RCS message from Daily-donuts

Example: A fashion retailer promoting its spring collection could send an RCS message featuring a carousel of outfits with styled images, prices, and buttons like “View Lookbook” or “Shop Now.”

Tapping a button could open a mini product page inside the chat, letting customers browse and buy without switching apps.

2. Abandoned cart reminders

The average cart abandonment rate is over 70%, which means most shoppers never make it to the finish line. RCS marketing can help bring them back by making the reminder more engaging and easier to act on.

You can send a message that shows exactly what they left behind, along with a clear button to complete the purchase. It’s visual, straightforward, and the entire experience stays within their messaging app.

Example: A home electronics store could follow up with customers who left a pair of wireless earbuds in their cart. The RCS message might include a product photo, the price, and a “Buy Now” button that takes them straight to checkout.

3. Appointment confirmations and reminders

A PhD thesis from Manchester Metropolitan University found that forgetfulness is the most common reason people skip their appointments.

RCS makes it easier for both businesses and customers to stay on the same page. You can send a message that shows the appointment details along with a simple calendar view. Add buttons to confirm, reschedule, or cancel — all within the chat.

Image depicting an interactive RCS booking confirmation message
Booking confirmation via RCS with quick action buttons

Example: A dental clinic could use RCS to remind patients of upcoming cleanings. The message might show the date, time, and location of the appointment, plus a “Confirm” button and options to “Reschedule” or “Cancel.”

Patients can respond instantly, helping the clinic manage its schedule more efficiently.

4. Customer surveys and feedback

Getting feedback is important, but most customers lack the time or patience to complete lengthy forms. RCS marketing makes it easier by allowing brands to ask short, targeted questions and receive quick responses.

Plus, the rich features of RCS let you include images, ratings, or multiple-choice options, making feedback feel more like a conversation.

Example: A restaurant could send an RCS message after a meal asking customers to rate their experience with simple buttons like “Excellent,” “Good,” or “Needs Improvement.”

The message might also include a photo of the dish they ordered and a quick question like, “What did you like most?” This quick interaction makes it easy for customers to respond and gives the restaurant valuable insights.

5. Customer support follow-ups

After a support request is resolved, following up shows customers you care and helps close the loop on their experience. But if the follow-up message gets buried in an email inbox or goes unnoticed, that opportunity to connect is lost.

With RCS marketing, you can send a quick message to check if everything’s working fine. You can include helpful buttons like “Change Password,” “Manage Account,” or “Talk to Support.”

Support bot provides instant replies and follow-ups for customer queries
AI-powered support for account management

RCS marketing myths and realities

Despite RCS marketing’s growing adoption and proven results, some common misconceptions still hold businesses back from trying it. Let’s look at a few of the biggest myths and what’s actually true.

Myth 1: RCS marketing is too expensive

At first glance, RCS business messaging can seem like a pricey upgrade. Rich visuals, tap-to-action buttons, and branded layouts look premium, so it’s easy to assume they come with a hefty cost.

But cost alone doesn’t tell the full story.

What you get in return matters more. RCS drives significantly stronger engagement with higher click-through rates, increased interactions, and better overall outcomes.

Take Club Comex, the loyalty program of North American paint brand Comex. They sent two rich and interactive RCS campaigns to their members and saw a 10x higher click-through rate, which helped increase revenue by 115%.

That’s the value side of the equation. Better targeting and richer content mean more people click, engage, and convert.

Myth 2: RCS marketing doesn’t reach enough users to be worth it

This concern made sense in the early days of RCS, when adoption was still catching up. But the landscape looks very different now.

In June 2024, the 12-month growth of RCS users reached 36.3%, showing faster uptake than other messaging channels. More Android devices support RCS by default, and it’s being rolled out across more networks globally. Even Apple has announced support, which means RCS is on track to reach a massive number of smartphone users worldwide.

With that kind of growth and widespread support, the hesitation around RCS is starting to fade. Brands can confidently invest in RCS marketing knowing it will connect with more customers than ever before.

Myth 3: RCS gets treated like spam and ends up ignored just like emails

Unlike email, RCS messages appear directly in the user’s primary messaging app alongside personal conversations. They include rich media and interactive elements, making them more engaging and less likely to be ignored.

This creates a more natural, conversational experience that drives higher open and response rates than traditional marketing channels.

Why choose Plivo for your RCS marketing needs

With RCS, you can turn simple messages into rich, branded conversations that feel more like chatting than broadcasting.

Plivo gives you the tools to make that shift without the hassle. From verified messaging to smart automation, everything works together to help you connect better and respond faster.

