Answering Service vs. CallJoy - Which is Better for Your Business?

As a small business owner, you’ve probably had to make a choice between answering the phone or helping a customer in-person. In this situation, you’ve likely chosen to tend to the customer in front of you versus on the other end of the phone, letting the incoming call go unanswered. You’re not alone. In fact, more than 60% of phone calls to small businesses aren’t picked up. Those missed calls mean missed connections and missed revenue, because 85% of people whose calls aren’t answered simply won’t call back.

Small businesses don’t always have the budget to hire someone to answer the phone full-time. Instead, many owners and managers turn to virtual receptionists as a solution to manage their ever-ringing telephone problem. Fortunately, new advanced phone technology, like CallJoy, is emerging as another option for savvy small business owners. Here are 4 ways that CallJoy can help you spend less and give your customers more.

Pricing

Signing up for a live answering service, even the lowest tier provider, can cost hundreds of dollars a month for standard call volumes plus incremental charges for additional minutes of use or extra features. Paying by the minute can cost up to $0.79/minute -- meaning you could easily rack up an $800 bill each month with a daily average of only 15 minutes of call time.

CallJoy is $39/month per location. That’s it. We don’t charge by the minute. Just an affordable flat monthly rate that gives you unlimited call recording & transcripts, analytics & insights, textback functionality, spam blocking and more!

Customer Continuity

Answering services offer various levels of live interaction with your customers, some even include custom scripts. But without being on-site at your business, many questions can’t be answered in real time, meaning callers have to wait for a call-back with information about pricing or availability. Between the time it takes for a virtual receptionist to relay a message and for your business to respond, the customer may have already contacted and purchased from a competitor

With CallJoy, answers to common customer questions can be included in your custom greeting, which can be updated often to reflect up-to-date information about the availability of popular items. You also have the ability to immediately help your customers take action by having your CallJoy agent text a link to fill out a form for a quote or review pricing and product information.

Answering Hours

Most answering services include limited hours of operation for a live receptionist as part of their base price, but of course you’ll need to pay extra if you want them to answer calls after hours or sometimes to even record and relay voicemail messages.

CallJoy is on the job 24/7. It answers every call with a greeting you specify and can direct customers to your website for more information when your business is closed. You don’t have to pay additional fees for it to answer after hours, and it handles dozens of calls at once, so your customers are never on hold.

Customized Analytics & Insights

Answering services may provide basic call details such as call times and length, but any additional insights or analysis will likely cost you a pretty penny.

With CallJoy, you’ll receive daily analytics and insight reports, meaning you can staff appropriately and prepare your employees for peak call times. CallJoy’s recording and transcription features also allow you to tag conversations with common topics so you can review later and make adjustments to your custom greeting based on frequently called about questions.

Are you ready to spend less to give your customers a better phone experience? Check out CallJoy today.