The Best Answering Services of 2021

Answering services advertise many different features, but there are some that are considered "core" features. (Most of the answering services we evaluated provide these "core" features.) As you do your research, you'll likely encounter these terms. Below is a brief definition of these "core" features.

As you do your own research, we recommend that you consider which of the features below are most important to you, which ones are nice to have, and which features aren't necessary before you request proposals from companies.

• Live answering: When most people think of an answering service, they think of live answering, which is when an agent picks up incoming calls and interacts with customers on a client's behalf. Agents often act as if they are employees of the business they are answering calls for. Basic live answering services consist of greeting the customers, requesting the caller's info, and then forwarding the caller's name and message to you, the answering service client. Other services, though, may answer customers' questions or assist customers with certain tasks.
  
  
• Message taking: Commonly included in even the most basic services, message taking is when agents record the caller's name and info, and forward it to one or more points of contact you've provided for your business.
  
  
• Call transfers: Many answering services can transfer calls to a client-provided point of contact when needed, whether the caller requests a transfer or the agent simply cannot assist the caller further.
  
  
• Customer support: Some services can answer your customers' questions and field complaints from callers, acting as an outsourced type of customer support.
  
  
• Order taking: Some answering services help customers place e-commerce orders by walking them through your business's online store, capturing payment information and even sometimes processing the order completely. Some agents can upsell or cross-sell products or services to consumers.
  
  
• Appointment setting: If you need help with setting up and managing appointments, some answering services can do that for you using a shared calendar. When an agent sets an appointment with a caller, you're notified automatically via the calendar, email, text or all three.
  
  
• Email and text notifications: Answering services will notify you of new calls, messages and other updates via email or text message.
  
  
• Live webchat: Through the service, you can implement and manage a live chat channel on your website, which gives customers another way to interact with your business.
  
  
• Client portal: Some answering services maintain client portals that include account information, the ability to run reports, and customization options, such as changing the call script or adding new features.

Answering services can help your business in a number of ways. For some small businesses, for example, an automated answering service, known as an auto attendant, might be sufficient to direct callers to the right person in your company. For other businesses, a live operator might be needed, because it's imperative that your callers reach a human who can answer their questions then and there. Here's a short explanation about the features offered by answering services:

• Automated answering service: Automated answering services include features like an interactive voice response tree, which directs callers to the person they are trying to reach. Auto attendants tend to be simple, but they're designed to quickly and efficiently direct callers to the right individual or department.
  
  
• Live answering service: A more advanced service, live operators answer calls and represent your brand. Your customers will not know they are speaking to an answering service – they will think they are speaking with an employee of your company.
  
  
• After-hours answering service: Many companies employ answering services to handle after-hours or overflow calls only. When your business is open or call volumes remain manageable, your callers can reach your company directly. But if you receive an influx of calls, with the touch of a button, you can activate your answering service to capture overflow calls. Answering services can also be at the ready when your business is closed to ensure that callers' questions or concerns are handled with care and professionalism.
  
  
• 24-hour answering service: With this option, the answering service essentially becomes your remote receptionist for every call. A 24-hour answering service can be a great solution to free up internal resources and ensure your callers receive timely, helpful customer service.

Many services offer all of the options described above. If you aren't sure how or even if an answering service will work for you, we suggest that you partner with one under a limited agreement. For example, you could just work with an answering service to answer overflow calls at first. If you are pleased with the initial results and think transitioning to 24-hour live answering could benefit your business, most companies will happily upgrade your plan.

When selecting an answering service, it's important to ask the right questions. There are a few industry policies that are somewhat complicated. If you're not aware of these policies, it can significantly inflate the cost of the service, so it's critical to learn the details of a company's policies before making a purchasing decision.

The following questions will help you identify an answering service that's a good match for your business and won't try to gouge you with surprise fees and costs.

How do answering services work?

Typically, there's an intake or onboarding period, during which the answering works with you to capture crucial information about your business. As part of this process, many services will work with you to create a guideline or script for its agents to use when speaking with your callers. These guidelines and scripts can often be updated through an online web portal. Following the onboarding process, the answering service will then begin handling calls in the way you specified.

Some answering services make real-time reports available through a client portal so you can monitor billing, the number of calls coming in, how quickly they are being answered and how long they typically last. Others offer an end-of-month report only. A good answering service will be transparent into how your calls are being managed by their agents.

Who needs an answering service?

Any business that is overwhelmed by its current call volume, is missing late night calls or is hindered by declining customer satisfaction could benefit from an answering service. Agents are trained in customer service and can deliver exceptional support to your callers. The two main goals of hiring an answering service are, one, to free up your internal staff so they can focus on operations, and, two,  increase customer satisfaction.