When combined with AI Agents and a unified customer data platform, RCS becomes more than just messaging. You can deliver personalized experiences at scale, automate everyday interactions, and keep conversations flowing without lifting a finger.

Here’s what you get with Plivo’s RCS API:

  • Real-time personalization: AI Agents tailor conversations using customer profiles and behavior triggers to improve engagement and conversions.
  • Multi-channel fallback: If RCS isn’t supported, messages automatically switch to SMS to ensure delivery and maintain consistent communication.
  • Conversational automation: AI Agents handle FAQs, process orders, schedule deliveries, and route complex queries within RCS.
  • All-in-one messaging platform: Manage RCS, SMS, WhatsApp, Voice, and more from a single dashboard.
  • Reliable performance: 99.99% uptime and global infrastructure keep your campaigns running smoothly.

With Plivo’s no-code tools, you can quickly launch AI-powered RCS messaging across channels and deliver a consistent customer experience from day one.

See how you can launch your first RCS marketing campaign with Plivo by requesting a demo today!

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Mar 17, 2021
5 mins

How to Evaluate an SMS API Provider

Consider these criteria when you evaluate which cloud communications platform should be your SMS API provider.

SMS API

How to evaluate an SMS API provider

Virtually every business can enhance their relationships with their customers by taking advantage of SMS text messaging to stay in touch. Consider some possible use cases:

  • Order status updates
  • Delivery and shipping notifications
  • Financial transaction alerts
  • Appointment reminders
  • Two-factor authentication and password resets

What about your business? Bet you’ve already thought of a way to use text messaging, and you want to consider how to start a pilot project — or maybe you already use an SMS API, but you want to add a second one for fault tolerance. Now you need to decide what SMS API provider to use.

The simple answer is: use Plivo. But if you’re one of those troublesome people who won’t settle for simple answers and require evidence before making a decision, we’ve put together a guide to choosing an SMS API provider. It walks you through the evaluation process, from figuring out how you want to use text messaging to highlighting the features you should look for. This post gives you a taste of the contents, but you should download the guide for the full story.

What to look for

Focus your evaluation on a few broad factors about each platform: features, geographic reach, and pricing.

By features, we’re talking about support for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), long code numbers (including 10DLC), short codes, and toll-free numbers, as well as things like rate limiting and message queuing, support for GSM and Unicode characters and smart encoding, and long message concatenation.

Geographic reach is an obvious factor. Your platform should be able to send messages to every country and region where you might have customers — and where you might have them in the future. Just to be on the safe side, look for a partner with a global presence, including relationships with in-country Tier 1 carriers with direct interconnectivity to local telecom network operators.

And while pricing isn’t necessarily your primary purchase criterion, it’s something everyone has to deal with. Look for transparent pricing, published on the vendor’s website. If you compare other platforms’ rates with Plivo’s prices, you’ll find we’re generally lower across the board.

The best SMS API

Features, reach, and pricing are important factors to consider. Check out our guide for details on those factors and more, then compare SMS API platforms. We think you’ll come to the conclusion that Plivo’s your best choice. Get started today for free.

Mar 16, 2021
5 mins

Take A Multivendor Approach To 2FA

Why and how you should take a multivendor approach to two-factor authentication. Use a second vendor to add fault tolerance to your critical 2FA process.

2FA

Authentication is a critical business function because it allows organizations to keep their systems safe. Only authorized users should be able to access protected resources, including data and computing services.

Since computing systems first came online they’ve employed user IDs and passwords to authenticate users, but with today’s powerful systems in the hands of hackers, passwords are easier than ever to crack, potentially leaving systems vulnerable to unauthorized users.

To increase security, organizations often turn to two-factor authentication (2FA), a process that requires users to provide a second form of authorization. That other factor might be something users have (such as a hardware token like a Titan Security Key or Yubikey), something that’s part of them (like a fingerprint, voiceprint, or facial image), or something they know (like the answer to a security question). Many organizations use SMS to get that second factor: Users enter a password and the authentication process sends them a code via SMS that they have to enter in order to get access. This ensures that the person logging in is the person holding the authorized user’s mobile device.

To implement 2FA, businesses integrate their applications with a communications platform — nowadays generally a cloud communications platform, also known as communications platform as a service (CPaaS). These systems provide APIs that developers can add to their applications to integrate sending and receiving text messages for 2FA and many other use cases.

But SMS platforms aren’t bulletproof. Sometimes a CPaaS provider’s messages have trouble getting through to the users that depend on them — and when you’re talking about a critical service like authentication, dropped and delayed text messages are critical failures.

