Scenarios is one place to teach your Receptionist how to handle phone calls: what to say when picking up, and what to do during the call. Before, that was spread across separate Welcome Greeting, Transfer Calls, Qualify Leads, and Ending Message screens. Scenarios brings them together into a single playbook per Beside line.
You define two things: how the Receptionist answers, and what happens during the call. On a live call, your Receptionist uses this configuration to greet callers, follow your rules, run actions (transfer, book, text, ask, tell, take a message), and sign off in its own words.
🚀 Availability: Scenarios is available to everyone - on the Beside mobile app (iPhone and Android) and on Beside on the web. It is now the only way to configure your Receptionist's call playbook: the separate legacy screens have been removed.
The six actions your Receptionist can run
Your Receptionist has six actions available. You combine them to build the rules your Receptionist follows during a call.
Action | What it does | When to use it |
Transfer Call | Sends the caller to a team member on your line, or to an external phone number. | Escalation, sales hand-offs. |
Book Appointment | Your Receptionist checks your calendar, books a time with the caller, and can text them a confirmation. | Requires a calendar connected to that line. |
Send a Text | Your Receptionist texts the caller a message you provide. | Follow-ups, opening hours, links, confirmations. |
Tell Caller | Your Receptionist says specific information out loud on the call. | Sharing information verbally instead of by SMS. |
Ask a Question | Your Receptionist asks the caller to provide information and uses the answer. | Lead qualification, callback numbers, project details. |
Take a Message | Your Receptionist collects the caller's name, reason for calling, and best callback information. | Voicemail-style intake when no transfer or booking is needed. |
📌 Action labels by surface:
On the Beside mobile app, the actions are Transfer Call, Book Appointment, Send Text, Tell Caller, Ask Question, and Take Message.
On Beside on the web, the same six are Transfer Call, Book Appointment, Send a Text, Tell Caller, Ask a Question, and Take a Message.
💡 Text a booking link after the call:
If you take bookings through your own scheduling tool (for example Calendly, Vagaro, or a page on your website), add a rule that uses the Send a Text action to text the caller your booking link - for example: When the caller wants to book, send a text with my scheduling link. Your Receptionist sends it during the call so the caller can schedule themselves.
This is different from Book Appointment, which books directly into a connected Google or Outlook calendar. Use Send a Text when you'd rather callers book through your existing system, and Book Appointment when you want the Receptionist to put the appointment straight on your calendar.
Before you start
Your line must have Receptionist enabled.
To use Book Appointment: connect a calendar first at Receptionist → Integrations → Connect Calendar.
To transfer to a team member: at least one team member must be on that line.
For your Receptionist to tell callers when you're closed: set your Operating hours in Receptionist → Knowledge. Without them it never mentions being open or closed. 📖 Train your AI Receptionist
Set up Scenarios
The building blocks are the same everywhere - a welcome greeting, and your call reasons with their actions - but the editor looks a little different on the mobile app and on the web.
💡 Your greeting can include the caller's name:
If Caller Memory is on for the line, your Receptionist greets returning callers by their first name using the greeting you wrote here - Beside rewrites it so the name fits naturally, keeping your wording and tone. You don't write a separate greeting for it.
Callers it doesn't know yet hear your greeting exactly as you wrote it.
From the Beside mobile app (iPhone & Android)
Open the Beside mobile app and go to Receptionist.
Open Scenarios.
The Scenarios screen is organized into numbered steps:
1. AI picks up the phone - tap Welcome Greeting to edit what your AI says when it answers.
2. Why are they calling? - your list of call reasons. Tap Call reason to add one, or tap an existing reason to edit it.
If a third step, 3. Wrapping up, is still on your screen, your app is out of date. That step has been retired: see below.
🟡 The Ending Message has been retired:
Your Receptionist now closes the call in its own words: what happens next, when you open again if you're closed, and a thank-you. There's no sign-off to write.
The Wrapping up step and its Ending Message field are gone from Beside on the web, iPhone and Android. If you still see them, you're on an older version of the app, and updating it removes them.