What types of businesses do answering services help?

Answering services can work with virtually any type of business, but they are especially common in niche areas. For example, attorneys commonly rely on answering services to help manage client communications with care. In the healthcare industry, medical answering services are frequently used, because they comply with the strict security standards set by laws like HIPAA and the HITECH Act. However, you don't need to be in one of these industries to use an answering service.

What Can an Answering Service Do for Your Business?

An answering service offers several features for your company, which includes call screening and recording messages. These services also help companies manage clients during times when call volume is high, such as over the holidays. Having an answering service ensures clients' calls are received and answered in a timely manner.

Why Should I Outsource My Customer Service to a Call Center Service?

There are a few major reasons why you should consider outsourcing your customer service to a call center or answering service:

• Call centers and answering services excel at customer service. A good answering service offers agents who are trained in customer service interactions and resolving calls to customer satisfaction. Many small businesses don't have this expertise in house, so outsourcing to an answering service is a great way to add a layer of professionalism to your business where it matters most – where your customers interact with your company.
  
  
• Answering services free up internal resources. When the phones are no longer ringing off the hook, you and your staff can focus your attention on day-to-day operations. Outsourcing your phone lines to an answering service or call center (as well as your email and social media management) goes a long way to giving you back the time you need to get more done for your business.
  
  
• Answering services make tracking easy. Most answering services offer reporting tools and access to call recording archives that give you better insight into who is calling your business most and for what purposes. This data can be useful in devising more targeted marketing campaigns or simplifying aspects of your business that cause customers significant confusion. Those insights might not be available if you simply answer calls in house.

What should you look for in an answering service?

You want an answering service with agents who understand the ins and outs of your business. Make sure it offers an online database where you can check and analyze call history with ease. Also, a service that can cater to non-English speakers makes your customer service accessible to more clients.

You also want to find the pricing structure that works best for your company's budget. For example, would per-minute or per-call billing be cheaper for your business? See if the company charges for agent work time, which is any time agents spend working on your account when they are not on the phone with customers.

Also consider in your budget whether the company rounds up to increments and, if so, what they are. For example, a call center that charges second by second will only charge for the actual time an agent spends on the phone; one that rounds up to the nearest six-second increment will round a call that lasts 1 minute and 1 second up to 1 minute and 6 seconds on your bill. Six-second increments are the industry standard, but some call centers round up time to the nearest minute, which could significantly inflate your call center costs.

What is a virtual receptionist?

A virtual receptionist manages a business's appointment schedule, fields client calls, helps customers find who and what they need, and takes down messages and leads. A virtual receptionist is just like an in-house receptionist in that they help connect customers to the appropriate department or employee. Most call centers and answering services offer a virtual receptionist who can carry out these tasks as if they were a member of your staff, making your callers feel they are communicating directly with your business.

What is an auto-attendant phone system?

An auto-attendant phone system is also called a digital receptionist or interactive voice response (IVR) menu. It offers a voice menu system without the need of a live operator. Like an answering machine, an auto attendant helps you navigate callers' messages. Callers can be transferred to the extension they want by dialing in the digit the IVR provides for it. Auto attendants tend to be more cost-effective than shared agents, automating the customer service process to route the call to the appropriate person at your company.

What Is the Difference Between a Phone Answering Service and a Virtual Receptionist Service?

Virtual receptionists and answering services are closely related, and often through the same vendors. The main difference is scale and capabilities. A virtual receptionist answers calls on your company's behalf, takes messages and forwards calls.

Answering services do the same thing, but generally have a higher capacity and offer some more sophisticated functions, such as order management. They can also generally handle after-hours or overflow calls, which a virtual receptionist service might not include.

Ultimately, while these services are similar, there are some differences that might make an answering service more appropriate for a scaling business. However, some companies define the terms "virtual receptionist" and "answering service" differently; always get an explanation in writing of what a company expects its responsibilities to be in terms of each service. Always secure in writing the details of exactly what you are paying for each month when working with an answering service or virtual receptionist.

Questions You Should Ask the Answering Service

Can I see a breakdown of the monthly price?

Answering services commonly charge setup fees, plus fees for additional services. We recommend that you obtain a proposal that includes a complete breakdown of the price, letting you see exactly what goes into the total bill. And, if possible, request a breakdown of a typical month's pricing as well, as the first month often includes deposits and setup fees.

Are there any contracts or monthly minimums?

