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How to Greet Callers by Name

Use contacts and greeting placeholders so your AI receptionist can greet known callers personally.

Written by Nikita Podelenko

How to Greet Callers by Name

SkipCalls can greet known callers by name when their phone number is saved in your contacts. This is useful for customers, leads, family members, or anyone who should hear a more personal opening instead of the default greeting.

How it works

Before your receptionist answers an incoming call, SkipCalls checks the caller's phone number against your contact list.

If the phone number matches a contact, your receptionist can use the contact's name in the opening greeting. If there is no match, it uses the greeting for unknown callers instead.

Step 1: Add or sync your contacts

Your receptionist can only greet someone by name if SkipCalls knows who the phone number belongs to.

On mobile:

  1. Open the SkipCalls app.

  2. Go to Settings.

  3. Tap Integrations.

  4. Tap Sync Contacts.

On the web dashboard:

  1. Go to Contacts.

  2. Add a contact manually, or import contacts from a CSV or JSON file.

  3. Make sure each contact has a phone number.

Step 2: Edit the greeting for contacts

On mobile:

  1. Go to Settings.

  2. Tap the receptionist card at the top.

  3. In the Behavior section, tap Instructions & Greetings.

  4. Tap Greeting for contacts.

  5. Write the greeting you want known contacts to hear.

On the web dashboard:

  1. Go to AI Receptionists.

  2. Open the receptionist you want to edit.

  3. Open the Call Script tab.

  4. Open the Incoming section.

  5. Under Opening Messages, edit For Known Contacts.

Name placeholders

Use these placeholders in the contact greeting:

  • {​{contact_first}​} — the contact's first name, such as John.

  • {​{contact_last}​} — the contact's last name, such as Smith.

  • {​{contact_name}​} — the contact's full name, such as John Smith.

Example greeting:

Hey {​{contact_first}​}, good to hear from you. How can I help?

If John Smith calls from a phone number saved in Contacts, your receptionist can say:

Hey John, good to hear from you. How can I help?

Greeting for people who are not in contacts

Set a separate greeting for unknown callers. This is what people hear when their number is not saved in your contacts.

Example:

Hi, thanks for calling. How can I help today?

On mobile, edit this from Instructions & Greetings → Greeting for others. On the web dashboard, edit For Unknown Callers in the Opening Messages section.

Best practices

  • Keep the greeting short. A name greeting should feel natural, not scripted.

  • Use {​{contact_first}​} for most businesses. Full names can sound too formal on a phone call.

  • Make sure contact phone numbers are accurate. The phone number is how SkipCalls recognizes the caller.

  • Use contact notes for useful context, not for the greeting itself. For example, notes can remind the receptionist that a caller prefers morning appointments.

  • Keep a normal greeting for unknown callers so new leads still get a smooth opening.

Troubleshooting

The receptionist did not say the caller's name.

Check that the caller's phone number is saved in Contacts. If they called from a different number, SkipCalls may treat them as an unknown caller.

The wrong name was used.

Edit the contact record and confirm the phone number belongs to the right person.

The placeholder was spoken out loud.

Make sure the placeholder is typed exactly, including both sets of curly braces. For example, use {​{contact_first}​}, not {contact_first} or contact_first. In the app, you can also copy the variable from the contact variables helper.

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