How the AI Voice Agent Scores Callers

Summary

Overview: When Pippin answers a phone call, it scores the caller live, during the call, against the attributes you gave an Importance. The lead's Hot, Warm or Cold label updates in your Inbox while the call is still going.

Prerequisites:

• AI voice answering is turned on. See How to Turn On AI Voice Answering.
• At least one enabled attribute has an Importance set. See How to Set Up Lead Scoring.
• You are the Admin, to change attributes or thresholds.

How Pippin Decides

1. When a call comes in, Pippin looks for an existing lead with the caller's phone number. If it finds one, it reads that lead's past conversation. If not, it creates a new lead for the caller.
2. Pippin checks your attributes. Only attributes that are Enabled and have an Importance are used for scoring. If none do, Pippin does not score the call and the lead has no score.
3. During the call, each time Pippin learns something that newly meets, or newly fails, one of those attributes, it updates the lead's score from 0 to 100. Attributes with a higher Importance count for more.
4. Pippin turns the score into a label using your thresholds:
   • Hot: the score is at or above your Hot ≥ value.
   • Warm: the score is at or above your Warm ≥ value.
   • Cold: anything lower.
5. Pippin never mentions scoring, numbers or qualification to the caller.
6. When the call ends, Pippin saves the call with its transcript to the lead's conversation and fills in the lead's attribute details from what was said. The score set during the call stays as it is.
7. If the caller asks for a person or the request is sensitive, Pippin tells them a team member will follow up and hands the lead to your team.

Limits

• AI voice answering is on the Scale plan. On other plans, inbound calls are declined and your voice settings stay saved.
• Scoring on calls needs at least one enabled attribute with an Importance. Without one, voice leads have no score.
• Pippin judges callers only against your attributes. It does not use any other rule to score.
• Quotes Pippin drafts from a call still wait for approval in the Review Queue.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Give your attributes an Importance (Admin)

1. Go to Settings › AI Studio and open the Attributes tab.
2. Select an attribute to edit it, or select New attribute.
3. In Importance, enter a number from 1 to 100. Leave it empty if the attribute should not count toward the score ("Not scored").
4. Make sure Enabled is on, then save.

You can also select Generate from KB or Quick-Start to add a ready-made set of attributes with importance values.

Step 2: Set your Hot and Warm thresholds (Admin)

1. On the Attributes tab, find the Lead Scoring strip.
2. Enter values in Hot ≥ and Warm ≥. The Hot value must be higher than the Warm value.
3. Select Save thresholds.

Step 3: Watch a caller's score

1. Open Inbox during or after a call.
2. Select the caller's conversation. The lead's Hot, Warm or Cold badge updates while the call is in progress.
3. After the call, the conversation shows the call with its transcript.

Verify It Worked

Success criteria:

• After a test call, the caller's lead shows a Hot, Warm or Cold badge.
• The lead's conversation shows the phone call and its transcript.

Troubleshooting

Common errors

• "Hot threshold must be greater than warm.": the Hot value is equal to or lower than the Warm value. Fix: raise Hot ≥ or lower Warm ≥, then select Save thresholds.
• A voice lead has no score: none of your enabled attributes has an Importance. Fix: add an Importance to at least one attribute.
• The call shows No transcript was captured for this call.: nothing was recorded from the call. The lead is still saved.

Limitations & considerations

• A caller is matched to an existing lead by phone number. If several leads share the number, Pippin uses the one with the most recent activity.
• Changing attributes or thresholds affects calls from then on. It does not rescore past calls.

Next Steps & Related Resources

• Next steps:
  • How to Set Up Lead Scoring
  • How to Set Hot and Warm Thresholds
• Related articles:
  • How to Turn On AI Voice Answering
  • How Pippin Reads and Scores a Lead
  • When Pippin Hands a Conversation to a Person
  • How Pippify Builds Scoring Attributes and Guidance Rules

Need more help? For more information and assistance, please send an email to support@pippify.ai.

Last Updated: 10/12/2026