Kiwibank's phone bot cuts 1,358 reasons for calling down to 23
In plain words
Kiwibank swapped an old phone bot for an AI voicebot that understands why people are calling and sends them to the right place.
What happened: 27% fewer calls passed between staff, and calls answered 49% faster.
Source: genesys.com ↗
How to do it yourself
Our suggested steps. The company didn't publish theirs.
- 1
Pull your last 200 calls (or call notes) and group them into at most 10 reasons people call.
- 2
For each reason, decide: answer it, book it, or send to a person.
- 3
Set up a Vapi/Retell agent with the prompt below and those routes.
- 4
Test 30 calls yourself, including accents and noisy lines.
- 5
Put it on after-hours first, then overflow, then main line.
The instructions to give the AI
Paste this into Retell AI (the free plan is fine), swap the [brackets] for your details, and test it on a few real examples.
This is one part of the setup. It won't connect to your phone, inbox or other apps on its own; the steps above cover that.
Agent instructions (prompt)
You are the phone receptionist for [business]. Greet briefly, ask how you can help, and classify the caller's reason into one of: [list up to 10 reasons]. For [answerable reasons] answer from these facts: [paste]. For bookings, collect name, phone, preferred time. For anything else or if unsure after one clarification, transfer to [number]. Keep replies under 2 sentences.
[Highlighted] = replace with your own details before you run it.
What you should get back: "Thanks for calling — sounds like a billing question. I'll put you through to accounts now."
Written by Quickly and Good, inspired by this case.
More detail: tools, prices and what you'll need
The company used: Genesys Cloud
You could use: A voice agent: Vapi, Retell AI or Synthflow, connected to your phone number
- Retell AI
Phone voice agents that answer and make calls, book appointments and transfer.
Pay as you go, $0.07-$0.31/min; $10 free credit · Official site ↗
Prices from each tool's own pricing page, checked Oct 2026.
What you'll need
- ☐A phone number the agent can answer (from the voice platform or Twilio)
- ☐A voice-agent platform (e.g. Retell AI, Vapi or Synthflow)
- ☐Connection to your calendar or job system so it can actually book
- ☐A knowledge base: services, prices, hours, service area, FAQs
- ☐The agent instructions (prompt) and a call script
- ☐20+ test calls, including angry, confused and off-topic callers
- ☐Transfer to a human for emergencies and anything it is unsure about
- ☐Call-recording/AI disclosure that meets local rules
Can I do this myself?
Possible if you are comfortable wiring tools together and testing for a week or two. If not, hire a builder: most owners do.
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