Anything you saved there is kept, but it is no longer read out on calls.
Telling callers you're closed
Telling callers you're closed
You no longer write a separate closed greeting. Your regular welcome greeting plays, and then, if you're closed at that moment, your Receptionist opens its first reply by saying so - with the reason and when you open next, like "Closed today for Thanksgiving. Opens tomorrow, Friday, at 8:00 AM."
Open and closed come from your Receptionist's Operating hours (Receptionist → Knowledge), including their Closed dates. A day marked Closed or By appointment counts as closed. If no Operating hours are set, your Receptionist never mentions being open or closed.
The old Use a different greeting when we're closed toggle is gone from Beside on the web, iPhone and Android. If you still see it in the Welcome Greeting editor, you're on an older version of the app: anything you set there no longer affects calls, and updating the app removes it.
Add or edit a call reason
Add or edit a call reason
Tap Call reason (or an existing reason) to open the Call Reason editor.
Give it a name under Name this reason.
Under IF - Caller says something like, add a few example phrases your Receptionist listens for (for example, "I need a quote", "I want an estimate"). They don't need to be an exact match.
Under THEN - Your AI will..., tap + Action and pick one or more actions. Chain several actions to build the full response.
Tap Save - or Delete to remove the reason.
The Add Action sheet offers six actions: Transfer Call, Book Appointment, Send Text, Tell Caller, Ask Question, and Take Message.
Set the Book Appointment settings
Set the Book Appointment settings
Each action opens its own editor. The Book Appointment action is where you set Booking hours, Add events to, Duration and Buffer Time for that call reason - and the confirmation text your caller receives:
Under Confirmation text, turn on Send confirmation text message.
Edit the Message (up to 480 characters). The default is "Thank you for your call. I confirm your meeting with {business_name} on {date} at {time} for {duration} minutes." - keep the {business_name}, {date}, {time} and {duration} placeholders where you want those values filled in.
Your Text Receptionist signature is added automatically. Tap Manage signature. to edit it - it's shared with everything else your Receptionist texts.
Because this lives on the action, two call reasons that both book can send two different confirmation texts. This works the same on iPhone and Android. On Beside on the web, confirmation texts are still a single switch on the Calendar page that covers every Book Appointment action.
From Beside on the web
On the web, your full setup lives on a single page. You write one playbook in a rich-text editor and drop in actions with @ mentions.
Open the editor
Sign in at app.beside.com/ai-receptionist/call-flow.
Open Receptionist in the sidebar.
Under Actions, click Scenarios.
The page has two sections
Welcome greeting - the first thing the Receptionist says when it picks up (500-character limit, with a hint if it gets too long).
Call handling - what your Receptionist does for different types of calls. There is no fixed character limit, but if the instructions get very long, Save is refused with "Your call handling instructions are too long. Shorten them and try again." Your text stays in the editor so you can trim it.
The top-right corner has Discard and Save changes buttons.
Write your call handling
Each rule follows the same pattern: When the caller says something like "[example phrase]", [action chip]. You can chain multiple action chips in one rule (for example, ask a question, then send a text).
Click into the Call handling field.
Type @ anywhere in the editor to open the action menu, then type to filter (for example, @book).
Pick an action and fill in its details. An action chip appears in your text - keep writing around it.
Click a chip to edit it. Use the chip's remove control to delete it.
Configuring each action:
Transfer Call - opens a Transfer to sub-menu with two options: Team member (forward to someone on your team) or External phone (forward to an outside number). When you add a transfer, you can also set a Transfer message (optional) - a short line that lets the caller know they're being connected (e.g. Connecting you to our billing team). Your Receptionist paraphrases it to the caller just before the recipient's line rings; leave it blank and your Receptionist uses its own wording. You can also add or edit the transfer message from the Transfer Call action in Scenarios on the Beside mobile app (iPhone or Android).
