AI Receptionist for Your Website: How It Works, What It Costs and Who It Fits

An AI receptionist for your website is an AI that greets the people who visit your site, answers their questions, books appointments and passes anything unusual to your team. It does the front-desk job, but on the page your customers are already reading, at any hour.

Most products sold as "AI receptionists" answer phone calls. That solves one problem. Many customers never call: they open your website at 10 pm, look for prices and opening hours, and leave if nobody answers. This guide explains what a website AI receptionist does, how it differs from phone services, what it costs and which businesses it fits.

What an AI receptionist does on your website

• Greets every visitor in a video, voice or text window, in their own language. Lilidi Twin speaks more than 30.
• Answers from approved information: services, prices, opening hours, location, parking, policies. Nothing it was not given.
• Asks your intake questions: reason for the visit, preferred times, new or returning client, the details your team asks every day.
• Books the appointment in Google Calendar or Calendly, offering real free slots instead of "someone will call you back".
• Drafts the follow-up: a confirmation email in Gmail that goes out only after you approve it.
• Hands over to a person when the question needs one: a complaint, a refund, anything sensitive.

Website AI receptionist, phone AI receptionist or answering service?

As a reference point, Smith.ai lists its human virtual receptionist plan from $300 a month for 30 calls (smith.ai/pricing, checked October 2026). Lilidi Twin starts at $19 a month.

Lilidi Twin does not answer phone numbers. If most of your customers call, a phone product fits better. Many businesses run both: the phone line for callers, the website receptionist for everyone who would rather tap than talk.

Who it fits

• Clinics and dental practices: non-diagnostic intake and appointment requests. The receptionist never gives medical advice and passes every clinical question to a clinician.
• Salons, studios and spas: services, prices and free slots, outside business hours too.
• Agencies and consultancies: first questions, the right contact person, a booked intro call.
• Real estate and property management: viewing requests, availability, documents to send.
• Coworking spaces and hotels: day passes, rooms, house rules, directions.

A typical conversation at a clinic, at 10:14 pm:

Visitor: Hi, can I book a cleaning next week?

AI receptionist: Of course. I'm the clinic's AI assistant. Is this your first visit with us?

Visitor: Yes.

AI receptionist: Welcome. A first cleaning takes about 45 minutes. I have Tuesday at 9:30, Tuesday at 14:00 or Wednesday at 11:15. Which suits you?

Visitor: Wednesday.

AI receptionist: Booked for Wednesday at 11:15. The clinic will confirm by email. Anything else I can help with?

What it costs

A receptionist in the United States earns a median of $38,010 a year, or $18.27 an hour (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025), and covers one shift. An AI receptionist does not replace your front desk team. It covers the hours and the volume they cannot: evenings, weekends, lunch breaks and the ten questions that arrive at once.

Lilidi Twin is priced by conversation minutes:

• Lite, $19 a month: a voice Twin with 60 video minutes or 120 audio-only minutes.
• Starter, $59: 175 video minutes or 350 audio-only minutes.
• Professional, $179: 500 video minutes, the live video avatar and a personal voice clone.
• Business, $499: 1,500 video minutes for teams.

Extra minutes cost $0.39 and annual billing saves 20%. All plans are on the pricing page.

How to set one up

1. Give it your website. The Twin reads your pages; you approve what it may use.
2. Add what is not on the site: price lists, policies, the FAQ your team answers every week.
3. Write your intake questions and what a finished conversation should end with, usually a booked appointment.
4. Connect your calendar, Google Calendar or Calendly, so it offers only real free slots.
5. Choose a face and a voice, or go voice-only, and write the first greeting.
6. Set the boundaries: topics it never handles and when a person takes over.
7. Test it like a customer, then add it to your website, your Google Business Profile, your Instagram bio and WhatsApp.

The how it works page walks through each step.

Rules a good AI receptionist follows

• It says it is an AI in the first message.
• It answers only from what you approved and says "I don't know" otherwise.
• It never takes card numbers or passwords in a conversation.
• It does not give medical, legal or financial advice.
• It hands complaints, refunds and sensitive cases to a person, with the full conversation attached.

Questions people ask about AI receptionists

Related: What is an AI employee? · AI receptionist use case · Talk to a live Twin