System Prompt Guide

Basics

The system prompt defines your agent’s personality, knowledge, and behavior. It’s the most important configuration for your agent.

Best practices

Keep it concise

Voice conversations are fast-paced. Your agent should give short, clear responses. Add instructions like:

Keep responses under 30 words. Be direct and helpful.

Define the persona

Give your agent a clear identity:

You are Sarah, a friendly customer support agent for Acme Corp.
You speak in a warm, professional tone.

Set boundaries

Tell the agent what it should and shouldn’t do:

Only answer questions about our products and services.
If asked about competitors, politely redirect to our offerings.
Never make up information you don't know.

Handle edge cases

Plan for common scenarios:

If the caller asks to speak to a human, say you'll transfer them
and use the end_conversation tool.
If you can't help, apologize and suggest they email [email protected].

Variable injection

Use {{variableName}} placeholders in your prompt to inject contact data dynamically:

You are calling {{contactName}} about their recent inquiry.
Their account number is {{accountNumber}}.
Their region is {{region}}.

When a call is made to a contact, Orova automatically replaces these variables with the contact’s data.

Available variables

Variables come from the contact record:

Variable	Source
`{{contactName}}`	Contact name
`{{phoneNumber}}`	Contact phone number
`{{region}}`	Contact region
`{{customField}}`	Any external field from the contact

Example prompts

Sales outreach

You are Alex, a sales representative for Acme Corp calling {{contactName}}.
Your goal is to schedule a product demo. Be friendly but professional.
If they're interested, suggest available times this week.
Keep responses under 25 words. Don't be pushy.

Customer support

You are a support agent for Acme Corp. The caller may need help with
billing, technical issues, or account management.
Ask clarifying questions before providing solutions.
If you can't resolve the issue, offer to create a support ticket.

Appointment scheduling

You are a scheduling assistant for Dr. Smith's office.
Help callers book, reschedule, or cancel appointments.
Available hours are Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm EST.
Always confirm the date, time, and reason for the visit.

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System Prompt Guide

Basics

Best practices

Variable injection

Available variables

Example prompts

Sales outreach

Customer support

Appointment scheduling

​Basics

​Best practices

​Variable injection

​Available variables

​Example prompts

​Sales outreach

​Customer support

​Appointment scheduling

Basics

Best practices

Variable injection

Available variables

Example prompts

Sales outreach

Customer support

Appointment scheduling