Book Appointment - requires a connected calendar. If none is connected, a tooltip prompts you to connect one in Receptionist → Integrations → Connect Calendar first. Booking hours, duration, destination calendar and the confirmation text switch are on the Calendar page on the web, not on the chip - and the switch applies to every Book Appointment action at once. To give one call reason its own confirmation message, edit that action on the Beside mobile app (iPhone or Android).
Send a Text - write the message your Receptionist will text the caller.
Tell Caller - write the script your Receptionist will say out loud on the call.
Ask a Question - write the question your Receptionist will ask. The answer is saved and appears in the call summary.
Take a Message - no fields to fill in. Your Receptionist will collect the caller's name, reason for calling, and best callback information.
💡 Improve with AI: rewrites your instructions to be clearer and easier for the Receptionist to follow. You can review the result before applying it.
🟡 Watch for the yellow banner: if you type instructions like "transfer to..." or "book..." as plain text without using @ action chips, a yellow warning appears. Your Receptionist will only run actions that are inserted as chips, not text descriptions of them.
Click Save changes in the top right to apply your greeting and call handling together. Discard reverts to your last saved version, and leaving the page with unsaved edits prompts a confirmation.
Test your setup
On either surface, place a demo call and walk through your setup to confirm everything sounds right.
Coming from the old setup
If you'd already set up Welcome Greeting, Transfer Calls, or Qualify Leads on the legacy screens, you don't need to recreate any of it. All of your existing configuration was carried into the new layout - greetings, rules, questions, and all.
Those legacy screens have now been removed on iPhone, Android and Beside on the web. Scenarios replaces them.
How the old settings map to the new layout
Old setting | Where it appears in Scenarios |
Welcome Greeting | Welcome greeting |
Ending Message | Retired - your Receptionist now writes its own sign-off |
Transfer Calls scenarios | Rules with a Transfer Call action |
Qualify Leads scenarios | Rules with one Ask a Question action per question |
Send text scenarios (if any) | Rules with a Send a Text action |
Book Appointment actions are not auto-recreated from the old setup - add them yourself in Scenarios where you want them. Your calendar connection is unaffected.
FAQ
What happened to the Welcome Greeting, Transfer Calls, and Qualify Leads screens?
What happened to the Welcome Greeting, Transfer Calls, and Qualify Leads screens?
They have been removed, on iPhone, Android and Beside on the web. Everything they did now lives in Scenarios, and whatever you had configured on them was carried over - your greeting, your transfer rules, and your lead qualification questions. Open Scenarios and you'll find them as your welcome greeting, and your call reasons and their actions.
What happened to the Ending Message?
What happened to the Ending Message?
It has been retired. Your Receptionist now ends the call in its own words - telling the caller what happens next, when you open again if you're closed, and thanking them for calling - so there's no sign-off left to write.
The Wrapping up section is gone from Beside on the web, iPhone and Android. If you can still see it, you're on an older version of the app: anything you type there is kept but no longer read out on calls, and updating the app removes it. If yours is still being read, see the next question.
My Receptionist still reads our old ending message. Why?
My Receptionist still reads our old ending message. Why?
If your Receptionist hasn't handled a call in a while, it may still be reading the ending message you saved before. It stops for good the next time anything on that Receptionist is saved.
Save what matters first. If that ending told callers something they need, like a callback time, an emergency number, or where to text you, copy it into Business Knowledge → Additional Details (Company Knowledge on the web) before you change anything else. Your Receptionist keeps telling callers whatever lives there.
There's text in my Additional Details I didn't write. Where did it come from?
There's text in my Additional Details I didn't write. Where did it come from?
That's your old ending message. When the Ending Message was retired, endings that told callers something useful were moved into Business Knowledge → Additional Details (Company Knowledge on the web) so your Receptionist could keep saying it.
It's yours to edit or delete like anything else in your knowledge.
What happens if I write "transfer to..." as text without using @?
What happens if I write "transfer to..." as text without using @?
