A small business answering service can help you provide prompt and professional customer support, which has never been more important than it is today. These specialized answering services are very affordable compared to hiring in-house staff. The best part is they make it possible for a small business on a limited budget to delight customers.
To find the best answering services, we conducted research on service offerings, affordability, reviews, and reputation. Additionally, we considered the range of features available, such as 24/7 availability, multilingual support, system integrations, and add-on’s like appointment setting to ensure these services will work for your business.
Best Answering Services for Small Businesses
| Answering Service | Overview | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| VoiceNation | A full suite of features, including call dispatching and forwarding, appointment scheduling, and lead qualification | Highly customized pricing options |
| Answering Service | Basic call forwarding, message taking, and full virtual reception for a low price | Small businesses that want budget-friendly phone answering |
| Smith.ai | Professional human live answering service using AI to help handle calls and optimize customer engagement | Those that want to pay-per-call with a full suite of features |
| AnswerForce | A simple solution that focuses heavily on live chat and has a video meeting feature | Tech-oriented specialty answering service with plenty of integrations |
| ReceptionHQ | An affordable answering service with all the essential features you need | Budget-friendly provider with US-based agents and account flexibility |
| PATLive | A high-end service that only employs US-based agents who are rigorously trained | US-based team members and want a full range of features and don’t mind paying a bit extra for it |
Small Business Answering Services
1. VoiceNation
VoiceNation has been offering a high-quality small business answering service for over 20 years across a variety of industries, including legal, medical, real estate, finance, and automotive. Over the years, it has built a team of professional live receptionists that can handle everything from answering basic questions and call forwarding to more advanced tasks like lead qualification.
Setup is incredibly simple with VoiceNation, where you can literally be up and running in just 24 hours. And you can conveniently change your plan at any time for easy scaling up or down.
VoiceNation Features
- Call dispatching
- Call forwarding
- Call returns
- Appointment scheduling
- Lead qualifying
- Payments taken on your behalf
- CRM integrations
- Bilingual answering service
- 24/7 service
VoiceNation Downsides
The pricing structure is minutes-based, which can quickly add up.
If you’re a small business with a high volume of callers and need comprehensive phone answering, VoiceNation may not be the best option.
VoiceNation Value
VoiceNation offers two pricing plans, Essential and Personalized.
Their Personalized plan includes helpful add-on’s like CRM integrations, appointment scheduling, order processing, custom form population, call dispatching, and on-call management.
| Minutes Included | Essential Plan | Personalized Plan |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | $70 | n/a |
| 50 | $135 | $176 |
| 100 | $229 | $298 |
| 250 | $525 | $683 |
| 500 | $925 | $1,203 |
| 750 | $1,275 | $1,658 |
| 1,000 | $1,595 | $2,074 |
2. Answering Service
This generically named customer service provider is built for small businesses that are seeking budget-friendly customer service from professionally-trained receptionists to boost customer satisfaction. Answering Service offers simple features like incoming call forwarding and message taking, as well as more comprehensive virtual reception for a low monthly price.
We also like that Answering Service answers calls in less than 10 seconds on average, which is crucial for providing exceptional customer service.
Besides that, there’s a free seven-day trial, no minimum contract, and no cancellation fees, which are a nice plus.
Answering Service Features
- Phone call forwarding
- Message taking
- Payment processing
- Pay-per-call option
- Spam protection
- No minimum contract
- No cancellation fees
- Free seven-day trial
Answering Service Downsides
While this answering service provider checks all the major boxes, it isn’t quite as comprehensive in its offerings as some other providers. In particular, the basic MessageExpress plan only sends messages to your email or mobile phone, which won’t cover the needs of many small businesses.
Answering Service Value
The main selling point for Answering Service is its affordability and flexibility. Even the most expensive MyAssistant plan starts at only $49 per month, making it one of the most cost-effective virtual receptionist service options on this list. This makes it perfect for small businesses on a budget that need to streamline call answering.
| Answering Service Plan | Features | Starts at |
|---|---|---|
| MessageExpress | Messages are sent to one email or mobile number | $19 per month |
| Answer | Warm call transfers and messages are sent to relevant team members | $33 per month |
| MyAssistant | Order & payment processing, appointment setting, assistants answer FAQs | $49 per month |
| Call Divert | Forward business calls to a personal number | $20 per month |
| Voicemail-to-Email | Voicemail audio files sent via email | $5 per month |
3. Smith.ai
This phone answering service is unique in that it uses a mix of human virtual receptionist staff members along with cutting-edge AI technology to provide a high level of customer service. All answering service agents are human, but Smith.ai also utilizes AI to enable agents to handle a higher volume of calls, record and transcribe calls, drastically reduce spam calls, and more.
With studies finding that implementing AI in this capacity can boost productivity by 87%, this gives Smith.ai an edge over many competitors.
Smith.ai Features
- Personalized greetings
- Appointment booking
- 24/7 live answering service
- Lead qualification
- Payment collection
- Email and text follow-up
- Bilingual receptionists
- Call recording and transcription
Smith.ai Value
The main value lies in the merging of human agents and AI technology to schedule appointments. We feel Smith.ai does a great job of offering the personal touch that only humans can provide while also leveraging AI to “supercharge” their abilities. Smith.ai has a wide range of features, allowing you to accomplish virtually everything you need, while enhancing the customer experience in all areas.