Most of the answering services we evaluated base their billing on month-to-month subscriptions and can be easily canceled. Some, however, require a contract or monthly minimum. It's important to know upfront if there is a mandatory contract, or if you are required to provide advance notice to the answering service before canceling. Read the proposal closely for the cancellation terms.

What billing increment do you use?

The billing increment should be a major consideration when searching for an answering service. The billing increment determines how much the answering service rounds up per-minute usage, and it can significantly impact your monthly bill.

Some answering services bill second by second; the industry standard is to bill in 6-second increments. This means a call lasting 1 minute and 1 second would be billed as a 1-minute and 6-second phone call, appearing on the bill as "1.1 minutes." Some of the services we evaluated bill in 12-second increments, and the service with the highest billing increment rounded up to the nearest minute.

Be sure you understand the billing increment before signing up with a service, because they can make a seemingly affordable service expensive in reality.

Does this answering service bill in a 28-day cycle?

Another common pitfall businesses run into with answering services concerns the 28-day cycle. When a service bills in a 28-day cycle, you have less time to use your minutes. Moreover, it adds a 13th billing period to the year, so, essentially, you pay for an extra month. Taken together with billing increments, 28-day billing cycles can increase your costs.

Can I access on-demand reports?

Many answering services offer client portals where you can review your account usage, run reports, and update the script that agents use when answering the phone on your company's behalf. These portals are useful windows into how an answering service is managing your account, not to mention a nice tool to have if you'd like to update how they answer the phones and interact with your customers. Most client portals include an on-demand reporting function that allows you to run detailed reports, granting you additional insights into who is calling and why. Finding out a portal's reporting capabilities and the types of reports they provide could make your buying decision more clear cut.

After a year that saw the frequency of "difficult" customer calls increase by over 100%, experts predict a bounce-back 2021 for the answering services industry, which will find itself in higher demand among businesses unequipped to handle unprecedented numbers of frustrated customers.

Answering services in 2021 will employ the recent advancements in cloud computing and AI to better serve customers. Over 85% of future customer service interactions will occur without the customer speaking to a live agent, and the rapid implementation of AI algorithms into these answering services has accelerated that timeline. Expect to see answering services promote their AI functionality as a chief selling point rather than an afterthought, especially with reduced staffs. Some of these improvements will come as chatbots are better able to integrate with your website. The number of integrations and their ease of use will be a key differentiator between options.

Although many of these services will expand further into automated messaging, their ability to handle live customer calls will remain the primary emphasis. Over the last year, according to a Zendesk report, 81% of customers used the phone to speak with customer service, and 76% preferred to speak to a live person over the phone when they had complicated requests. Limits on personal interaction will increase the importance of empathetic agents in the coming months. Look for companies to proactively promote the qualifications and experience of their representatives, and be prepared to assign higher value to these factors than in previous years. 

January 2021: Market research from Orion Market Reports suggests that mass adoption of artificial intelligence in the call center and answering service industries will speed up in the coming years. The market analyst estimates that AI solutions will be worth $2.8 billion in call centers by 2024, up from just $800 million in 2019.

The growth is likely to be driven by the proliferation of AI chatbots for live chat services. In addition, AI is expected to play a key role in the gathering and contextualizing of business intelligence, which will be used to inform brands about the customer experience and their customers' motivators. For small businesses, call centers could be a way to leverage AI technology without the upfront expense of implementing a platform.

As part of our research, we reached out to readers for their input about which answering services they use.

Ollie Smith, the CEO of Card Accounts, uses RingCentral. "I like the fact that you can add specific features such as additional users, the fact that it integrates well with over 100 external apps, and its affordable price of just $20 per month," Smith told business.com.  

Bruce Moss, of the Law Offices of Bruce A. Moss, is a family law solo practitioner who has used Answer Connect for more than three years. He said he has received positive comments from his clients about how nice his receptionist is.

"They answer 24/7/365," Moss said. "They patch all calls to me directly. If I am unavailable, I receive a text message and an email with the message. I have rarely had any problems with them."

For this year's update, we began our research by compiling an extensive list of vendors in the answering service and call center industry. We gathered these vendors from our existing database and by searching the web, reading reviews, and contacting active companies.

Next, we analyzed each company's website, comparing prices and features. From there, we narrowed our list down to a dozen finalists. We then contacted each service to learn more details about the onboarding process, the services offered and pricing, and to obtain a proposal from the company.

With the proposal in hand, we examined the policies of each company and looked to see whether there were any hidden fees or charges. We also contacted each of our dozen finalists to evaluate the quality of its customer service.

In determining our recommendations, we strived to pick companies that offer the best balance of affordability, useful features and first-rate customer service.