Prompt Patterns for Common Voice Situations

Prompt Patterns for Common Situations

Prompt examples for common voice-agent situations — phone numbers, emails, websites, times, and handling silence.

Here are specific prompt patterns and examples for situations you're likely to encounter when building a voice agent.

Pronounce phone numbers

Include an explicit guideline in the prompt so the agent consistently reads phone numbers back in the same spoken format, even if the caller double-checks the number.

When speaking the phone number, transform the format as follows:
- Input formats like 5557913238, (555) 791-3238, or 555-791-3238 - Do not append country codes to phone numbers. So +13144969639 should be 314-496-9639
- Should be pronounced as: "five five five - seven nine one - three two three eight"
- Important: Don't omit the space around the dash when speaking

Pronounce emails

When you are pronouncing an email address: How to spell out
- The possible email format is firstlast@company.com
- To spell out an email address: f-i-r-s-t-l-a-s-t@-c-o-m-p-a-n-y-dot-com
- "@" is pronounced "at".

Pronounce websites

Whenever you encounter a website URL, please:
- Identify each segment of the domain name.
- If a segment consists of individual letters (e.g., "MB"), pronounce each letter using its spoken form in English (e.g., "M" -> "em," "B" -> "bee").
- If a segment is a recognizable word (e.g., "cleaning"), pronounce it normally as that word.
- Pronounce "dot" before stating the top-level domain (e.g., "dot com," "dot net," "dot org," etc.).
 - Example:
  - "mbcleaning.com" -> "em-bee-cleaning dot com"
  - "abctest.net" -> "A B C test dot net"
  - "xyzco.org" -> "ex-why-zee-co dot org"
- Adhere to this phonetic breakdown carefully to ensure clarity and proper pronunciation for customers.

Pronounce times

- For stated numbers, times & dates:
- For 2:00 PM, say "Two PM."
- For 4:30 PM, say "Four thirty PM."
- For 6:45 AM, say "Six forty-five AM."
- Never say "o'clock."
- Always say "AM" or "PM".

Pronounce dates

- Always convert from API/data format to natural spoken format
- Default format: **Month [Day], [Year]** (e.g., "August 14th, 2022")
- For date ranges, use "through" (not "to") for formal contexts; "to" is acceptable in conversational contexts
- Ordinal suffixes (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) are preferred for day pronunciation in formal speech
- **Examples:**
    - `2022-08-14` → "August 14th, 2022"
    - `2026-01-17` → "January 17th, 2026"
    - Date range `2022-08-14 to 2023-02-13` → "August 14th, 2022 through February 13th, 2023"
    - Date range `1/17/2026 to 7/17/2026` → "January 17th, 2026 through July 17th, 2026"
- **Never** say: "2022 dash 08 dash 14" or "zero eight fourteen twenty-twenty-two"

Pronounce addresses

Break every address into its logical components and pause between each:

**Street Address:**
- Pause after the street number
- Spell out directional abbreviations (N → "North", SE → "Southeast")
- Spell out street type abbreviations (Blvd → "Boulevard", St → "Street", Ave → "Avenue", Dr → "Drive")
- **Example:** `2108 E South Blvd` → "2 1 0 8... East South Boulevard"

**P.O. Box:**
- Say "P O Box" (three distinct sounds, no periods)
- Pause, then read the box number as individual digits
- **Example:** `P.O. Box 11000` → "P O Box... 1 1 0 0 0"

**City, State, ZIP:**
- Pause between city and state, and between state and ZIP
- Say full state name (not abbreviation) unless instructed otherwise
- Read ZIP code as individual digits (see ZIP Code rules below)
- **Example:** `Montgomery, AL 36116` → "Montgomery, Alabama... 3 6 1 1 6"

**Full Address Examples:**
- `2108 East South Boulevard, Montgomery, Alabama, 36116` → "2 1 0 8 East South Boulevard... Montgomery, Alabama... 3 6 1 1 6"
- `P.O. Box 11000, Montgomery, Alabama, 36191` → "P O Box 1 1 0 0 0... Montgomery, Alabama... 3 6 1 9 1"

Pronounce zip codes

- Always pronounce each digit **individually** with even spacing
- Never group or combine digits into a number
- For ZIP+4 codes, pause between the base 5 digits and the extension; introduce the extension with "extension" or use a natural pause
- **Examples:**
  - `35401` → "3 5 4 0 1"
  - `36116-2001` → "3 6 1 1 6... 2 0 0 1"
- **Never** say: "thirty-five thousand four hundred and one"

Pronounce policy numbers

- Read **each character individually**, with a brief pause between groups of 3–4 characters for longer strings
- Letters are spelled out as their phonetic letter name (not words)
- **Format:** `[Letter(s)]... [digit group 1] [digit group 2] [digit group 3]`
- **Examples:**
  - `H2341456` → "H... 2 3 4, 1 4 5 6"
  - `AB-00192837` → "A B... 0 0 1 9 2, 8 3 7"
- **Edge case:** If a reference number contains an `O` vs `0` ambiguity, always say "zero" for digits and "the letter O" only when context requires disambiguation

Pronounce monetary amounts

- Speak in natural language — never read raw numeric or currency-formatted strings
- Use "dollars and cents" phrasing when cents are non-zero; omit "and zero cents"
- For large amounts, use standard groupings (thousands, millions)
- **Examples:**
  - `$1410.00` → "one thousand four hundred ten dollars"
  - `$1,410.53` → "one thousand four hundred ten dollars and fifty-three cents"
  - `$0.75` → "seventy-five cents"
  - `$2,500,000` → "two million five hundred thousand dollars"
- **Never** say: "dollar sign one thousand four hundred ten point zero zero"

Pronounce percentages

- Say "percent" after the number; never say "percent sign" or "%"
- **Examples:**
  - `18%` → "eighteen percent"
  - `0.5%` → "point five percent" or "half a percent"

Pronounce acronyms & abbreviations

- Spell out letter-by-letter unless the acronym is commonly spoken as a word
  - Spell out: `SSN` → "S S N", `DOB` → "D O B", `ID` → "I D"
  - Pronounce as word: `PIN` → "pin", `ZIP` → "zip"
- If uncertain, default to spelling out

Smoother Inflection

Depending on the TTS and LLM model combination, sometimes the voice inflection can go up at the end. One simple adjustment in the prompt can be added to help smooth potential high inflections.

- Do not use exclamation marks ! in responses