# Voice Bot Basics

### Overview

Voice Bots manage automated phone call conversations that are part of a user's [Journey](../../concepts/journeys). They can be used as [Events](../../studio/events) to start a Journey or started as part of an Action Chain.

Voice Bots provide a way to tie phone calls into a user Journey, making them a crucial part of [call deflection](https://docs.airkit.ai/?q=building-a-call-deflection-app), following up with users, and [automating the process of managing scheduled phone calls](../calendars/rescheduling-deflected-calls).

### Preparing the Web Page for the Voice Bot

The simplest example is to create a Voice Bot triggered from a Web Page to a phone number previously stored by the App.

Since the Voice Bot is triggered from a Web Page and the user will receive a phone call with an SMS option, a [simple form](https://github.com/airkit/airkit-docs/blob/master/docs/v18-2/form-basics.md) and a Chat Bot must be created first.

In this example, the user will complete the form with their name and phone number and, when clicking on the “Track my order” button, a phone call will be triggered to their phone number.

![organizing info](https://3088276961-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FC6qMwMGWBgxnN70QsDuH%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-e19da848323bb9f15c30efc16ddc9814d09b1b48%2Fvoice-bot-basics-v182-0.png?alt=media)

Three Actions must be added to the button for it to trigger the Voice Bot:

1. [Set Actor](../../concepts/actors): to set the variable that will indicate to the App which number to call
2. [Initialize Actor](../../actions/the-initialize-actor-action): to set the values for the current Actor in the Journey
3. [Start Voice Bot](https://github.com/airkit/airkit-docs/blob/master/docs/v18-2/the-start-voice-bot-action.md): to run the selected Voice Bot

![](https://3088276961-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FC6qMwMGWBgxnN70QsDuH%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-7c390941c438e9bf59423d8435e1dd6914c9598c%2Fvoice-bot-basics-v182-1.png?alt=media)

### Creating the Voice Bot itself

Voice Bots are created from the [Voice Bots Builder](../../studio/builder-bar/voice-bots-builder).&#x20;

Click on the '+' sign next to Voice Bots and then select **Create Blank** or a Voice Bot Template.

![](https://3088276961-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FC6qMwMGWBgxnN70QsDuH%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-d8ff965605aa9adb73dde578c79af5d075a93eda%2Fvoice-bot-basics-v182-2.png?alt=media)

Select [Decision Menu](../../voice-and-chat-controls/decision-menu-control) and type the message the user will listen to. Next, enter the Decision Options the user will receive upon following the Voice Bot indications.&#x20;

Use the Keyword Matcher to capture voice responses or the DTMF Matcher to capture pressed keys on the phone.

![](https://3088276961-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FC6qMwMGWBgxnN70QsDuH%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-8ae633042651a18f31287c8a04f58799424ec918%2Fvoice-bot-basics-v182-3.png?alt=media)

In this example, “Response 2” will allow the user to perform self-service. To configure “Response 2”, go to its Decision Menu and, in Actions, select **Start Chat Bot** from **After Voice Prompt** and pick the corresponding [Chat Bot](../../sms/chat-bot-basics).

![](https://3088276961-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FC6qMwMGWBgxnN70QsDuH%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-133af1740e2c02bd99bd1933ebf225be67373ae9%2Fvoice-bot-basics-v182-4.png?alt=media)

This way, after pressing the self-service option, the user will receive an SMS to continue to self-service from the Web Flow.

Finally, [Style Variants](../../web-controls/web-controls-overview/common-style-properties-of-web-controls) can be added to Voice Bots to customize the message.

![organizing info](https://3088276961-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FC6qMwMGWBgxnN70QsDuH%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-112032c95f614c76f719ef96cf25c33df184a79e%2Fvoice-bot-basics-v182-5.png?alt=media)

We recommend adding transparent naming to all Voice Bot components to easily connect the  Decision Options to each expected result.
