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Voicemail transcription into Help Scout tickets

Voicemail-to-ticket automation records messages left on your Twilio number, transcribes them and opens a Help Scout conversation for each one. The ticket includes the transcript, a link to the recording and the caller’s history where their number is already known.

An example of how the studio would build it. No live services are connected.

From a voicemail to a ticket your team can read.

  1. Step 01

    Message left

    Twilio records the voicemail when a call goes unanswered or arrives out of hours, and reports when the recording is ready.

  2. Step 02

    Speech transcribed

    Send the recording to OpenAI’s speech-to-text model, keeping the original audio alongside the transcript.

  3. Step 03

    Caller matched

    Look up the caller’s number among Help Scout customers to link the message to their history, or create a new customer.

  4. Step 04

    Team chosen

    Route by the number dialled or words in the transcript, such as repairs, accounts or new enquiries.

  5. Step 05

    Ticket opened

    Create a phone conversation in the right Help Scout mailbox, with the transcript, recording link and caller’s number.

The result

Voicemails are answered from the same queue as emails, and none sit unheard.

Each recording creates one ticket only, using Twilio’s recording ID as the reference. Nothing is sent to the caller automatically, and the team can always play the original audio if a transcript looks wrong.

Before we connect it.

Where this is useful

Useful for letting agents, clinics, trades and other businesses where calls come in while everyone is busy and voicemails are checked by whoever remembers. A sensible first version files every voicemail in one mailbox with its transcript, then adds routing to teams once you see what callers usually ask about.

What we need to connect

  1. 01A Twilio phone number, or a forwarding route from your current line, with call handling set up to take voicemails.
  2. 02An OpenAI account for speech-to-text, plus agreement on where recordings and transcripts are stored and for how long.
  3. 03Help Scout access to create phone conversations and look up customers, and the routing rules for each mailbox.

What needs careful handling

Transcripts can mishear names, addresses and numbers, so the recording is always one click away and the team checks key details before acting. Callers sometimes leave urgent messages, such as a leak or a worrying symptom, so words you choose can flag a ticket for immediate attention, but they never replace your emergency process. Recordings are personal data, so the greeting tells callers they are being recorded and old audio is deleted on a schedule you agree.

Questions people ask.

Doesn’t Twilio transcribe voicemails already?

Twilio has a built-in transcription option for recordings, with limits on length and language. A dedicated speech-to-text model can cope better with accents, background noise and longer messages, so we compare both on a sample of your real voicemails before choosing.

Do we have to change our phone number?

Not necessarily. Many phone providers can forward unanswered calls to a Twilio number, so customers keep dialling the number they know. Moving your number to Twilio is also possible if you want everything in one place.

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