You can make your SMS-based 2FA process more fault-tolerant by taking advantage of a second 2FA provider. That way, if one service fails to deliver, you can quickly switch to the second, which is unlikely to be subject to the same faults. (Disclaimer: Availability of second provider not guaranteed in the event of a global thermonuclear war.)

If you already use a cloud communications platform to power your 2FA process, we suggest you add Plivo as a secondary provider. Plivo offers a 99.99% service-level agreement (SLA) — and earned an overall satisfaction score of 92 on G2’s latest cloud communications report, making us the highest-rated cloud communication platforms on the market.

See for yourself how easy it is to add Plivo to your portfolio of communications tools. Sign up for free today.

Mar 15, 2021
5 mins

How to Send and Receive SMS in Node.js and Express.js Using Plivo's SMS API

Get started with Plivo’ SMS API, Node.js, and Express.js to send and receive SMS text messages.

Node.Js SDK
SMS API
How To

Your company has settled on Plivo to handle its voice and messaging communications, and now it’s your job to start integrating Plivo into your company’s applications. Don’t worry — Plivo has a Node.js SDK to help you out. You can use it write Node.js applications that send and receive SMS messages.

In this guide, we’ll outline the steps for getting set up to use Node.js and Express.js in Plivo’s SMS API. Start by setting up your Node.js environment and connecting your Plivo account. We’ve also got code snippets for you to leverage to send and receive messaging through our SMS API. By the end, you'll be ready to leverage SMS communication for notifications, alerts, or even two-way interactions in Node.js.

Prerequisites

To send SMS with Node.js, you need the following elements in place: 

If this is your first time using Plivo APIs, follow our instructions to set up a Node.js development environment. Once you’re completed these steps, carry on to learn how to send SMS in Node.js.

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Send SMS in Node.js

Create a file called SendSMS.js and paste this code into it.

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let plivo = require('plivo');
let client = new plivo.Client('auth_id', 'auth_token');

client.messages.create({
    src: '<sender_id>',
    dst: '<destination_number>',
    text: 'Hello, world!'
}).then(function(message_created) {
    console.log(message_created)
});

Replace the auth placeholders with actual values from the Plivo console. Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in E.164 format (for example, +12025551234). In countries other than the US and Canada you can use a sender ID for the message source. You must have a Plivo phone number to send messages to the US or Canada; you can rent a Plivo number from Phone Numbers >Buy Numbers on the Plivo console or via the Numbers API. Save the file and run it.

$ node SendSMS.js

Note: If you’re using a Plivo Trial account, you can send messages only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify (sandbox) a number by going to the console’s Phone Numbers > Sandbox Numbers page.

Receive SMS in Node.js

Of course, sending messages is only half of the equation. Plivo supports receiving SMS text messages in many countries (see our SMS API coverage page and click on the countries you’re interested in). When someone sends an SMS message to a Plivo phone number, you can receive it on your server by setting a Message URL in your Plivo application. Plivo will send the message along with other parameters to your Message URL.

Create a file called receive_sms.js (or whatever name you like) and paste into it this code.

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const express = require('express');
const bodyParser = require('body-parser');
const app = express();

app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({
    extended: true
}));
app.use(function (req, response, next) {
    response.contentType('application/xml');
    next();
});
app.set('port', (process.env.PORT || 3000));
app.all('/receive_sms/', function (request, response) {
    let from_number = request.body.From || request.query.From;
    let to_number = request.body.To || request.query.To;
    let text = request.body.Text || request.query.Text;
    //Print the message
    console.log('Message received - From: ' + from_number + ', To: ' + to_number + ', Text: ' + text);
});
app.listen(app.get('port'), function () {
    console.log('Node app is running on port', app.get('port'));
});

Save the file and run it.

You should then be able to see your basic server app in action on http://localhost:3000/receive_sms/.

That’s fine for testing, but it’s not much good if you can’t connect to the internet to receive incoming messages and handle callbacks. For that, we recommend using ngrok, which exposes local servers behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Install it and run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive messages.

Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server using the public network.

Sample ngrok CLI

Now you can create an application to receive SMS messages (follow our Quickstart guide for details).

Why use Node.js to send and receive SMS

Node.js's event-driven, non-blocking architecture is well-suited for handling SMS communications. It excels at handling multiple concurrent SMS requests without blocking the application and can efficiently manage high volumes of SMS traffic. 

Applications that use Node.js for backend benefit from all the pros of full-stack JavaScript development, including better efficiency, code sharing and reusability, speed, and productivity. Node.js is well-suited for applications requiring real-time SMS interactions, such as two-factor authentication or live chat.

