Voice AI is Markopolo's most distinctive recovery channel. Instead of sending a message, Markopolo places an actual phone call to the shopper — a live, conversational AI agent that speaks naturally, knows what was in their cart, and can answer questions in real time.
This article walks you through what you need to set up, what you can configure, and what to expect from calls.
Before you start
Voice AI calls require a phone number for the shopper. Markopolo will attempt a call step only if a phone number is available for that contact — if it isn't, the call step is skipped and the sequence continues to the next step.
No external approvals, carrier registrations, or third-party account setup are required on your end. Voice AI is fully pre-configured at the platform level.
Free plan: You can make up to 100 test calls per month. Your remaining quota is shown in the campaign builder.
Paid plans: Calls consume voice minutes from your plan. Your remaining minutes are visible in your account.
Step 1: Add a call step to your campaign workflow
In the campaign builder, add a Voice AI call step at the point in your sequence where you want the call to fire. You can place it after an email, after a delay, or as your first touchpoint — the order is entirely up to you.
Recommended starting point for most stores:
Wait 1 hour → Email → Wait 4 hours → Voice AI call → Exit
Step 2: Configure your call
When you add a call step, you'll be prompted to configure:
Voice Choose the AI voice persona for the call. Options are filtered by your campaign language. The default is a professional male voice.
Tone Select the conversational tone:
Professional
Friendly
Warm
Confident
Conversational
Language Inherited from your campaign-level language setting. 20+ languages are supported.
Script (System Prompt) This is the instruction given to the AI agent — it tells the agent how to behave, what to focus on, and how to handle the conversation. It is not read word-for-word; the agent improvises naturally within these instructions.
Minimum 50 characters, maximum 2,000 characters
Required before you can launch the campaign
Opening message (First Message) The exact first thing the agent says when the shopper picks up.
Maximum 200 characters
Required before you can launch the campaign
AI-generated mode: If you enable AI content generation, Markopolo automatically writes both the opening message and script before each call — personalized with the shopper's name, cart contents, cart value, time since abandonment, and purchase history. You don't need to write anything manually.
Step 3: Launch your campaign
Once your call step has a voice, tone, opening message, and script configured, the campaign is ready to launch. Markopolo validates these fields before allowing launch — you'll see an error if anything is missing.
What happens during a call
When a call step is reached in the sequence:
Markopolo verifies the shopper has a phone number and your account has voice minutes remaining
The AI agent generates a personalized script based on the shopper's cart and history
An outbound call is placed to the shopper's phone number
The agent conducts a live, two-way conversation — it can answer questions, handle objections, and discuss the products left behind
The call ends after the conversation concludes, or automatically after 5 minutes, or after 60 seconds of silence
Note: Calls are placed from a shared Markopolo number. You cannot set a custom caller ID at this time.
After the call
You can review every call in the Campaigns → Content view. For each call you'll see:
Call status (sent, connected, failed, no answer, busy)
Timestamp and duration
Full transcript of the conversation
AI-generated call summary
Call recording (when available)
If the call connects and the conversation ends without a purchase, Markopolo's AI may automatically trigger a follow-up email or SMS based on how the call went — for example, if the shopper asked about shipping or a discount. Another call is never placed as a follow-up.
Your compliance responsibilities
Markopolo places calls based on your campaign settings without time-of-day restrictions. You are responsible for ensuring your calls comply with applicable regulations in your market — including call hour restrictions, do-not-call requirements, and consent rules (such as TCPA in the US, and similar laws in other regions).
Before launching Voice AI:
Confirm you have appropriate consent to call your customers
Check the calling regulations in the countries where your customers are located
Consider adding a delay step before your call to ensure calls fire during reasonable hours
Need help writing your script? Enable AI-generated content in the campaign builder and Markopolo will write and personalize the script automatically before each call.