And the built-in call intelligence is perfect for getting a bird’s-eye view of macro data and trends. For instance, you can keep tabs on the number of calls receptionists have taken, the number of new leads you’ve generated, and more.
It’s also a good choice if your small business needs to handle longer calls because the pricing is per call rather than per minute like it is with many other answer center services.
| Smith.ai Plan | Transfer Destinations | Included Calls | Additional Conversations | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 | 30 | $10.50 | $285 |
| Basic | 2 | 90 | $9.50 | $765 |
| Pro | 10 | 300 | $7.50 | $1,950 |
4. AnswerForce
AnswerForce is a forward-thinking, tech-centric telephone answering service with nearly everything most small businesses need. It has straightforward scheduling solutions and integrates with many notable platforms like HubSpot, Mailchimp, and QuickBooks to name a few. It also offers a variety of pricing options to accommodate a wide range of needs.
Like Smith.ai, AnswerForce emphasizes providing meaningful human interactions between receptionists and callers by leveraging powerful technology. More specifically, its tech focuses on:
- Scheduling appointments
- Video meetings
- Business phone line
- Live chat
While not as robust as some other small business answering service providers, AnswerForce offers all of the fundamentals in a simple, easy-to-use solution.
We also like that AnswerForce offers high-level live chat, which is a nice touch for small businesses that want to add this feature.
AnswerForce Features
- 24/7 Live call answering
- Live chat
- Call forwarding
- Call recording
- Appointment setting
- Virtual receptionists
- Bilingual receptionists
- Automated notifications
AnswerForce Value
| Included Minutes | Chats | Additional Minute or Chat | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 50 | $2 | $349 |
| 300 | 100 | $1.85 | $389 |
| 500 | 200 | $1.85 | $669 |
| 800 | 250 | $1.85 | $1,069 |
| 1,000 | 300 | $1.85 | $1,339 |
There’s no charge for the first 30 interactions under 30 seconds each billing cycle. All interactions are billed per-minute and rounded up to the nearest minute.
Note that only the 200 minute Intro plan has a $75 setup fee. There is no setup fee for the other AnswerForce plans.
5. ReceptionHQ
With a quick set-up, less than 10 seconds average answer time, and the majority of agents being US-based, ReceptionHQ is a real contender for the best answering service for small businesses.
It’s currently used by over 25,000 companies in a variety of industries, ranging from medical answering service to hospitality answering service to property management answering service and even legal services.
ReceptionHQ integrates easily with most CRMs, booking systems, calendars, and more. And each virtual receptionist who handles calls for small businesses approaches all legal fields with the utmost professionalism.
ReceptionHQ Features
- 24/7 live answering
- Customized greetings
- Message taking
- Appointment bookings
- New client intake
- Month-to-month contracts with no commitment
ReceptionHQ Downsides
The main downside is that ReceptionHQ doesn’t have quite as many comprehensive features as some other services. For example, it doesn’t offer lead qualification, advanced lead routing, or a virtual office. However, for small businesses that only need the basics, it should be sufficient.
And while catering to numerous industries is nice, you likely won’t get the same level of expertise as other answering services that serve a lower volume of industries.
ReceptionHQ Value
If you’re looking for straightforward customer support to get callers where they need for a reasonable price, ReceptionHQ can be a great option. It has a plan starting at just $19 per month, and even the most robust plans start at only $49 per month.
Also, having a primarily US-based staff who’s bilingual is a nice touch for fully understanding the needs of your clients.
| ReceptionHQ Plan | Key Feature | Includes | Starting at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Message Express | Message taking | Call answering and message service | $19 |
| Receptionist Plus | Message & call transfers | Customized phone answering, call transfers, & messaging for multiple team members | $33 |
| My Assistant | Virtual assistance & lead capture | Update CRM with caller info | $49 |
| My Diary | Appointment schduling | Calendar management, appointment bookings, cancellations, rescheduling | $1,069 |
6. PATLive
100% of PATLive’s agents are US-based. If that’s important to you, PATLive should be at the top of your list of potential providers.
We also like the level of training this company gives its agents, where each representative gets at least 80 hours of initial training, along with ongoing coaching and continued education to reach their full potential.
PATLive Features
- Live answering
- Message taking
- Webchats
- Screening and transfers
- Lead collection
- Appointment setting
- New client intake
- 14-day free trial
PATLive Value
In our eyes, the main advantage of PATLive is that it focuses on providing small businesses with a team of highly experienced, well-trained agents who are 100% US-based. Besides that, PATLive offers a wide variety of great features and allows for complete customization so you can get exactly what you need.
| PATLive Plan | Phone Numbers | Included Minutes | Additional Minutes | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 1 | 75 | $1.82 | $205 |
| Standard | 3 | 200 | $1.56 | $360 |
| Premium | 3 | 350 | $1.40 | $535 |
| Pro | 5 | 600 | $1.30 | $825 |
Final Say on Answering Services
80% of customers believe that the experience a company provides is as important as the products or services themselves. Therefore, it’s hard to stress enough the importance of creating a smooth, seamless experience when clients are calling or messaging.
If you lack the staff to do this in-house, an answering service is an excellent alternative and can ensure you deliver the customer experience needed to thrive and grow your small business long-term.
Also, if you want to learn more about which virtual phone systems are the best and find the more affordable pricing, check out our post comparing Grasshopper vs Google Voice or Grasshopper vs Ring Central.