Get started with Plivo to send SMS in Node.js

That’s all there is to sending and receiving SMS messages using Plivo’s Node.js SDK. 

Don’t use Node.js? Don’t worry — we have SDKs for Java, Python, PHP, Ruby, .NET Core, .NET Framework, and Go.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and only takes 5 minutes. Sign up today.

Mar 11, 2021
5 mins

Two CPaaS Platforms Are Better than One

You can use a second cloud communications platform to ensure uptime, balance traffic loads, and reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO).

CPaaS

The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to move many customer interactions into remote, mobile, and virtual channels — a process that was already underway, but that has accelerated in the last year. Many businesses now use SMS messaging, which gives companies a direct, automated, scalable, and cost-effective way to reach mobile customers in real time.

Businesses frequently automate voice interactions along with SMS. In addition to providing more personalized service than text messaging, voice can act as a backup communications channel, providing services if anything goes wrong with SMS.

That notion of having a backup is a good one. In addition to having a backup channel, you should also have a backup communication platform — a second SMS and voice provider, to ensure that your mission-critical communications channels stay up and running.

Network outages happen, and when they do, you want to be sure that your customers can still receive messages and critical information, and can access their accounts using two-factor authentication and one-time passwords — a common use case for SMS.

Multicloud CPaaS

Many organizations add fault tolerance to their IaaS and PaaS platforms by using multiple providers. In a report based on the 451 Research Voice of the Enterprise (VOTE) survey, 451 Senior Analyst Raul Castanon says, “As mainstream enterprise adoption continues to grow, we expect CPaaS will mirror key trends driving the evolution of the larger IaaS/PaaS market.” In a joint webinar with Plivo he reinforced that notion, saying, “CPaaS remains a fragmented space, highlighting the complexities in delivering real-time communications. Multicloud CPaaS can address challenges related to resiliency, scalability, coverage, and regulation.”

A multivendor approach reduces the risk of you going silent on your customers, but it has other benefits as well. Chief among them is cost savings. A multivendor approach lets you lower your total cost of ownership by using the provider that has the best quality and price in specific countries, regions, and networks.

What to look for

As you consider adding a second CPaaS platform to your infrastructure, you should consider two key factors: availability and support.

Availability and uptime

Any network platform can encounter unplanned outages. When that happens with a cloud communications platform, users can fail to receive important information such as account alerts, delivery notifications, and appointment reminders. Worse, they can experience issues with sign-in workflows. If someone doesn’t retrieve a text message for 2FA, they can’t access the resources they need on your systems.

Plivo promises 99.99% uptime. In practice we generally do better than that — check our status page for proof. That enables us to deliver more than a billion transactions every month. Any CPaaS provider should offer you service-level agreements (SLA) with similar uptime guarantees. If you have both a primary and a secondary CPaaS provider with those kinds of SLAs, chances are you’ll never lose touch with your customers.

Customer support

When downtime happens, as it inevitably does, you need to be able to get in touch with your provider to diagnose the issue and get it solved, whether it stems from your application, the CPaaS platform, or a carrier network. You want a partner that claims responsibility for getting you back in service, regardless of where the issue arose. You want to work with an organization that understands the unique telco laws and regulations in each country and works with carrier networks.

That’s a difficult task for some CPaaS providers that lack direct connections with carriers. Problem resolution takes a lot longer when your provider lacks visibility into the network. Other providers have limited support hours, or their support staff is unreachable unless you’re a top-tier enterprise customer.

Plivo is known for being one of the few providers that can offer technical help as needed on a per-customer basis. Customers can talk with solution engineers for guidance on complex integrations for fast issue resolution.

Plivo works directly with in-country Tier 1 carriers with direct interconnectivity to local telecom network operators in more than 100 countries. We have network engineers standing by 24/7 in network operations centers (NOC) in Austin, Texas, and Bengaluru, India, who can diagnose and solve problems quickly and get you back online.

These relationships enable our customers to make calls and send SMS messages to every country in the world without routing dilution or route blending. We offer the best possible connections worldwide, so you aren’t paying for undelivered messages.

Second to none

If you’re considering Plivo as a second CPaaS, we make it easy for you to get started. We have solution templates for several use cases, clear getting-started documentation, and flexible pay-as-you-go pricing for both SMS and Voice. (You’ll notice our rates are lower than those of most of our competitors.)

Businesses need to stay close to customers, prospects, and partners. Adding automated SMS and voice communications to their portfolio through a cloud communications platform lets businesses deliver the kinds of experiences their customers expect — and having a second platform to fall back on and spread the load lets them keep delivering even when things go wrong.

See for yourself — sign up for a free trial today.

