| What is an answering service? An answering service handles calls for other businesses, primarily after hours, during weekends, or on holidays. Answering services help ensure that all phone calls are answered by real people, even during off-hours or busy periods. |
Maintaining a competitive edge as a small business can be challenging in today’s fast-paced business environment. Rapidly evolving technology and ever-shifting customer demands create moving targets that are tough to capture without the right tools.
Routing calls to an answering service via a virtual receptionist also helps free up time and resources you’d otherwise spend managing calls internally. That way, you can focus more on scaling your business.
In this guide, we’ll explore the best answering services for small business owners to boost customer retention, plus what you need to look for before choosing.
Let’s start the comparison.
| Answering Service | Best For | Features | Starting Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnswerConnect | Most businesses | Minutes offered: 100–450+ Web chat, email support, call recording | $325/month + $2.95/minute |
| Posh | Personal service businesses | Minutes offered: 0–1,000 Bilingual answering, outbound calling | $64/month + $2.20/minute |
| VoiceNation | Round-the-clock service | Minutes offered: 20–500 Unlimited long-distance calls, free call patching | $65/month + $2.19/minute |
| Ruby | Call forwarding and routing needs | Minutes offered: 50–500 Third-party integrations, automatic inbound lead capture | $235/month + a per-minute fee |
| Abby Connect | Dedicated account support | Minutes offered: 100–500 Dedicated receptionist teams, call announcements, transfers | $299/month + $2.99/minute |
| Davinci Virtual | Solopreneurs and startups | Minutes offered: 50–100 Advanced call routing, conferencing (Premium tiers) | $129/month + $1.75/minute |
AnswerConnect
Best overall service
AnswerConnect is a live answering and chat tool that offers bilingual support. Their support team can help you by taking messages, routing calls, and qualifying inbound leads.
AnswerConnect can also help manage customer experience (CX) with personalization thanks to caller ID.
Features
AnswerConnect offers a range of features in addition to live answering:
- Caller ID to recognize repeat callers for better in-call personalization
- Inbound lead qualification so your sales team can hit the ground running
- Detailed message-taking so you don’t lose any important information
- Time-sensitive call routing depending on where your teams are located
- Appointment bookings to set up a future point of contact
Plus, AnswerConnect has an overflow response system for busy hours to ensure no call goes unanswered.
Pricing
There are three main pricing options from AnswerConnect:
- 100 minutes included: $325 per month plus $2.95 per minute and a $75 setup fee
- 300 minutes included: $425 per month plus $2.75 per minute
- 450 minutes included: $825 per month plus $2.75 per minute and a $75 setup fee
There are also 14 additional pricing tiers for larger companies, from 600 minutes at $1,095 per month to 100,000 minutes at $168,995 per month. Plans from 600 to 5,000 minutes have a $75 setup fee, while larger plans have no setup fee.
| AnswerConnect Pros | AnswerConnect Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7/365 live answering Live chat answering capabilities Integration with most CRM systems Bilingual Spanish and English receptionists | More expensive than some other offerings Call reports aren’t customizable |
Posh
Best for personal service-oriented businesses
Posh is a live answering service that offers outbound calling capabilities. Its knowledgeable agents specialize in customer service for businesses in health, wellness, real estate, and consulting.
Most notably, its outbound capabilities mean it can help capture and qualify leads and convert initial customer inquiries.
Features
Posh offers several features to businesses of all sizes looking for phone answering service capabilities:
- Live answering on every call so your customers never reach a voicemail on their first touchpoint
- Bilingual virtual receptionist to cater to more of your customers
- A mobile app so agents can help customers from where they’re at
- Unlimited users so businesses don’t have to pay for more seats
Thanks to its partnership with Zapier, Posh also offers integrations with 3,000+ business applications.
Pricing
There are seven pricing tiers for Posh customers:
- 0 minutes included: $64 per month plus $2.20 per minute
- 50 minutes included: $119 per month plus $2.10 per minute
- 100 minutes included: $204 per month plus $2.04 per minute
- 200 minutes included: $394 per month plus $1.97 per minute
- 350 minutes included: $664 per month plus $1.90 per minute
- 500 minutes included: $924 per month plus $1.85 per minute
- 1,000 minutes included: $1,794 per month plus $1.79 per minute
| Posh Pros | Posh Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7/365 live answering Wide variety of pricing plans Bilingual receptionists HIPAA compliance | No live chat No call recording |
VoiceNation
Best for small businesses needing to offer round-the-clock service
VoiceNation is a live answering service provider and virtual receptionist solution.