Your Receptionist only runs actions that are inserted as @ action chips - plain-text descriptions of actions are ignored. A yellow banner warns you when this happens so you can convert the text into a proper action. This applies to the web editor; on the mobile app you add actions from the Add Action sheet instead.
Will my Receptionist greet returning callers by name?
Will my Receptionist greet returning callers by name?
Yes, when Caller Memory is turned on for that line and your Receptionist has already learned the caller's name. It keeps your Welcome Greeting - Beside rewrites it so the caller's first name fits naturally, so you don't write a second version. Callers it doesn't know yet hear your greeting exactly as you wrote it.
Will my Receptionist say the transfer message word for word?
Will my Receptionist say the transfer message word for word?
No. The Transfer message you set on a Transfer Call action is a guide, not a script - your Receptionist paraphrases it to the caller just before the recipient's line rings. Leave it blank and your Receptionist chooses its own wording to introduce the transfer. The transfer message can be edited on Beside on the web or on the Beside mobile app (iPhone or Android).
Can two call reasons send different booking confirmation texts?
Can two call reasons send different booking confirmation texts?
Yes, on the Beside mobile app (iPhone and Android). The confirmation text belongs to the Book Appointment action, so a consultation booking and a site-visit booking can each send their own message - edit each action's Confirmation text section. On Beside on the web, confirmation texts are a single on/off switch on the Calendar page that covers every Book Appointment action, and the message is the default one. 📖 Book appointments with your AI Receptionist
Can my Receptionist text callers a booking link from my own scheduling tool?
Can my Receptionist text callers a booking link from my own scheduling tool?
Yes. Add a rule that uses the Send a Text action (called Send Text on the mobile app) with your booking link (Calendly, Vagaro, your website, or any other tool). When the caller wants to book, your Receptionist texts them the link during the call so they can schedule themselves. Use this when you prefer your own scheduling system; use Book Appointment instead if you want the Receptionist to book directly into a connected Google or Outlook calendar.
Do I need a connected calendar to use Scenarios?
Do I need a connected calendar to use Scenarios?
Only if you want your Receptionist to book appointments. The other five actions (transfer, send a text, tell caller, ask a question, take a message) work without a calendar. Connect a calendar at Receptionist → Integrations → Connect Calendar. Without one, your Receptionist won't offer or confirm a time to a caller - it answers questions and takes a message instead.
Did I lose my existing Welcome Greeting, Transfer Calls, or Qualify Leads setup?
Did I lose my existing Welcome Greeting, Transfer Calls, or Qualify Leads setup?
No. Everything you configured on the legacy screens was carried into Scenarios - your greeting, your transfer rules, and your lead qualification questions. (Note: Book Appointment actions are not auto-created from old setups - you'll add those manually where you want them.)
Can my Receptionist say something different when we're closed?
Can my Receptionist say something different when we're closed?
It already does, without you writing anything. Your regular welcome greeting plays, and then, if you're closed at that moment, your Receptionist opens its first reply by saying so - with the reason and when you open next.
That comes from your Receptionist's Operating hours in Knowledge, including their Closed dates, so set those first. 📖 Train your AI Receptionist
Does being closed follow my Operating hours or my Ringing Schedule?
Does being closed follow my Operating hours or my Ringing Schedule?
Your Operating hours. A day marked Closed or By appointment, or a date in your Closed dates, is when your Receptionist tells callers you're closed. Your Ringing Schedule only decides whether phones ring.
That means the two can disagree on purpose: your team's phones can be ringing while your Receptionist tells callers you're closed, and a Direct line that never rings anyone can still do it. 📖 Set your Ringing Schedule
My Receptionist never tells callers we're closed. Why?
My Receptionist never tells callers we're closed. Why?
The most common reason is that the line has no Operating hours set, or that the example hours from setup were never confirmed. In both cases your Receptionist stays quiet about being open or closed, whatever your Ringing Schedule says.
Check Receptionist → Knowledge → Operating hours (Company Knowledge on the web), confirm the hours are right, and save them.