Mar 4, 2021
5 mins

How to Make and Receive Phone Calls Using Plivo’s Voice API and PHP

How to make and receive outgoing and incoming voice calls using PHP with the Plivo Voice API.

PHP SDK
Voice API
How To

Your company has settled on Plivo to handle its voice and messaging communications, and now it’s your job to start integrating Plivo into your company’s applications. Don’t worry — Plivo has an SDK to help you out. Let’s see how to make outbound calls and handle incoming calls through Plivo in a PHP application.

Install the Plivo SDK

We’ll presume you already have PHP and Composer installed. Change to the directory into which you want to install the Plivo PHP release and run

$ composer require plivo/plivo-php

or you can download the source from our GitHub repository, then run

$ composer install

Find your Auth ID and Auth Token

You have to have proper credentials before you can use the Plivo API. We provide an Auth ID and Auth Token in the Account section at the top of the overview page of the Plivo console.

Find Your Auth Credentials on Plivo Console

Choose a phone number

You need an voice-enabled Plivo phone number if you want to receive incoming calls. Check the Numbers screen of your Plivo console to see what numbers you have available. You can also rent numbers from this screen.

Buy a New Plivo Number

Use PHLO to set up an outbound call

Now you can turn to PHLO, Plivo’s visual workflow design studio, to set up the workflow for an outbound call. Click on the PHLO icon on the left-side navigation bar, then on Create New PHLO. In the window that pops up, click Build My Own.

Let’s start with a very simple workflow. From the list of components on the left side, drag and drop the Initiate Call component onto the canvas, then connect the Start node to the Initiate Call node using the API Request trigger state.

Now you can add configuration information for the call in the right pane. Valid phone numbers begin with a plus sign and a country code. Add a caller ID number in the From field and a destination number in the To field, then click Validate to save the configuration.

PHLO lets you use variables for From and To values, but we’re keeping it simple for this example.

Now drag the Play Audio component onto the canvas. Connect the Initiate Call node to Play Audio using the Answered trigger state. In the Configuration panel, enter the text you want to play for the call recipient, then click Validate.

Create a PHLO for outbound calls

That’s all we’re going to do for now — we told you it was simple. Give the PHLO a name by clicking on the pencil icon in the upper left, then click the Save button in the upper right.

Run the PHLO to make a call

Now you can trigger the PHLO and test it out. Copy the PHLO ID from the end of the URL of the workflow you just created. You’re also going to need your Auth ID and Auth Token. Create a PHP source code file — let’s call it TriggerPhlo.php — and paste this code into it:

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<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use Plivo\Resources\PHLO\PhloRestClient;
use Plivo\Exceptions\PlivoRestException;
$client = new PhloRestClient("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>");

$phlo = $client->phlo->get("<PHLO_ID>");
try {
    $response = $phlo->run();
    print_r($response);
} catch (PlivoRestException $ex) {
    print_r($ex);
}

Substitute actual values for <auth_id>, <auth_token>, and <PHLO_ID>. Save the file and run it with the command

$ php TriggerPhlo.php

Boom — you’ve made an outbound call.

Set up inbound calls

Of course outbound calls are only half of the equation. Plivo supports inbound calls as well. To see how, let’s create another PHLO and again specify Build My Own. This time, drag the Play Audio component onto the canvas and connect the Start node to it using the Incoming Call trigger state. In the Configuration panel, enter some text to speak to the caller when the call is answered, then click Validate to save the configuration. Give this PHLO a name, then click Save.

Before you can receive a call using this PHLO, you have to assign it to a Plivo number. Go back to the Plivo console and click on Phone Numbers on the left nav bar. From the list of Your Numbers, click on the number you want to use. On the next screen, from the Application Type dropdown, choose PHLO. From the PHLO Name dropdown, choose the PHLO you just created. Then click Update Number at the bottom of the screen.

Create a PHLO to receive incoming call

Guess what? You’re done! You don’t have to run a program for this PHLO to work. Just call the Plivo number you specified and you should hear the message you configured read by Plivo’s text-to-speech processor.

Conclusion

And that’s all there is to sending and receiving voice calls using Plivo’s PHP SDK. Don’t use PHP? Don’t worry — we have SDKs for Ruby, Java, Node.js, Python, .NET Core, .NET Framework, and Go.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started takes only five minutes. Sign up today.

Feb 26, 2021
5 mins

Lessons in CPaaS Leadership: Reliability Rules

CPaaS Lessons: How Plivo builds reliability into its cloud communication platform.

CPaaS

Successful businesses maintain reliable communication with their customers. That doesn’t necessarily mean more communication, as anyone who’s opted out of too-frequent marketing emails would agree. It means that important information from the company gets to its customers, and vice versa.

