Does an AI operator talk worse than a person? How to compare call quality fairly
Sado AI team · · 4 min read
In short
Don’t compare an AI operator and a person on “who’s better”; compare them on specific points. AI is the same on every call: it answers at once, asks every question, doesn’t get tired and records the call. People are stronger with a difficult complaint, a negotiation or an unusual case. For a fair test, score 20 calls from each side on one sheet: greeting, correct answer, details collected, next step, CRM record. For many businesses the right split is routine calls to AI, hard ones to people.
Where AI is stronger, and where people are
| Criterion | Human operator | AI operator |
|---|---|---|
| Speed of answer | Busy or at lunch, the caller waits | About a second, no queue |
| Nights and holidays | Needs a shift | The same round the clock |
| Following the script | Skips questions when tired | Every question on every call |
| Tone | Changes by the end of the day | The same, set by the company |
| A question it can’t answer | Sometimes guesses | Doesn’t invent: a manager calls back |
| Hard complaint, haggling | Strong: reads the person, adapts | Transfers to staff by your rule |
| Records and reports | Often by hand, sometimes forgotten | Every call: recording, transcript, answers |
What to measure: an 8-point sheet
- Greeted the caller and named the company.
- Understood the question without making the caller repeat it.
- The answer matches the company’s information: price, address, hours.
- Collected the details needed: name, phone, what they want, when.
- Agreed a next step: a booking, an order or a callback time.
- Polite tone, short sentences, didn’t talk over the caller.
- Transferred to staff or left a task for a manager when needed.
- The call was logged in the CRM or sheet.
Score each point 1 or 0. For example, 7 out of 8 or more is a good call. Pick your own threshold, but apply it the same way to both sides.
How to compare fairly
- Take one type of call: for example, incoming calls asking about prices.
- Pick 20 human calls and 20 AI calls at random, not just the good ones.
- Have one person score them all on the same sheet, ideally from the transcript without knowing who spoke.
- Compare the scores and how the calls ended: how many bookings, orders, callbacks.
- Add the missed calls: an unanswered call scores zero.
Don’t skip the last step: a busy line and night calls never reach a quality sheet, but that’s exactly where customers are lost.
Where an AI operator gets it wrong
An AI operator makes mistakes too. Usually the cause is the information: an old price, a new service not added, no answer written for a common question. Sometimes it’s the line: a call from a noisy street or very fast speech. How to fix it:
- Read 10–15 call transcripts every week and note the mistakes.
- When a price or opening hours change, update the operator’s information the same day.
- If one question often ends in “a manager will call you back”, add the answer to it.
- Write a clear rule for which calls go to staff: for example, a large order or a complaint.
Checking quality in Sado
In Sado every call has its recording, full transcript, collected answers, a short summary and the next step in the portal, so there’s nothing to dig up to fill in the sheet. You can ask the portal assistant “Yordamchi” about calls, for example: “Who asked about prices today?”.
The operator speaks Uzbek and Russian, in your company’s name and with your wording; if a caller asks, it doesn’t pretend to be human. Hard cases go to staff by the rule you set. How to split the work: AI vs call center. On Uzbek speech: Uzbek voice operator. Incoming calls: AI operator for inbound calls.
Questions
Will customers want to talk to an AI operator?
What customers care about is a fast, correct answer. Check it yourself: call 78 778 01 23 or try it live, then listen to a week of your own call recordings.
Won’t the AI operator argue with a customer?
If a customer complains or wants a person, the operator transfers the call to staff by your rule or leaves a task for a manager.
How often should we check quality?
At first, a few calls every day; later, 10–15 a week. Use the same sheet for your human operators.