Aircall + NextPhone: Call Center Integration for Growing Teams

Your sales team uses Aircall during business hours. The CRM integration is great. Your agents click-to-dial through lead lists, and every call logs automatically to Salesforce.

Then a call comes in at 8 PM. A customer needs a quote. It goes to Aircall voicemail. They call the next company. You just lost a $3,500 project.

Aircall is excellent for teams who answer calls. But it can't solve the coverage problem—unless you're willing to staff agents around the clock. In our analysis of 13,175 customer calls, 74.1% went completely unanswered. Most of those missed calls happened after hours, on weekends, or during overflow when everyone was busy.

Here's how to fix that gap: Use NextPhone as an AI front-door that handles the first line while routing qualified leads to your Aircall team.

What is Aircall?

Aircall is a cloud-based phone system built for sales and support teams. It integrates with 100+ third-party applications including Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zendesk, and Slack.

The platform offers features like click-to-call, power dialer, call recording, real-time analytics, and automatic CRM data sync. When your sales rep calls a lead from Salesforce, Aircall logs the call details, duration, and outcome without manual entry.

Who Uses Aircall

According to industry research, 61% of Aircall reviews come from midsize businesses with 11 to 200 employees. It's popular with sales teams, IT departments, and customer support teams handling high call volumes.

Common industries include education, financial services, healthcare, and marketing agencies.

Aircall pricing starts at $30/license per month with a minimum of 3 licenses required. That means $90/month is your minimum entry point, and costs scale quickly as you add team members or features.

The Coverage Gap Aircall Users Face

Aircall works great when your agents are available to answer. But what happens during the gaps?

After-Hours and Weekend Calls

Your support team staffs three Aircall agents from 9 AM to 5 PM. After 5 PM? Every call hits voicemail.

In our study of 13,175 calls, we found that 25.4% of callers explicitly requested callbacks. Without a systematic way to handle these requests, most fall through the cracks. Customers get frustrated. You lose deals.

One plumber told us: "I didn't even know I was missing that many calls until I saw the data. I just thought business was slow." He had 76 missed calls in one month—all potential jobs going to competitors.

Spam and Low-Value Calls

Not every call deserves your Aircall agents' time. We found that 7.0% of calls are spam or robocalls. These clog your queue and waste valuable selling time.

Another 40% are routine questions: "What are your hours?" "How much does this cost?" "Do you serve my area?" Your agents can answer these, but it's not the best use of their skills—especially when they're trying to close deals.

The Cost of Staffing Aircall 24/7

Want to cover after-hours with Aircall? You'd need to add agents for night and weekend shifts.

Two additional Aircall seats for evening coverage = $60/month extra. Want weekend coverage too? That's potentially 4-6 more seats to ensure shift coverage, bringing your monthly bill to $180-270 just for after-hours availability.

Most small teams can't justify that expense. So they let calls go to voicemail and hope customers leave detailed messages. Spoiler: They don't.

The AI Front-Door Concept

There's a better approach: Use AI to handle the first line of contact before calls reach your Aircall team.

What is an AI Front-Door?

An AI front-door is an AI receptionist that answers every call—24/7, even when your team is offline. The AI handles routine inquiries, filters spam, qualifies leads, and collects information.

When a call needs human attention, the AI routes it to your Aircall agents. When it doesn't, the AI handles it completely: books appointments, takes messages, sends follow-up texts, and logs everything to your CRM.

Think of it like a receptionist at a law office. They answer every call, determine who needs to speak with an attorney, and route accordingly. Most calls get handled at the front desk. The important ones reach the lawyers.

How It Works with Aircall

Here's the workflow:

1. Customer calls your business number (now forwarded to NextPhone)
2. NextPhone AI answers in under 5 seconds
3. AI asks qualifying questions: "How can I help you today?"
4. Based on the response, AI either:
   • Handles it directly (hours, pricing, appointments)
   • Collects details and schedules callback
   • Transfers immediately to Aircall agent (emergencies, hot leads)
5. All data syncs to your CRM automatically

Your Aircall agents only get qualified calls. Everything else is filtered, answered, or scheduled for follow-up.

A customer calls at 9 PM asking about pricing for your service. NextPhone AI answers, provides the quote, asks if they'd like to book a consultation, and schedules an appointment for Tuesday at 10 AM. By morning, your Aircall agent sees the appointment in the calendar, the customer is already qualified, and the call data is in Salesforce.

How NextPhone Complements Aircall

NextPhone doesn't replace Aircall. It makes your Aircall investment more effective by handling what AI does best.

24/7 Coverage Without Extra Aircall Seats

After-hours calls go to NextPhone AI instead of voicemail. The AI answers professionally, handles the inquiry or books a callback, and logs everything.

You get 24/7 coverage for $199/month—less than adding 2-3 Aircall seats and without scheduling headaches.

Spam Filtering and Routine Call Handling

NextPhone automatically detects and filters spam calls. That 7% of junk never reaches your Aircall queue.

For routine questions—hours, pricing, location, basic FAQs—the AI provides instant answers without tying up your agents. In our data, roughly 40% of calls are routine inquiries that AI can handle perfectly.

Your agents spend time on what matters: selling, supporting customers, and closing deals.

Lead Qualification and Data Collection

Before routing a call to Aircall, NextPhone AI collects key information:

• Caller name and contact details
• Reason for calling
• Budget or timeline (if applicable)
• Urgency level

Your Aircall agent picks up the call already knowing the context. The AI has done the qualification work. NextPhone integrates with your CRM via webhooks, so this data syncs automatically to Salesforce, HubSpot, or whatever system you use—just like Aircall does.

Call Routing to Aircall Agents

In our analysis, 15.9% of calls contain urgency language like "emergency," "urgent," or "ASAP." Another 6.2% are true emergencies requiring immediate response.