To foster reliable communications, businesses need a reliable communications platform. That’s why Plivo puts so much effort into maintaining high deliverability and reliability for its communications platform as a service (CPaaS).

It starts with our internal infrastructure. Plivo is hosted on a cloud platform with high availability built in. We guarantee 99.99% uptime.

Messages and network traffic then go out over redundant links to the carriers in our network. We connect directly with Tier 1 telecom network operators in more than 100 countries, and have direct connectivity with carriers in more than 190 countries overall. Having those direct relationships means fewer interconnections and less chance of packets being dropped or misrouted.

We have seven points of presence (PoP) strategically located near high-traffic internet exchange points (IXP) on five continents, which helps us deliver sub-50-millisecond connections to carriers to give customers the best voice call experience. We staff geographically distributed network operations centers (NOC) in Austin, Texas, and Bangalore, India, to deliver round-the-clock support from trained engineers. All of which is to say that Plivo builds in high performance along with reliability.

Thanks to our investment in our global network, we ensure that customers’ messages take the fastest, most reliable routes. By doing that we provide low latency for both SMS and voice traffic and clearer voice calls. How do we know what routes are reliable? By getting constant feedback. Plivo sets up company-owned handsets as test nodes across all the countries we serve, using real phone numbers from carriers local to each region. We send messages to these test nodes and receive data back about voice and SMS deliverability and delivery speed. If we encounter issues, we dynamically and automatically reroute traffic to better-performing carriers.

Is all that effort working? According to our customers, yes. Here’s a sample of comments they’ve left in G2 reviews:

  • If you are looking for a simple and robust SMS API both for international or local use, Plivo is by far the most affordable and reliable choice. — Kaleab t
  • Having tried other vendors, we found Plivo to be easy and customisable, not to mention super reliable too. — Kaushik K
  • Their service is very reliable… even during events like hurricane Harvey (I live in Houston) their service was there 100% on-line for me and my clients. — Jorge Eliecer V
  • If you’re looking for a reliable alternative to the likes of Twilio, look no further. It’s simple to use, reliable, with plenty of features. — Tommy N

Plivo’s voice and SMS APIs let businesses incorporate phone calls and send and receive SMS messages within their own applications. Nowadays a reliable CPaaS makes more sense than building similar functionality in-house. No business should have to buy and maintain expensive equipment, handle carrier relationships, or hire additional developers to write and maintain their communication platform software.

Reliability is one of the factors, along with a strong carrier network and consultative customer support, that make Plivo stand out among cloud communications platforms, and that we’re highlighting in this post in our Lessons in CPaaS Leadership blog series. For a CPaaS, reliability isn’t something you build into your infrastructure and then ignore. It’s a constant process of checking routes and testing deliverability, which all goes on behind the scenes out of view of users. Plivo tries to make it look easy so you can rest assured that your messages will get through, because we’re not satisfied until you connect with your customers.

First, though, connect with us. Sign up for a free trial — it takes only five minutes.

Feb 24, 2021
5 mins

How to Send and Receive SMS Messages in PHP Using Plivo’s SMS API

Get started with Plivo’s SMS API and PHP to send and receive SMS text messages.

PHP SDK
SMS API
How To

Your company has chosen Plivo to handle its voice and messaging communications. Now, it’s your job to integrate Plivo into your company’s applications. Don’t worry — you can send SMS in PHP using the PHP SDK and easily write PHP applications that send and receive SMS messages.

This guide will explain the steps for sending and receiving SMS messages in PHP. We'll cover everything from setting up your account to crafting the code snippets for sending messages and handling incoming replies. By the end, you'll be ready to leverage Plivo’s SMS API to send notifications, alerts, or even two-way interactions within your PHP applications.

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Prerequisites

Before diving into the steps in this guide, make sure you have the following prerequisites ready to go. 

Send an SMS in PHP

Now you’re ready to start. Create a file called SendSMS.php and paste into it this code.

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<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';
use Plivo\RestClient;

$client = new RestClient("<auth_id>","<auth_token>");
$message_created = $client->messages->create([ 
       "src" => "<sender_id>",
       "dst" => "<destination_number>",
       "text"  =>"Hello, world!",
       "url"=>"https://<yourdomain>.com/sms_status/"
    ]
);

Replace the auth placeholders with actual values from the Plivo console. Replace the phone number placeholders with actual phone numbers in E.164 format (for example, +12025551234). In countries other than the US and Canada you can use a sender ID for the message source. You must have a Plivo phone number to send messages to the US or Canada; you can rent a Plivo number from Phone Numbers > Buy Numbers on the Plivo console or via the Numbers API. Save the file and run it.

