Key takeaways
- An AI receptionist handles the routine calls that pile up during checkout and after hours: hours, pricing, consultations and rebooking.
- It must never assess candidacy, advise on reactions or promise results; those calls go to a licensed person at once.
- Booking only works if it connects to your software, such as Boulevard or Zenoti, so check the integration before you buy.
- Launch on overflow and after-hours calls first, and read the transcripts every week.
An AI receptionist for a med spa answers the calls your front desk misses while they check patients in, take payment and rebook. It answers questions about treatments, hours and consultations, books into your calendar, and passes anything clinical to a person. It never gives medical advice, and callers are told they are talking to an AI.
What it handles
It handles the calls that are routine for your team but costly to miss:
- New patient questions: which treatments you offer, who performs them, how a consultation works, parking and hours.
- Published pricing: "from" prices, package and membership pricing exactly as your menu states them, and nothing more.
- Consultation booking into open slots, with a confirmation text and your intake form.
- Rebooking and rescheduling for existing patients, within the rules your providers set.
- Gift card and membership questions, which spike around the holidays and New Year.
- Overflow and after-hours calls, so the person who calls at lunch or at 8 p.m. reaches someone.
- A clean summary of every call in your CRM, with the caller's details and the reason they called.
What the AI receptionist handles
| Call | The AI receptionist | Your team |
|---|---|---|
| Common questions | Hours, services and areas | Anything unusual |
| Booking | Takes details or books a slot | Confirms complex work |
| Urgent calls | Passes them to a person | Calls back fast |
| Complaints | Takes a message | Handles them personally |
What it should not handle
It should not handle anything that needs clinical judgment, a manager's discretion or a patient's private health details. These are the scripts we write it to follow:
| Caller says | The receptionist does |
|---|---|
| "My lip is still swollen from yesterday's filler. Is that normal?" | Says a provider needs to speak with them, transfers to your on-call clinical contact or takes an urgent callback per your protocol, and tells them to call 911 if it is an emergency |
| "Am I a good candidate for body contouring?" | Explains that a provider answers that at a consultation, and offers a time |
| "How many units will I need?" | Explains the amount is set by the provider at the visit and gives your published per-unit price only if you publish one |
| "Is it safe while I'm pregnant or on this medication?" | Does not answer; books a provider callback |
| "Will this get rid of my wrinkles for good?" | Makes no promise about results and offers a consultation |
| "I want a refund" or a complaint | Takes details and routes it to the manager the same day |
Write this "never say" list with your medical director before launch, and review it each time you add a treatment.
Integrations with your software
An AI receptionist is only as useful as what it can see. Connected well, it checks real availability, books the right service and provider, and leaves a record your team can find.
- Booking software. Med spa platforms such as Boulevard or Zenoti hold your calendar, services and providers. Confirm the receptionist vendor supports yours, and what it can do there, before you sign.
- CRM. Every call should land as a contact with a transcript and outcome, so follow-up can start.
- Payments and deposits. Send a secure booking link by text rather than having the AI take card numbers by voice.
- Texting. Confirmation and booking-link texts over a business number need A2P 10DLC registration (The Campaign Registry), and marketing texts need consent and must honor STOP (FCC TCPA rules).
How we set it up
- Assess. We listen to a sample of your calls and count what goes unanswered, when, and why people were calling.
- Prioritize. We pick the call types to automate first, usually after-hours and overflow consultation requests, and write the handoff rules with your providers.
- Execute. We build the script, connect your booking software and CRM, and test with real scenarios, including the clinical calls it must refuse.
- Measure. We launch on overflow and after hours only, read transcripts weekly, and report calls answered, consultations booked and handoffs. Then we widen what it handles.
For the wider picture of where AI fits a med spa, read how to use AI in a med spa. If texting back missed calls is the quicker fix for you, the missed-call text-back guide covers it.
How VETS Growth Marketing helps
We set up an AI receptionist that books med spa consultations and knows exactly where to stop, with the account and phone number in your name. It goes live on overflow and after-hours calls first, on a date we set together, and you get a weekly read of transcripts, consultations booked and handoffs, not minutes used. Book a growth consultation and we will look at what your missed calls cost today.
Sources
- 47 CFR 64.1200: Delivery restrictions (TCPA rules), Electronic Code of Federal Regulations
- The Campaign Registry (A2P 10DLC brand and campaign registration), The Campaign Registry