First steps
This article gets Yarla working in about half an hour. You'll log in, let us read your website and confirm your business details, check your first assistant, connect a phone number, run a test in Try it out and invite your team members.
1. Create your account or log in
New to Yarla? Open the dashboard. The same page signs you in or creates an account. Enter your email and choose Continue via email. We send a link and a 6-digit code straight away. They work once and are valid for 15 minutes. If the address is new, you choose Create account after the link; by doing so you agree to the terms of service and the privacy statement. If you type the code, we create the account straight away. Change email address takes you back to try a different address. You can also choose Continue with Google, Continue with Apple, Continue with Microsoft or Continue with passkey (the last one skips the email code). If a passkey is saved for this site, the browser can also offer it on the email field. Open the link in your email, or type the code on the sign-in page, to sign in. If you open the link on another device or in another browser than where you started, that page shows the code to type on the first device; Continue on this device instead continues there after all. If the link has expired or was already used, Send a new link sends a new one to the same address straight away. The same goes for the code: if it has expired, was already used or was entered wrong too often, Send a new code gets you a new one. On the code screen, Outlook (Windows) or Mail (other devices) opens the device mail app; a second button opens Gmail, Outlook or another common host when we can tell from the address domain (skipped when it would be the same app). Your business and a first assistant are created straight away, and then you start from your website (see the next step). See Subscription & invoices for when a subscription is required.
Already have an account and choose Google, Apple or Microsoft for the first time? When that service confirms your email address is verified, we link it to your existing account with the same address and you land straight in it. When it does not confirm the address (a Microsoft account often does not), we don't link it and don't create a new account with it: sign in with Continue via email instead.
Invited by a colleague? You get an email with a sign-in link and a code. Click the link. If that doesn't work, enter your email on the sign-in page, choose Continue via email and type the code from the newest email. You land in your colleague's business.
You choose the dashboard language with the button that shows your name, at the bottom of the sidebar. This only applies to your own login and sets the language the dashboard opens in when you sign in; every team member picks their own. Signing in on another device? Request a new link from the sign-in page.
No link or code? Check your spam folder or use Send email again. We send at most one email per minute, and at most 20 a day to one address. Only the code from the newest email works. After 20 wrong codes for one address in a day, codes stop working until the next day; the link in the email still works. If the link has expired, also one from an invitation, enter the same email address on the sign-in page and choose Continue via email.
2. Start from your website
A new account opens on Let's start with your website. Fill in the address of your website and choose Read website. We read your site and look for your business name, country, phone number, email address, address, legal name, VAT number and registration number, and also what your business does and your service area. You see what we find as we find it. If it takes longer than 30 seconds, Continue now lets you carry on while the reading continues.
Then you check everything under Is this right?:
- Each row says where it came from: Found on your website, Check this, From the trade register, Filled in by you or Not found. Change what isn't right. What you type is kept as a draft; your business details only change when you decide.
- Correct takes one row and Ignore leaves it out.
- Accept all and continue takes all the rows we are sure of and whatever you changed yourself. You always confirm the country, legal name, VAT number and registration number yourself with Correct, because they affect your invoice and your VAT. If a row cannot be saved, you stay on this screen and see which one. Continue moves on without taking anything.
- If the address of your website leads to another domain, the website row says Check this and you confirm it yourself. It can be your new name, but also a typo that lands on someone else's site. Until you do, Accept all and continue does not take the other details from that site either. What you typed yourself still counts.
- If something you filled in yourself is already there, you choose Keep or Replace. We never simply overwrite it.
- An address from your own website is shared with callers by default. An address that only comes from the trade register is not, because it can be a home address. Neither is an address you type here yourself. If you want it differently, switch Share this address with customers on the address row. Accept all and continue keeps to what you chose there.
- The text of your site only counts for the assistant once you have confirmed the website. If you ignore the website, we remove what we read from it, including the open proposals.
- Under Your assistant there can be a proposal for your business profile. Adopt lets the assistant use that text and Ignore leaves it out.
No website? Choose I don't have a website, fill in your business name and country and say what your business does. Then choose Make a proposal. If your site blocks reading, or only shows its text in the browser, you paste the text of your pages into the box that appears. The address and what we already found stay. Fill in later skips the start.
Under And you? you fill in your name and your mobile number for notifications and choose Continue. Then you try the assistant at Hear how your assistant sounds. Go to the dashboard finishes the start. Your booking link and chat address then get your business name, as long as there is no service yet and the chat is still off.
You can stop at any moment. Open the dashboard and you carry on at the reading or at Is this right?, on another device too. The start is only for admins of a new account; an editor or viewer doesn't get it. How often you can have a website read is in Subscription & invoices.
3. A quick tour of the dashboard
Everything lives in the menu on the left:
- Overview – what is going on: the last 24 hours, what is waiting for you, today's appointments and your figures per period.
- Inbox – every conversation per channel (phone, SMS, WhatsApp, webchat) with summary, transcript and recording, and on the Requests tab what customers want from you and what you follow up.
- Appointments – your schedule and your services, so the assistant can book appointments itself.
- Customers – your contacts with name, company and timeline, and your campaigns to call a list of numbers.
- Assistants – your AI receptionists: prompt, greeting, voice, knowledge, transfer rules and actions.
- Knowledge – the facts your assistant may use: Q&A entries, documents, your website and your business profile.
- Settings – your business, team, phone numbers, connections, subscription and access management.
Rest your mouse on a menu item to see in one sentence what it is for. At the top of every list is a line on what you see there, with a Learn more link to the article in this help centre. On Overview → Today, the How your dashboard works card explains the four words you see everywhere: Conversation, Request, Contact and Appointment. Got it closes that card.