Note: If you’re using a Plivo Trial account, you can send messages only to phone numbers that have been verified with Plivo. You can verify (sandbox) a phone number by going to the console’s Phone Numbers > Sandbox Numbers page.

Receive SMS in PHP

Of course sending messages is only half of the equation. Plivo supports receiving SMS text messages in many countries (see our SMS API coverage page and click on the countries you’re interested in). When someone sends an SMS message to a Plivo phone number, you can receive it on your server by setting a Message URL in your Plivo application. Plivo will send the message along with other parameters to your Message URL.

Create a file called receive_sms.php (or whatever name you like) and paste into it this code.

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<?php
require 'vendor/autoload.php';

$from_number = $_REQUEST["From"];
$to_number = $_REQUEST["To"];
$text = $_REQUEST["Text"];


echo("Message received - From $from_number, To: $to_number, Text: $text");

Save the file and run it.

$ php -S localhost:8000

You should then be able to see your basic server app in action at http://localhost:8000/receive_sms/.

That’s fine for testing, but it’s not much good if you can’t connect to the internet to receive incoming messages and handle callbacks. For that, we recommend using ngrok, which exposes local servers behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels. Install it and run ngrok on the command line, specifying the port that hosts the application on which you want to receive messages.

$ ./ngrok http [portnum]

Ngrok will display a forwarding link that you can use as a webhook to access your local server using the public network.

Sample ngrok CLI

Now you can create an application to receive SMS messages (follow our Quickstart guide for details).

Best practices for sending SMS with PHP

Make sure your SMS messages are received and read by following these best practices. 

1. Send using a valid phone number

Use a phone number that is registered with your gateway provider or a valid number associated with your account.

2. Use E.164 formatting

E.164 is an international standard numbering format developed for telephone systems worldwide. Numbers are a maximum of 15 digits starting with a plus sign (+) followed by the country code (e.g. 1 for the U.S.) and the mobile number.

3. Keep messages concise

Stick to around 160 characters to stay within GSM-7 encoding limits. 

4. Provide an opt-out option

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association’s (CTIA) guidelines require brands to give their audience a way to opt-out of receiving future text messages (such as, “reply STOP to stop receiving these messages”). 

To learn more about sending SMS with PHP, check out our developer documentation.

Get started with Plivo to send SMS in PHP

And that’s all there is to sending and receiving SMS messages using Plivo’s PHP SDK. Don’t use PHP? Don’t worry — we have SDKs for Java, Python, Node.js, Ruby, .NET Core, .NET Framework, and Go.

Haven’t tried Plivo yet? Getting started is easy and takes only five minutes. Sign up today.

Feb 24, 2021
5 mins

Announcing Configurable Callback Retries for Voice

Override default connection settings for Plivo’s Voice API to fit your needs with the configurable callback retries feature.

Voice API

With Plivo’s Voice API platform, you can programmatically make, receive, and control calls across the world by integrating voice calling within your applications using only a few lines of code.

However, calls sometimes fail, often as a result of intermittent network issues, and we want to give our customers the flexibility to decide what happens when those errors occur. Maybe you want longer timeouts to better support intermittent network issues between Plivo and your server or application. Or maybe you want to enable HTTP callback connection retries on any failures and timeouts. Or maybe you want to pair those retries with shorter connection timeouts to ensure faster failover to your fallback URL for a better user experience.

With our latest release, the choice is yours. Plivo’s new configurable callback retries feature for our Voice API lets you override our default connection settings to fit your needs and give our Voice customers the ultimate flexibility and control.

How it worksPlivo makes HTTP posts to webhooks as callbacks during different states of a call and to many URLs, such as answer_url, fallback_url, hangup_url, action, and callback_url. Webhooks act as an extension of an API, but instead of your code requesting data from our API platform, Plivo sends the data directly to you.

Whenever a webhook request fails due to some destination server issue, you can configure HTTP callback connection overrides on a per-webhook URL basis. To set a nondefault callback retry configuration for any given URL, you can append configuration parameters to the URL in the form of extensions (also known as fragments) as key-value pairs with the following syntax:

the first key-value pair should start with #key and value should be separated by =the key-value pairs should be separated by &The result might look like https://example.com/answer_url?query=123#ct=2000&rt=3000.

For a full breakdown of the timeouts available for the webhook URLs and their respective allowed values and default values, as well as how to configure the number of retries, see our product documentation.

If you already use Plivo’s Voice API and are familiar with HTTP callbacks, we encourage you to start using these new parameters in your applications. They add great flexibility to Plivo’s webhook callback requests.

