Title: AI Receptionist & Local Marketing Glossary | Keres AI URL: https://www.keresai.com/glossary Description: Plain-English definitions of AI receptionist, call-handling and local search terms: Google Business Profile, map pack, reviews, listings and more. Source: https://www.keresai.com/glossary (HTML). This is a Markdown copy of the page's main content for AI agents and LLM tools. --- # The Keres AI glossary Plain-English definitions from Keres AI of the terms local service businesses run into: AI receptionists and call handling, local search (Google Business Profile, map pack, reviews, listings), and outbound email. Each definition says how it works, what it costs where that applies, and how Keres AI handles it. ## AI Receptionist ### [AI Receptionist](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/ai-receptionist) An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone automatically, 24/7. The software greets callers in a natural voice, answers questions… ### [AI Answering Service](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/ai-answering-service) An AI answering service is an automated phone-answering solution that handles inbound calls 24/7 without human operators. Unlike a traditional answeri… ### [Virtual Receptionist](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/virtual-receptionist) A virtual receptionist is a remote service that answers your business phone for you, staffed by people or run by AI. It greets callers, answers routin… ### [Missed-Call Text-Back](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/missed-call-text-back) Missed-call text-back is an automation that instantly sends a text message to any caller whose call you miss. Instead of losing the lead to voicemail … ### [Call Overflow Handling](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/call-overflow) Call overflow handling sends calls your team can’t pick up, because every line is busy or nobody answers within a few rings, to a backup that answers … ### [Appointment Booking Automation](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/appointment-booking-automation) Appointment booking automation is software that schedules, confirms and reschedules appointments without staff going back and forth with the customer.… ### [Lead Qualification](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/lead-qualification) Lead qualification is the process of deciding whether an inquiry is a real fit for your business before your team spends time on it. It checks details… ### [Missed-Call Recovery](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/missed-call-recovery) Missed-call recovery is the practice of recapturing the revenue from calls your business doesn’t answer. Because most callers who hit voicemail are as… ### [Conversational AI](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/conversational-ai) Conversational AI is software that understands what a person says or types in their own words and replies in natural language. It combines speech reco… ### [IVR (Interactive Voice Response)](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/ivr) IVR (interactive voice response) is an automated phone system that greets callers with a recorded menu and routes them by keypad presses or short spok… ### [Call Routing](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/call-routing) Call routing is the set of rules that decides where an inbound call goes: to a person, team, location, queue or voicemail. Rules can use the time of d… ### [Appointment Reminders](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/appointment-reminders) Appointment reminders are automated messages, usually texts, calls or emails, sent before an appointment to confirm it and give the customer an easy w… ### [After-Hours Answering](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/after-hours-answering) After-hours answering is a service that handles inbound calls outside normal business hours — evenings, weekends, and holidays. It ensures callers who… ### [Emergency Dispatch](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/emergency-dispatch) Emergency dispatch is the process of identifying an urgent inbound request — a no-heat call at midnight, a burst pipe, a stranded motorist — and routi… ### [Patient Intake](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/patient-intake) Patient intake is the process of collecting essential information from a new patient before their first appointment — including contact details, insur… ### [Legal Intake](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/legal-intake) Legal intake is the structured process by which a law firm evaluates and onboards a potential new client — capturing the nature of the matter, checkin… ### [No-Show Rate](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/no-show-rate) No-show rate is the percentage of scheduled appointments where the patient or client doesn't appear and hasn't cancelled. For service businesses, dent… ### [Lead Response Time](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/lead-response-time) Lead response time (also called speed to lead) is the time between a prospect first reaching out — calling, submitting a form, or clicking an ad — and… ### [Front Desk Automation](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/front-desk-automation) Front desk automation uses AI to perform the core tasks of a business's front desk without human staff: answering every call, greeting callers, bookin… ### [Dispatch Automation](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/dispatch-automation) Dispatch automation uses software to capture inbound service requests, assess urgency, assign the job to the right crew member, and communicate dispat… ## AI SDR & Outbound ### [AI SDR](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/ai-sdr) An AI SDR (sales development representative) is software that automates outbound prospecting: it builds and sends personalized cold-email sequences, m… ### [Cold Email Outreach](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/cold-email-outreach) Cold email outreach is the practice of emailing prospects you have no prior relationship with to start a sales conversation. Done well, it is targeted… ### [Email Sequence](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/email-sequence) An email sequence (or cadence) is a series of automated emails sent to a prospect on a schedule — typically an opener followed by several spaced follo… ### [Lead Scoring](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/lead-scoring) Lead scoring is a method of ranking prospects by how likely they are to convert, using signals like fit (industry, size, role), intent, and engagement… ### [Outbound Sales](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/outbound-sales) Outbound sales is the practice of proactively reaching out to prospects who haven’t contacted you first — through cold email, calls, or social — to st… ### [Reply Rate](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/reply-rate) Reply rate is the percentage of outbound emails that receive a response — the metric that matters most in cold email, because replies, not opens, lead… ## Email Deliverability ### [Email Deliverability](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/email-deliverability) Email deliverability is the measure of whether your emails actually reach recipients’ primary inboxes rather than the spam folder or being blocked. It… ### [SPF (Sender Policy Framework)](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/spf) SPF (Sender Policy Framework) is a DNS record that specifies which mail servers are authorized to send email on behalf of your domain. When a receivin… ### [DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/dkim) DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) is an email-authentication method that adds a cryptographic signature to every message you send. The receiving serve… ### [DMARC](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/dmarc) DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance) is a DNS policy that builds on SPF and DKIM. It tells receiving servers what to d… ### [Inbox Warmup](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/inbox-warmup) Inbox warmup is the process of gradually building a new email account’s or domain’s sending reputation before running outbound at scale. It starts wit… ### [Spam Score & Sender Reputation](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/spam-score) A spam score estimates how likely a message or sender is to be filtered as spam, based on factors like sender reputation, authentication, content, and… ### [Email Bounce Rate](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/email-bounce-rate) Email bounce rate is the percentage of emails that fail to deliver and are returned. A hard bounce is a permanent failure (invalid address); a soft bo… ### [Email Blacklist](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/email-blacklist) An email blacklist (or block list / DNSBL) is a database of IP addresses and domains flagged for sending spam. Mailbox providers check these lists, an… ## Local Search ### [Google Business Profile](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/google-business-profile) A Google Business Profile is the free listing Google shows for a local business in Search and Maps. It holds your name, category, address or service a… ### [Local Services Ads](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/local-services-ads) Local Services Ads are Google ads for local service businesses that often appear at the top of results for searches like “plumber near me.” Businesses… ### [Map Pack (Local Pack)](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/map-pack) The map pack, also called the local pack, is the map and short list of businesses, usually three, that Google shows near the top of results for local … ### [NAP Consistency (Citations)](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/nap-consistency) NAP consistency means your business name, address and phone number appear the same way everywhere you are listed online: your Google Business Profile,… ### [Review Generation](https://www.keresai.com/glossary/review-generation) Review generation is the routine of asking every customer for an online review after the job, usually by text or email with a direct link to your Goog…