NextPhone's emergency call routing identifies these calls and transfers directly to your Aircall agents—even after hours if you configure an on-call number.

A contractor uses Aircall from 9-5 for their office team. After 5 PM, NextPhone AI answers inbound calls. If someone says, "My pipe burst, I need help now," the AI immediately transfers to the on-call technician's Aircall number. Routine calls get booked for the next business day.

Comparison: Aircall Alone vs Aircall + NextPhone

Setting Up the Integration

Getting NextPhone to work with your Aircall setup takes less than an hour. No developer required.

NextPhone Setup

First, set up your NextPhone AI receptionist. Configure the greeting, upload your knowledge base (website, pricing, FAQs), and define what questions the AI should ask callers.

Example greeting: "Thanks for calling [Your Business]. I'm the AI assistant. How can I help you today?"

The AI learns from your website content automatically. You can add specific instructions like, "If someone asks about pricing, tell them our hourly rate is $150."

Call Routing Configuration

Next, configure when to route calls to Aircall versus handling them directly.

Set rules like:

• If caller says "emergency" or "urgent" — Transfer to Aircall immediately
• If caller asks about hours or pricing — AI handles
• If caller wants to book appointment — AI handles and schedules
• If caller requests to speak with sales — Transfer to Aircall during business hours, or collect details and schedule callback after hours

You define the logic. The AI executes it.

CRM Integration (Optional)

Want call data synced to your CRM? Set up a webhook from NextPhone to Salesforce, HubSpot, or your system of choice.

NextPhone can POST call details (caller name, phone, inquiry type, transcript, recording) to your CRM just like Aircall's webhook system does.

This step is optional but recommended. It ensures both NextPhone and Aircall calls live in the same system for complete visibility.

Timeline: Most users complete basic setup in 30-60 minutes and are live the same day.

Cost Comparison and ROI

Let's talk numbers. Does adding NextPhone to your Aircall setup make financial sense?

Aircall Pricing Refresher

Aircall pricing starts at $30/license per month with a 3-user minimum, so you're paying at least $90/month.

Want to add coverage for nights and weekends? You'd need additional agents to cover those shifts. Two evening agents ($60/month) plus weekend rotation (another 2-4 seats) puts you at $150-240/month extra—just for after-hours.

The Cost of Coverage Gaps

Here's what those coverage gaps actually cost you.

For a typical business receiving 42 calls per month, if 74.1% go unanswered (31 missed calls), and just 20% of those would have converted at an average project value of $3,500, that's $21,700 per month in lost revenue.

Let's be conservative and focus only on after-hours calls. If 30% of your calls happen outside business hours (13 calls/month), and 20% would convert at $3,500, you're losing $9,100/month by letting them hit voicemail.

NextPhone as After-Hours Solution

NextPhone costs $199/month for unlimited calls and 24/7 AI coverage.

By capturing those 13 after-hours calls and converting just 2-3 of them, NextPhone pays for itself. Everything beyond that is pure ROI.

Real example: A small HVAC company using Aircall during business hours added NextPhone for after-hours coverage. First week, the AI captured 3 emergency calls at night and booked $11,400 in work. NextPhone paid for itself 57 times over.

According to independent pricing analysis, Aircall's pricing is nearly twice the cost of other VoIP providers. Adding NextPhone as your AI layer often costs less than staffing additional Aircall seats—while providing better coverage since AI never sleeps, never calls in sick, and handles unlimited simultaneous calls.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does NextPhone replace Aircall?

No, NextPhone complements Aircall rather than replacing it. NextPhone handles the first line—answering 24/7, filtering spam, managing routine inquiries, and qualifying leads. Aircall remains your team's phone system for high-value conversations with qualified prospects and customers. Think of it as an AI receptionist working alongside your human sales and support team for complete coverage.

How does call routing work?

NextPhone AI answers every call first. Based on the caller's needs and your configured rules, the AI either handles the call completely (booking appointments, answering FAQs) or transfers it to your Aircall agents. You configure routing rules like: emergencies get immediate transfer, routine questions the AI handles, and qualified leads get scheduled for callback. The transfer is seamless—customers don't experience a disconnect or awkward handoff.

Can NextPhone integrate with my CRM like Aircall does?

Yes, NextPhone integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, and other major CRMs via webhooks. During the conversation, the AI collects caller information (name, phone, email, needs) and automatically syncs it to your CRM. This works alongside Aircall's CRM integration—both systems can write to the same CRM, giving you complete visibility into all customer interactions.

What does NextPhone cost compared to adding Aircall seats?

NextPhone costs $199/month for unlimited calls and unlimited AI coverage. Adding Aircall seats for after-hours coverage costs $30/user/month minimum. For true 24/7 coverage via Aircall, you'd need at least 6 agents to handle shift rotations ($180/month minimum), plus scheduling complexity and overtime pay. NextPhone provides AI coverage at a lower total cost with zero scheduling headaches.

How long does setup take?

Basic NextPhone setup takes 30-60 minutes to configure your AI greeting, knowledge base, and call handling preferences. Adding Aircall as a call transfer destination takes about 5 minutes. Optional CRM webhook integration adds another 15-30 minutes. Most users are live within one hour, and no developer is required for standard setup.

Get Better Coverage Without More Aircall Seats

Aircall is a powerful platform for sales and support teams who need CRM-integrated calling. But coverage gaps—after-hours calls, spam, overflow when everyone's busy—cost you real deals.

NextPhone acts as an AI front-door, giving you 24/7 coverage, spam filtering, and lead qualification. Your Aircall agents focus on high-value conversations instead of answering routine questions at 9 PM.

The integration takes less than an hour to set up, and the investment pays for itself by capturing just 1-2 missed calls per month.

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