A viewer sees the first four menu items. At the bottom of the sidebar are Help, your subscription and a button with your name. That button opens My account, the dashboard language and Log out.
You don't save changes yourself. A text field saves as soon as you leave it, a switch or dropdown straight away, and anything still open when you leave the tab or the page. Saved then shows under the field. A larger text box gets a link while you edit, Restore saved text or Undo edits, which puts back the text from before this edit, as long as you don't refresh the page. Only creating something new, inviting, uploading and deleting have a button of their own.
4. Check your first assistant
- Go to Assistants. Your first assistant is already there, so the editor opens straight away. You make another one with New assistant in the header.
- On the Instructions tab, under Template, choose the template that best matches your business. There are templates for thirteen industries, from General receptionist (any business), Healthcare practice (GP, dental, physio) and Hospitality, hotel & restaurant to Plumbing / installation company, Estate agency and E-commerce & customer service. The template replaces the current instruction fields, so you confirm that first. It pre-fills a prompt, tuned to the calls that come up most in your industry. Examples per industry are listed under How to write a great prompt.
- Open the Voice & greeting tab and check the three things a caller notices first:
- Name – how the assistant introduces itself, for example "Sam".
- Greeting – the first sentence the caller hears. Your business name follows your business details by itself; below the field you see how the line sounds. Keep it short.
- Voice – pick a ChatGPT voice and listen with the play button.
Changes are saved automatically.
The template is a starting point
The template prompt works straight away, but it only becomes really good once you adapt it to how you work: which jobs you take on, what the assistant should ask, and when it should transfer. See How to write a great prompt.
5. Connect a phone number
Your assistant needs a number it can be reached on. The two quickest routes:
- Buy a number via Settings → Phone numbers → Add number. Only an admin can do this, and it takes a paid subscription. A bought number works inbound and outbound, and with Voice + SMS also for SMS. Outbound calling is not in the Starter plan.
- Forward your existing number to a Yarla number, for example only when you don't pick up or outside opening hours.
Then assign the number to your assistant:
- Go to Settings → Phone numbers.
- Next to the number, choose your assistant under Assistant for incoming calls.
You can do the same on the assistant: Channels tab, Phone & SMS, checkbox Answers incoming.
All options, including porting your number and SIP, are explained in Connect a phone number.
6. Try out the assistant
Test as text first, then by phone.
- Open the assistant and choose Try it out in the header. A panel opens beside the settings.
- In Call, type what a customer would say, for example: "My boiler has stopped working, can you come today?" You'll see straight away how the assistant responds. If it uses a tool, that shows under Tools used. Which knowledge it finds, you test with Test search. Actions are only simulated, unless you turn on Perform actions for real.
- Choose Start call to speak through your microphone and hear the reply in the saved voice. It is not a live phone call. You can interrupt: the assistant stops speaking and your words show at once. The first seconds are spent connecting: wait until the assistant starts speaking.
- Choose Chat to see the same assistant as a website visitor would.
- Then call the connected number from your own phone.
Listen for four things during the call:
- Greeting – is the company name right, and does the sentence sound natural?
- AI disclosure – does the assistant make clear that the caller is speaking to a digital assistant? The standard greeting already says so. Also ask whether you are speaking to a human.
- Name capture – does the assistant ask for your name and repeat it back correctly?
- Tone – do the formality and speaking style suit your customers?
Something off? Adjust the prompt or settings and test again. Changes save automatically and take effect on the next conversation. The most common fixes are in Improve your assistant.
7. Invite team members
- Go to Settings → Team and click Invite team member. Only an admin can do this. The button is off once you have reached the maximum of your plan.
- Enter your colleague's email address.
- Choose a role:
- Admin – full access to all settings, the team, the subscription and access management.
- Editor – manages assistants, knowledge, the inbox, campaigns and connections, and assigns numbers. Reads the business details and the team, but does not change them.
- Viewer – reads the overview, conversations, appointments and customers, but changes nothing.
- Under Language, choose the language of the email and of their first dashboard visit.
- Choose Send invitation. Your colleague receives an email with a sign-in link and a code, valid for 15 minutes, and can then choose a dashboard language under My account → Profile.
Every team member has an Available for transfers toggle, under My account → Profile. An admin can also set it under Settings → Team. When it's off, the assistant won't transfer calls to that person – handy on a day off or during holidays. Read more in Transfers (call forwarding). What each role can do and how to remove team members is in Team & roles.
Your business details
Everything about your business is in one place: Settings → Business, with your website, business name, address, opening hours and billing details. Only an admin changes this; an editor can read it. Did you skip the start, or is your account older? Fill in your website there and choose Get details from website. Every field is explained in Your business details.
Secure your sign-in
At the top of the overview is Getting started, with what is still open: Confirm your business details (for admins), Try your assistant and Add a phone number. Without a paid plan, the phone number says a paid plan is required. Put the chat on your website and Secure your login are optional. A viewer only sees the last one. Hide getting started steps folds the block. Show getting started steps opens it again. That choice is saved for your account.
You secure your login under My account → Security, with a passkey, an authenticator app, a hardware key or an SMS code. One method is enough and a passkey is preferred. The steps are in My account.
What next?
Your assistant is now answering. These four steps make it really good:
- How to write a great prompt – teach the assistant how your business works.
- Knowledge – add rates, service area and frequently asked questions so the assistant never has to guess.
- Transfers (call forwarding) – decide when a call goes to you or a colleague.
- Actions – send an email or SMS automatically after every conversation.