In July 2025, Google began giving searchers the option of having an AI agent call multiple local businesses on their behalf to get pricing and appointment availability information. Google will then summarise the information collected by the AI agent and send it to the consumer in an email or SMS to help them decide which business to engage with.
The feature has been limited to searches for select industries — including automotive repair and tires, hair salons, wellness centers, dry cleaners, veterinary services, pest control, and plumbing — but Google plans to expand it to others.
The ability for Google’s AI — or any AI agent — to call businesses on your behalf to solicit information has the potential to fundamentally change the buyer journey. It has big implications for both the marketing teams driving demand and the locations and contact centers responsible for converting leads — but only if consumers embrace this feature.
So are they? If so, how well are businesses handling calls from Google’s AI agent? And what are the best practices businesses should adopt for this new type of engagement?
To find out, we did a deep dive into Google AI pricing calls tracked and analysed by the Invoca platform. We found that while initial adoption was slow, call volume in November exploded for many businesses. We also found that locations aren’t handling these calls optimally, pointing to a need for better data and coaching.
Initial Adoption Was Slow, But Usage Is Ramping Up
Invoca examined pricing request calls from Google’s AI from July 2025, when the feature was launched, through November. Calls in July through September were negligible, but volumes jumped 162% in October versus September and then another 324% in November versus October. 66% of all AI agent pricing calls from Google took place in November.
Industries that saw the largest average monthly call volume increase in November include plumbing (over 650%) and veterinary services (over 1,700%).
Unanswered Calls Are a Problem Across Industries
On average, 26% of pricing calls from Google’s AI aren’t answered by locations. Auto repair and tire providers and pest control businesses answer these calls at the highest rates (79% and 75%, respectively), with plumbing and veterinary businesses lagging behind (answering 66% and 65% of calls, respectively).
Businesses Often Fail to Provide Pricing Quotes
For calls answered by a person (location staff or answering service) or an AI agent, on average 49% did not provide Google’s AI with pricing information. This was most common in home service businesses like pest control and plumbing, where most calls from Google’s AI did not receive pricing. Instead, the agents tell Google they do not do estimates over the phone and require a home visit to determine pricing.
Best Practices for Google’s AI Agent Pricing Calls
If you are a multi-location business in an industry that gets these pricing calls, consider these actions to improve call outcomes and appointment rates.
Track how calls from Google’s AI are handled
Businesses should track and analyse how their locations, answering services, and AI agents handle these calls from Google’s AI. As volumes increase, so does the importance of ensuring these calls are handled correctly. The first and most important step is to have visibility into how many of these calls are going to each of your locations, as well as how they are handled.
Coach staff to recognise AI calls and provide pricing
These AI calls aren’t traditional phone leads that your staff can convert — the best they can do is provide pricing and appointment information and hope the consumer re-engages. Businesses should coach staff on how to recognise AI calls and provide the required information (ideally, your lowest possible price) to increase the likelihood the consumer selects you from the list of options Google provides and calls you back.
Train AI voice agents to handle these calls correctly
If you use your own AI agents to assist callers, be sure to train them to recognise Google calls and simply deliver pricing and availability, not try to convert the caller.
Many businesses train AI agents to always ask callers for their name and contact information to provide pricing and appointment availability — information that Google’s AI won’t give out, resulting in an impasse and a failed call. Having your AI agents treat these calls differently is an important step to turning more of them into appointments.
Adjust IVRs to allow access to a person when no selection is made
For businesses that use IVRs to qualify and route callers, Google’s AI doesn’t recognise IVR options or make selections. It simply waits silently and patiently to be connected to a person. So make sure that if no selection is made, your IVRs will automatically send callers to a person to assist them — otherwise, these calls will never connect.
Separate Google AI calls from other marketing leads
Pricing calls from Google’s AI aren’t traditional marketing leads. There is no contact for your business to retarget, nurture, or call back. Marketing teams should remove these calls from those programs.
Convert More Google AI Agent Calls to Customers With Invoca
AI is transforming how consumers research products and services and engage with businesses. Invoca provides AI-powered insights and agents to help businesses answer and convert more calls, including calls from Google’s AI. Request a demo of the Invoca platform, and our experts will show you how your marketing team, contact centers, and business locations can work together to increase conversion rates and revenue.
