Nearly 28% of customer calls go unanswered, and during the holidays, that number climbs even higher.1 Picture your business at its busiest: a line of customers waiting for help, phones ringing nonstop, and half your team out on holiday break. With fewer hands on deck and constant demand for support, every missed call becomes a missed opportunity.
Whether you're busy helping customers in person or managing urgent requests out in the field, the holidays can quickly push your team to its limits. That’s where Voice Assist comes in. Acting as your 24/7 seasonal employee, Voice Assist, an AI voice assistant, answers, captures, and qualifies every call so you can keep business moving and your team can enjoy time off with family and friends.
Here are five ways to use Voice Assist to manage the rush, maximize ROI, and prevent team burnout this holiday season.
1. Capture every lead, even when you’re away
Shorter holiday hours and time off often mean fewer people are available to answer the phone, but your marketing campaigns keep running. This means you are paying for ads, but often those leads are coming in when no one is around to respond.
Your ad spend doesn’t take time off. Neither should your call coverage.
With Voice Assist, you never miss a lead. It answers calls, collects lead details, and qualifies prospects 24/7, so every opportunity gets captured and logged automatically in your Call Tracking dashboard.
Your team can take a well-deserved break knowing that every call and every ad dollar is accounted for.
Tip: For brick-and-mortar businesses, turn Voice Assist on during extended hours or lunch breaks so you can focus on in-store customers while still capturing new leads.
2. Prioritize the right calls faster
As the holidays approach, call volume spikes, but not every inquiry is high intent. Some callers are comparison shopping, seeking information, or not yet ready to make a purchase.
Let AI handle the sorting so your team can focus on the calls that close.
Voice Assist automatically qualifies and prioritizes each caller, surfacing the best opportunities first. For example, if you’re running a promotion that drives lots of interest, Voice Assist can handle those intake calls automatically while routing urgent or high-value callers directly to your team – keeping phones covered without pulling your staff away from revenue-generating conversations.
After a busy night or weekend, start your day by checking the Unique Callers page. Filter by past day, sort by Lead Score – Highest First, and scan the reasoning behind each score. You’ll instantly see which callers to follow up with — whether that means confirming an appointment, sending a quick text or email, or verifying everything’s been logged correctly in your CRM.
Tip: Use lead scores to prioritize your follow-ups. Start with high-scoring leads to focus your time on the calls most likely to convert, while Voice Assist continues handling lower-priority inquiries automatically.
3. Boost response speed and customer experience
During the holidays, even brief delays in follow-up can result in lost leads. With so many customers juggling travel, shopping, and family plans, messages get lost easily — this is the season to overcommunicate.
Keep conversion rates merry and bright with instant engagement.
Voice Assist keeps conversations moving by sending automatic texts to confirm receipt of a call, share next steps, or schedule appointments. You can continue the text conversation directly from your CallRail web or mobile app. If your team needs to return a call, the CallRail mobile dialer allows them to do so from the same tracking number.
Voice Assist also supports custom call routing that direct calls based on urgency or caller type. For example, you can set it to direct first-time callers with urgent needs to an on-call team member, while the AI handles general inquiries. This ensures high-priority calls are answered fast without overwhelming your team.
For setup guidance, see Voice Assist articles in the Help Center
And this intelligent routing is only getting smarter. Voice Assist is evolving to analyze conversations in real time, automatically determining a caller's intent. Imagine your assistant understanding during the call whether a person is a high-intent sales lead or an existing customer needing support, then routing them to the perfect team member instantly. This ensures every caller gets the fastest, most personalized experience possible, all while your team stays focused on the right priorities.
Tip: Use custom call routing in your Smart Profile to automatically direct urgent or high-value calls to a live team member while Voice Assist handles routine inquiries. If you’re unsure how to customize your setup, our AI Expert Team can help you fine-tune your prompts at no cost.
4. Streamline seasonal promotions
Holiday campaigns move quickly, and managing call scripts or greetings across multiple channels can be a challenge. Voice Assist makes it simple. Update your greetings and call flows in real time to reflect your latest promotions, hours, or limited-time offers.
Launching a new campaign on Friday morning? Your voice assistant can be updated in a snap.
By referencing your website content, Voice Assist automatically stays current with your most recent offers. You can also add your holiday offers to your Smart Profile, and your AI greeting can even encourage customers to ask about them (“Ask me about our holiday sale!”).
This keeps messaging consistent across all locations and ensures your seasonal promotions shine during busy periods. On your busiest sale days, Voice Assist handles the phones while your in-store team focuses on customers face-to-face. You can also keep your promotions active after hours, extending your reach and capturing leads long after your doors close.
For feature specifics and setup options, use the Voice Assist overview.
Tip: Update your Smart Profile to include holiday promos so every greeting reflects your latest offers – instantly and consistently.
5. Maximize ROI from Q4 ad spend
With holiday ad costs at their peak, every click counts. Voice Assist ensures that every campaign-driven call is answered, logged, and attributed, providing a clear view of what’s working. By capturing after-hours calls and routing high-value leads to your team, you can maximize the impact of every marketing dollar.
Stretch your holiday budget further with AI that makes every click count.
For agencies and service-based businesses running Google Local Services Ads (LSAs), this can be especially valuable. Answering every call helps maintain ad rankings and reliability while staff are out of office. Plus, lead scores help identify unqualified calls so you can dispute invalid LSAs with Google and reduce wasted spend.
Tip: Review your Voice Assist lead scores in CallRail to spot bad or irrelevant leads and request Google refunds for poor-quality LSAs.
Give your team the gift of breathing room
The holidays should be a time to celebrate, not a source of stress. Voice Assist helps you keep campaigns running, customers happy, and your team rested without missing a single opportunity.
Train your custom AI voice assistant now so it is ready before the rush. CallRail’s AI Expert Team offers hands-on support to fine-tune scripts for holiday promotions, special hours, and time-sensitive handoffs.
