StudioMeta now handles inbound AI calls, not just messages typed into a widget. Until now, StudioMeta only ever answered visitors on your own website — the voice widget and the chat bubble, both running on the page itself. A caller dialing your actual business phone number never reached it. That’s changed: you can now connect a real phone number and have the same agent answer calls to it.
Here’s exactly how it works, what it costs, and how to turn it on.
How inbound AI calls work
Under Voice AI → Integrations in the plugin, there’s now a Phone card. Connect your own Twilio account — the Account SID, Auth Token, and a phone number you already own or just bought — and inbound calls to that number get answered by the same agent that already knows your site, your knowledge base, and your booking rules.
It’s the same voice, the same knowledge base, and the same appointment booking that already runs on your site — just reachable by phone now too.
Why “your own Twilio account” beats “give us your number”
This is a bring-your-own-Twilio integration, on purpose. You sign up with Twilio directly (or use an account you already have), buy or port in a number, and paste your credentials into the plugin. Twilio bills you directly for the number rental and the per-minute call cost — StudioMeta never sees that money and doesn’t mark it up.
Two practical consequences of that:
- Call minutes count against your existing voice quota — the same monthly voice minutes your plan already includes cover phone calls too, not a separate pool.
- It’s a paid-plan feature. A Twilio number costs money to hold whether or not it ever rings, so it isn’t part of the free trial — you’ll need an active Voice plan to connect one.
Setting it up
- Get a Twilio account (or use one you already have) and buy a phone number with voice capability — a few dollars a month, plus a small per-minute rate for calls.
- In Twilio’s console, find your Account SID and Auth Token on the account dashboard.
- In WordPress, go to Voice AI → Integrations → Phone, paste both in along with the number, and click Connect.
- The plugin shows you a webhook URL. Paste that into Twilio’s number settings, under Voice → A call comes in, set to HTTP POST.
- Call the number. The agent answers with whatever first message and voice you’ve already configured, using the same knowledge base and booking setup as the website widget.
What carries over from the website widget automatically
Nothing needs reconfiguring. The knowledge base, system prompt, voice, language detection, appointment booking against your working hours, and lead capture all apply to phone calls exactly as they already do on the site. A caller who asks about hours, availability, or wants to book a slot gets the same accurate answers a website visitor would — because it’s the same agent, just answering through a different channel.
What a caller actually hears when the agent answers
There’s no phone tree, no hold music, and no “press 1 for sales.” The number rings once and the agent picks up immediately, speaking in the greeting and voice you set for the website widget. Callers can talk normally — ask about hours, request a quote, book a slot — and the agent responds the same way it would in a live conversation on your site, because it’s running the exact same brain. If a call goes somewhere the agent isn’t equipped to handle, it says so plainly and hands off to a human instead of guessing.
Who this is for
If your business already lists a phone number — a clinic, a salon, a contractor, a restaurant taking reservations — this closes the gap between “the website answers instantly” and “the phone rings into voicemail after hours.” Businesses that already get real value from the site widget (see our roundup of AI voice agents for WordPress) are the ones most likely to see the same payoff on the phone line: fewer missed calls, especially outside business hours.
Sizing it honestly
Twilio’s own costs are separate and small — typically a couple of dollars a month for the number, plus roughly a cent or so per minute for calls (varies by country; check Twilio’s own pricing page for your region). The bigger question is the same one that applies to the website widget: how many calls do you currently lose to a full mailbox or an after-hours ring-no-answer, and what’s one recovered appointment or one recovered customer worth to you? For most businesses that already answer a phone, that math works out fast.
See plans and pricing for what’s included, or start a free trial to try the website widget first — phone connects the moment you’re on a Voice plan.