When the Return-Customer Greeting Plays
The return-customer greeting is a special opening message that plays when a recognised returning customer calls. Understanding when it fires helps you configure it effectively.
Conditions for the return-customer greeting to play
All of the following must be true for the returning customer greeting to play:
- The caller is recognised — their phone number matches a customer record.
- The returning customer greeting is configured — you've written the greeting text in the AI Greetings settings.
- The returning customer greeting is not empty — if the field is blank, the AI falls back to the standard greeting.
If any of these conditions isn't met, the caller hears the standard opening greeting instead.
Does it replace the standard greeting entirely?
Yes. When the returning customer greeting fires, the standard opening greeting is replaced for that call. The caller hears only the returning customer greeting.
The returning customer greeting can still include variables like {{business_name}} and {{customer_first_name}}, as well as {{recording_disclosure}} if you need to include a recording notice.
Does it use the business hours vs after-hours variant?
The returning customer greeting is a single greeting — it doesn't have separate variants for business hours and after-hours. If you want to handle returning customers differently after hours, you can include conditional language in the greeting text itself, or rely on the after-hours experience that follows the initial greeting.
After-hours returning customer calls
If a returning customer calls outside your operating hours, the returning customer greeting plays first (if configured), and then the AI follows its normal after-hours flow — acknowledging the business is closed and offering what it can.
💡 Tip: Keep the returning customer greeting warm but brief. The caller is already familiar with your business — they don't need the full intro. A quick "Welcome back, [name]! How can I help you?" is all that's needed before the AI gets to work.
⚠️ Important: The returning customer greeting fires based on phone number matching — not login or verification. A different person calling from a customer's number will hear the returning greeting addressed to that customer. This is a known limitation of phone-number-based recognition.