Haven’t built a Plivo voice application before? No problem; we have Getting Started guides that can help you start adding voice capabilities to your applicat.

Feb 19, 2021
5 mins

How to Make and Receive Phone Calls Using Plivo’s Voice API and Ruby

How to make and receive outgoing and incoming voice calls using Ruby with the Plivo Voice API.

Ruby SDK
Voice API
How To

Your company has settled on Plivo to handle its voice and messaging communications, and now it’s your job to start integrating Plivo into your company’s applications. Don’t worry — Plivo has an SDK to help you out. Let’s see how to make outbound calls and handle incoming calls through Plivo's vOice API in a Ruby application.

Install the Plivo SDK

We’ll presume you already have Ruby installed. Change to the directory into which you want to install the Plivo Ruby gem and run

$ gem install plivo

or you can follow the instructions in our Quickstart guide.

Find your Auth ID and Auth Token

You have to have proper credentials before you can use the Plivo API. We provide an Auth ID and Auth Token in the Account section at the top of the overview page of the Plivo console.

Find Your Auth Credentials on Plivo Console

Choose a phone number

You need an voice-enabled Plivo phone number if you want to receive incoming calls. Check the Numbers screen of the Plivo console to see what numbers you have available. You can also rent numbers from this screen.

Buy a New Plivo Number

Use PHLO to set up an outbound call

Now you can turn to PHLO, Plivo’s visual workflow design studio, to set up the workflow for an outbound call. Click on the PHLO icon on the left navigation bar, then on Create New PHLO. In the window that pops up, click Build My Own.

Let’s start with a simple workflow. From the list of components on the left side, drag and drop the Initiate Call component onto the canvas, then connect the Start node to the Initiate Call node using the API Request trigger state.

Now you can add configuration information for the call in the right pane. Valid phone numbers begin with a plus sign and a country code. Add a caller ID number in the From field and a destination number in the To field, then click Validate to save the configuration.

PHLO lets you use variables for From and To values, but we’re keeping it simple for this example.

Now drag the Play Audio component onto the canvas. Connect the Initiate Call node to Play Audio using the Answered trigger state. In the Configuration panel, enter the text you want to play for the call recipient, then click Validate.

Create a PHLO for outbound calls

That’s all we’re going to do for now — we told you it was simple. Give the PHLO a name by clicking on the pencil icon in the upper left, then click the Save button in the upper right.

Run the PHLO to make a call

Now you can trigger the PHLO and test it out. Copy the PHLO ID from the end of the URL of the workflow you just created. You’re also going to need your Auth ID and Auth Token. Create a Ruby source code file — let’s call it trigger_phlo.rb — and paste this code into it:

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require 'rubygems'
require 'plivo'

include Plivo

client = Phlo.new("<auth_id>", "<auth_token>")

\# if credentials are stored in the   PLIVO_AUTH_ID and the PLIVO_AUTH_TOKEN environment variables
\# then initialize client as:
\# client = Phlo.new

begin
  phlo = client.phlo.get('<phlo_id>')
  response = phlo.run()
  puts response
rescue PlivoRESTError => e
  puts 'Exception: ' + e.message
end

Substitute actual values for <auth_id>, <auth_token>, and <PHLO_ID>. Save the file and run it with the command

$ ruby trigger_phlo.rb

Boom — you’ve made an outbound call.

Set up inbound calls

Of course outbound calls are only half of the equation. Plivo supports inbound calls as well. To see how, let’s create another PHLO and again specify Build My Own. This time, drag the Play Audio component onto the canvas and connect the Start node to it using the Incoming Call trigger state. In the Configuration panel, enter some text to speak to the caller when the call is answered, then click Validate to save the configuration. Give this PHLO a name, then click Save.

Before you can receive a call using this PHLO, you have to assign it to a Plivo number. Go back to the Plivo console and click on Phone Numbers on the left nav bar. From the list of Your Numbers, click on the number you want to use. On the next screen, from the Application Type dropdown, choose PHLO. From the PHLO Name dropdown, choose the PHLO you just created. Then click Update Number at the bottom of the screen.

Create a PHLO to receive incoming call

Guess what? You’re done! You don’t have to run a program for this PHLO to work. Just call the Plivo number you specified and you should hear the message you configured read by Plivo’s text-to-speech processor.

Conclusion

And that’s all there is to sending and receiving voice calls using Plivo’s Ruby SDK. Don’t use Ruby? Don’t worry — we have SDKs for PHP, Java, Node.js, Python, .NET Core, .NET Framework, and Go.

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