Run a voice AI pilot that produces a decision

A voice AI pilot should answer a commercial decision: can this system complete a defined customer task safely, at an acceptable cost, under representative call conditions? A pilot that only demonstrates natural conversation does not answer it.

Week 0: fix the scope

Choose one or two high-volume call intents. Define the completed task, the data sources needed, and the failure criteria. The team should agree on what success looks like before any code is written.

Build before live traffic

Build the voice flow, integrations, and handoff rules using historical recordings and test calls. Validate that the system can reach the completed task repeatedly.

Release traffic in stages

Start with a small percentage of eligible calls. Monitor task completion, transfer reasons, and customer feedback daily. Expand the volume only when the metrics stay within the agreed guardrails.

Use an outcome scorecard

Track task completion rate, cost per completed task, average handling time after transfer, customer effort score, and compliance with handoff rules.

Make the decision

At the end of the pilot, decide whether to expand, redesign, or stop. A well-scoped pilot produces evidence, not just enthusiasm.

Bring two candidate intents and a recent call-reason report to a Butter Labs pilot-scoping session.

Reviewed 2026-07-27