Twelve questions to ask before you buy voice AI
Every voice AI demo sounds good. The agent is friendly, the booking goes through, the salesperson smiles. The differences show up later, in the settings screen, on the invoice and on the day you want to leave. These twelve questions are the ones we would ask if we were buying. Ask them in writing and keep the answers; a supplier who cannot answer in one sentence is telling you something too.
Where the data goes
1. Where are the servers, and is that the default or an upgrade?
"EU hosting available" can mean a region you have to pay extra for. Ask where your recordings and transcripts will physically sit on the package you are actually buying. We wrote about why this is the first question in why your AI receptionist should live in the EU.
2. Which companies hear, think and speak?
A voice agent is three models: one listens, one thinks, one talks. Each is made by a company with its own data terms. Ask for the list, ask whether you can choose, and ask whether the provider is shown in the product or buried in a policy.
3. How is recording handled, and can it wait for consent?
Off, on, or on only after the caller agrees. If the product cannot do the third, you will end up recording everyone or nobody. See call recording and consent in Europe.
4. How long is data kept, and who can delete it?
The right answer is a number of days you set, per type of data, and a delete button you can press yourself. "Contact support to delete" is a no.
How it behaves on the phone
5. Does it say it is an AI?
It should, in the greeting, in the caller's language. Ask to hear it. A product that lets you hide this is a product that will earn you a complaint.
6. What does it do when it does not know?
Ask the demo a question outside its script. A good agent says it does not know and offers a message or a callback. A bad one makes something up. Then ask what stops it from saying "booked" when no booking exists; our post on stopping a voice agent from bluffing explains what that safeguard looks like.
7. How does it transfer a call?
Cold transfer, where the call jumps and the caller repeats everything, or warm transfer, where the agent briefs the colleague first and returns to the caller if nobody answers. Ask which one, and what happens on voicemail. See warm transfer vs. cold transfer.
8. Which languages does it really speak?
"Supports 40 languages" often means the text model can write them. Ask whether the listening model, the voice and the safety phrases like "put me through" work in your language, and whether the agent can follow a caller who switches mid-call. Then test it with a native speaker.
What it costs, and how you leave
9. What does a minute cost, all in?
Some products bill the platform, the model and the phone minute separately. Ask for the price of one minute of a real call on your package, and how the price changes with the engine you choose.
10. Are there seats, per-agent fees or a setup fee?
Count the people who need to log in and the agents you will build. A price that grows with both can double before you notice.
11. Can I build and test before I pay?
You should be able to write instructions, pick a voice and call the agent from your browser before a card is involved. If the only way to hear it is a sales call, you are buying a demo.
12. How do I leave?
Can you take your phone number with you, export your calls and leads, and delete your account yourself? Ask before you sign, because it is the one question nobody wants to answer afterwards.
How to score the answers
Do not build a spreadsheet with weights. Sort the twelve into three piles: must have, nice to have, and do not care. Most businesses put one, three, four, five and twelve in the first pile, because those are the ones that cause trouble with a customer or an auditor. Then take the shortlist that passes the first pile and test each product with ten real calls. The calls will decide, not the brochure.
Where NordTell fits
We wrote these questions because they are the ones we built the product around: servers in the EU, the provider printed next to each model, recording off or on or on after consent, retention in days, a warm transfer that returns to the caller, safety nets in 13 languages, one price per minute with no seats or setup fee, and a free account to build and test in the browser. Ask us the same twelve; the answers are on the pricing and product pages.