VoiceNation provides agents with tech support know-how for small businesses without intensive resources. It also offers instant activation if you need an immediate live answering solution but don’t have the infrastructure to set it up quickly.
Features
VoiceNation offers several features, including:
- Unlimited long-distance calls so your customers get heard no matter where they are
- Live answering on every call so customers don’t reach voicemail on the first point of contact
- A mobile app so agents can help customers from where they’re at
- Custom call scripts to align with your brand
- Instant activation for easy out-of-the-box setup
- Free call patching (warm transfers) so you don’t rack up charges, making sure your agents are informed
VoiceNation users can also take advantage of message delivery free of charge via channels like voicemail, email, or SMS.
Pricing
VoiceNation offers five pricing plans:
- 20 minutes included: $65 per month plus $2.19 per minute
- 50 minutes included: $135 per month plus $2.19 per minute
- 150 minutes included: $319 per month plus $2.19 per minute
- 250 minutes included: $525 per month plus $2.19 per minute
- 500 minutes included: $925 per month plus $1.99 per minute
| VoiceNation Pros | VoiceNation Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7/365 live answering No fees for holiday or after-hours calls Bilingual receptionists HIPAA compliance | The mobile app includes additional fees for calling Live chat is billed annually rather than month-to-month No dedicated account managers outside of the Enterprise plan |
Ruby
Best for businesses with fluctuating call volumes and forwarding needs
Ruby is a live answering and chat solution. Its agents are entirely based in the U.S. and have the expertise to assist with customer service, support, and even acquisition needs.
Ruby handles outbound calls, qualifies and captures leads, and routes calls to the appropriate party.
Features
Ruby offers quite a few features:
- A mobile app so agents can help customers from where they’re at
- Third-party integrations to mesh with your existing tech stack
- Automatic inbound lead capture so your sales team can hit the ground running
- Call routing and forwarding to reach the right team member
- Appointment bookings to set up a future point of contact
Ruby is also known for exceptional customer service, a great option if you need outside help for a CX boost.
Pricing
Ruby has four different live reception pricing tiers:
- 50 minutes included: $235 per month plus a per-minute fee
- 100 minutes included: $375 per month plus a per-minute fee
- 200 minutes included: $680 per month plus a per-minute fee
- 500 minutes included: $1,640 per month plus a per-minute fee
They also offer live chat as well as bundled reception and chat options.
| Ruby Pros | Ruby Cons |
|---|---|
| 24/7/365 live answering Live chat answering capabilities HIPAA compliance | More expensive than some other solutions Bilingual receptionists aren’t 24/7/365 |
Abby Connect
Best for businesses that want a dedicated account manager
Abby Connect offers live answering, chat, and virtual receptionist services. While live receptionists aren’t available on holidays through Abby Connect, live chat is available around the clock, 365 days a year.
Features
The features that Abby Connect offers include:
- Dedicated receptionist teams that stay with your account for consistency
- Appointment bookings to set up a future point of contact
- Call announcements for transparency and clear communication
- Call transfers to reach the right team member
- A mobile app so agents can help customers from where they’re at
Abby also features Zapier integration for compatibility with more than 3,000 third-party apps.
Pricing
Abby Connect has three live answering pricing packages:
- 100 minutes included: $299 per month plus $2.99 per minute
- 200 minutes included: $549 per month plus $2.75 per minute
- 500 minutes included: $1,199 per month plus $2.40 per minute
Abby also offers live chat as well as bundled reception and chat options.
| Abby Connect Pros | Abby Connect Cons |
|---|---|
| Live chat answering capabilities Free outbound calls Free trial | Limited receptionist capabilities No custom script option Live answering isn’t 24/7/365 |
Davinci Virtual
Best for solopreneurs and startups
Davinci Virtual is a comprehensive business solution that includes live receptionist services. It’s a relatively affordable answering service offering businesses administrative services, like providing a physical address, customer support resources, and live receptionists.
Rather than compensate for business off-hours and holidays, Davinci takes over call support for extremely small teams. This means they don’t have live call answering services around the clock like other solutions.
Features
Davinci Virtual’s Business plans prioritize their live answering services and offer quite a few features, like:
- Free local or toll-free phone number, depending on your needs
- Call forwarding and screening to reach the right team member
- Unlimited long-distance calls so your customers get heard no matter where they are
- Online faxing for transfer of important documents and information
Live answering with Davinci is only available during standard business hours, and not 24/7/365, so callers may sometimes reach voicemai.
