Policy · 19 January 2026 · 5 min read
Why we tell callers they're talking to a machine
Several jurisdictions now require an automated caller-facing system to identify itself. Several don't. We announce it everywhere by default, and here is the reasoning, including the commercial part.
The rule we apply
tryorbell opens with your business name and, when disclosure is on, one short clause identifying itself as an automated assistant. It is one sentence, at the top, before anything is asked of the caller. Account holders can switch it off only where local law permits, and the setting shows which law applies to the number in question.
What it costs
We ran it as an experiment across 140,000 calls. Booking completion on calls with disclosure was 34.1%. Without disclosure it was 34.6%. The gap is inside the noise, and it disappeared entirely when we controlled for time of day.
What did move was escalation: disclosed calls were transferred to a human 19% more often, because callers asked for one rather than discovering the situation halfway through. We consider that an improvement, not a cost.
What we won't do
- Voice cloning of a named member of your staff.
- Claiming to be a person when asked directly. If a caller asks, tryorbell says so plainly.
- Continuing a call where the caller has clearly asked for a human and one is available.
These are product constraints, not settings. They are the same on every plan.
Ready when your phone is
Answer every call from tomorrow morning.
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