Privacy, consent and costs of the AI Phone Agent

With the AI Phone Agent, an AI agent has real phone conversations with your leads. To keep this on solid legal ground, some rules always apply, and you decide per form which data the agent gets. This article shows which data goes where, what you should cover in your privacy policy and contracts, and how the costs arise.

Requirements

• Funnelforms Pro. This feature is not included in Funnelforms Free.
• Funnelforms Pro 5.0.8 or newer.
• Your own ElevenLabs and Twilio accounts, as described in Set up the AI Phone Agent.

Where to find it

• The privacy note is shown on Funnelforms → AI Phone Agent at the bottom of the section What happens with a new lead and in the editor in the action AI Phone Agent.
• Which answers the agent gets is set in the editor: contact step, After sending tab, action AI Phone Agent, What the agent learns from the form.
• The daily limit against high costs is on the agent under After the call → More settings → Calls per day at most.

Features at a glance

• Only people who agreed in the form are called.
• Every call starts by saying that an AI assistant is calling.
• Calls only within the call hours, with a daily limit per agent.
• Per form you choose which answers the agent gets. Of the contact details it only gets the name.
• Transcript in the entry only if you switch it on.
• Logs without phone numbers and without anything said in the call.

Step-by-step guide

1. Conclude a data processing agreement (DPA) with ElevenLabs and with Twilio.
2. Name ElevenLabs (voice AI, calls, transcript) and Twilio (phone number and phone connection) in your privacy policy as services you use for calls about requests.
3. Add a consent box to every form with the AI Phone Agent. In the editor, one click on Add consent box in the action is enough.
4. Check the text of the consent box. It should say that you will call about the request, also with an AI assistant, and link to your privacy policy.
5. In What the agent learns from the form, choose only the answers the agent needs for the conversation.
6. Leave Save the whole conversation in the entry off if summary and answers are enough for you.
7. Set Calls per day at most on the agent to fit your credit.

Explanations

Which rules always apply?

• Consent: only leads who checked the consent box are called. Without a consent box the action is incomplete in the editor. In Germany, marketing calls need prior express consent (§ 7 UWG).
• AI disclosure: every call starts with a fixed sentence, for example "Hello, this is the AI assistant of Example Ltd.", and only then comes your greeting. That way the people called learn right away that they are talking to an AI, as Art. 50 of the EU AI Act requires.
• Call hours: calls only start on the agent's days and hours, no later than five minutes before the window closes.
• Daily limit: at most as many calls per agent and day as set; the rest wait for the next window.

You cannot switch these rules off.

Which data goes to ElevenLabs and Twilio?

Funnelforms does not pass the e-mail address or other contact details to the agent. Nor uploaded files or empty answers. The connection runs from your website directly to your own ElevenLabs account.

What is stored where?

• In your WordPress: the note on the entry with result, summary and answers, and with Save the whole conversation in the entry also the transcript. Funnelforms deletes this data with the entry, also when the retention period deletes it.
• At ElevenLabs: the conversations in your ElevenLabs account under Conversations, according to the settings of your account.
• In the Funnelforms logs: only causes such as no_consent, never a number or a word of the conversation.

What does the AI Phone Agent cost?

Funnelforms charges nothing per call; the AI Phone Agent is part of Funnelforms Pro. The calls run over your own accounts:

• ElevenLabs: the agent's conversation minutes according to your ElevenLabs plan.
• Twilio: the phone number and the call minutes according to Twilio's prices, depending on the country of the number and of the people called.

Calls per day at most (default: 50 per agent) protects your ElevenLabs and Twilio credit. A conversation lasts at most 10 minutes. Leads who were not reached are called again at most as often as you set in If nobody answers.

Note: This article is not legal advice. Check the texts of your consent box and privacy policy with your legal advisor.

Best practices

• Keep a record of when and with which text a lead agreed. The consent box is stored with the entry. Choose the retention period of entries so you can prove the consent for as long as you have to (in Germany § 7a UWG).
• Share with the agent only the answers it needs for the conversation.
• Check your usage at ElevenLabs and Twilio at the start of each month and adjust the daily limit.

Troubleshooting

Tips

• The text that Add consent box inserts reads "Yes, you may call me about my request, also with an AI assistant." You can change it in the contact step and add a link to your privacy policy.
• The plugin also shows the note about ElevenLabs on the AI Phone Agent page and in the action in the form. Twilio belongs in your privacy policy just as well, because the calls run over your Twilio number.

FAQ

Can I switch off the AI disclosure at the start? No. Every call starts with it.

Does the agent call leads without consent? No. Without a tick in the consent box there is no call.

Does Funnelforms get the conversation data? No. The calls run over your own ElevenLabs and Twilio accounts, and your WordPress stores the results.

Who pays for the calls? You, through your ElevenLabs and Twilio accounts. Funnelforms charges nothing per call.

Related articles

• Link the AI Phone Agent in a form
• Deleting entries automatically (retention)
• Privacy and personal data