Pricing
Davinci has four pricing tiers customers can choose from, split into two categories. Business plans are answering services, while Premium plans are more broad contact center solutions:
- Business | 50 minutes included: $129 per month plus $1.75 per minute
- Business | 100 minutes included: $239 per month plus $1.75 per minute
- Premium | 50 minutes included: $249 per month plus $2.50 per minute
- Premium | 100 minutes included: $319 per month plus $2.50 per minute
Each pricing tier has additional setup fees starting at $50 and up, depending on your needed services.
| Davinci Virtual Pros | Davinci Virtual Cons |
|---|---|
| Less costly than alternatives | Live answering isn’t 24/7/365 No notifications for new messages One-time setup fees Minimum six-month commitment with no month-to-month option No free trial |
What to Look for When Choosing an Answering Service
The answering service you choose will often be the first impression for callers contacting your business. When you consider that 83% of businesses either lost a customer, missed a deadline, or terminated an employee due to miscommunication, that first impression becomes even more important.
A telephone answering service can help boost customer engagement KPIs like customer effort score (CES) and customer lifetime value (CLV). It does so by increasing convenience for your customers so they might be more likely to walk away from the experience with a positive opinion.
The best small business answering services help engagement and retention by being:
- Customizable: Look for a service that offers customizable solutions, like the ability to tailor scripts and call handling procedures to align with your brand.
- Available 24/7: Opt for a service that can handle calls around the clock (even on weekends and holidays) to ensure you’re always accessible to customers.
- Scalable: Pick a service that can scale with your business. That means handling increasing call volumes and adapting to rapid changes.
- Cost-effective: Select a service that balances affordability and quality, ensuring you get the best value for your money.
- Able to integrate: Go for a service that seamlessly integrates with your tech stack, like CRM software, to streamline call handling and data management.
- Reputable: Single out testimonials and reviews from other small businesses. A reputable service with a track record of satisfied customers is more likely to meet your expectations.
By capturing customer attention on the first point of contact, an answering service engages and primes customers for the next step in their journey. Engaged customers are more valuable, too — according to Gallup, they drive a 23% premium over the average customer regarding wallet share among your competitors.
| 💡Even if an answering service checks all your boxes, you’ll still need to route the calls somewhere. With a complete virtual call center solution like Nextiva, you can easily set up a connection to a third-party answering service and make sure customers reach the correct destinations. |
How Businesses Use Answering Services
Businesses use answering services to keep lines of communication open with their customers when the usual team isn’t available. They might add the answering service to their call flow after business hours, during a holiday, or when a service outage hits.
A typical call flow that includes an answering service might look like this:
- A customer calls your business over the weekend while your team is off.
- The call triggers an interactive voice response (IVR) menu that prompts the customer for a response.
- The customer gives an input.
- The call routes to an answering service covering for the caller’s intended destination.
- The caller connects with a support agent from the answering service who notes the issue and sets up expectations for the next steps.
- If needed, your team follows up with the caller when normal business hours resume or via automated email or text.
Streamlining business processes can help make operations more efficient, lead to better customer service, and lower turnover rates. Keeping customers around for the long haul is important — the longer they do business with you, the more money they spend. They might even send new business your way, too.
Be There Any Time Your Customers Call
To compete in today’s market, you must be there when customers call. That’s day or night, weekday or weekend — holiday or not. With round-the-clock availability, professional call handling, and scalability, an answering service for small businesses can improve your customer service game and retention.
A Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution like Nextiva is essential to manage, route, and analyze those calls so you can be there for your customers even when you aren’t actually available.
Small Business Answering Service FAQs
If you’re still curious about an answering service for small businesses, check out these frequently asked questions.
Live answering services cost anywhere from $64 to more than $300 monthly, plus a per-minute fee of around $2–3. The more minutes in your plan, the less your per-minute charge will likely be.
An answering service can help:
Enhance customer service
Improve call efficiency
Reduce operational costs
Scale business operations
Be more available to customers
With an answering service, you can also free up time to focus on core activities like developing new products and acquiring new customers.
Trained professionals, often called customer service representatives or agents, answer calls for an answering service. The answering service provider usually employs them, and they follow scripts and protocols provided by the businesses they serve.
Answering services and virtual receptionists serve similar purposes but differ in scope and level of service.
Virtual receptionists offer more than answering services, including call answering and forwarding and appointment scheduling. Virtual receptionists can also offer customers a higher level of personalization and are more integrated with day-to-day business operations.
Answering services and call centers handle incoming calls, but the size of the businesses they serve and the expertise of their agents can differ greatly.
Call centers can be larger in scale, while answering services typically serve only small and medium-sized businesses. However, answering services offer general services like call handling and recording messages. If you have broader needs, you might opt for a call center that can often offer more specialized services like technical support.
