This tutorial enlists the top Virtual Receptionist Services with comparison to help you select the best Virtual Receptionist Company per your requirements:
A Virtual Receptionist is just like the receptionist of your company, who sits near the entrance, to answer the queries of people visiting you. A virtual receptionist service can be highly beneficial for small businesses in growing their sales and saving their time so that they can focus more on the quality of their products/services.
People may have doubts regarding your products/services, their prices, features, or other aspects. To clear these doubts, businesses today are providing customer care services.
Your customers can call the toll-free number provided by you and have a talk with the “Virtual Receptionist” who picks up the call on your behalf and provides the information that your callers want.
What You Will Learn:
Virtual Receptionist Services
Virtual receptionist companies usually come up with the following top features:
- Call answering
- Outbound calling
- Call recording
- Call scripting
- Appointments scheduling
- Order processing
- Taking messages
- Replying to the messages received
- Call transfer
- Live chat
- Mobile application for easy and instant access to information about your calls and messages to reach your clients as soon as possible
- Creating reports based on data collected from the calls
In this article, we will have a detailed understanding of the best virtual receptionist services providers. Choose one based on the pro-tip, verdicts, comparison, and top features listed.
It has been pointed out by many users of virtual receptionist services that the quality of services provided to them had deteriorated after about 3-4 years of services. This can prove to be a big setback for the reputation of any company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q #1) What are the benefits of having a virtual receptionist?
Answer: A virtual receptionist can give you the following benefits:
- Increase sales through outbound calling and marketing campaigns.
- Maintain your reputation by acting as a virtual receptionist for your company and answering your calls 24/7.
- Schedule appointments based on your availability.
- Handle the job of order processing, from placing orders to taking payments.
- Saves your time by sending reminders to clients for upcoming appointments.
- Take up your tasks and save much of your time so that you can focus more on other important aspects.
Q #2) How does a virtual receptionist work?
Answer: A virtual receptionist works by answering your calls, as per your requirements. You can set up a script on how to greet your customers, which will be followed by the virtual receptionist you hire.
They do thorough research on the products/services that your company produces to answer the calls in a way that they are being answered by you. They also undertake marketing campaigns through outbound calling.
Q#3) How do I become a virtual receptionist?
Answer: To become a virtual receptionist, excel in the following skills:
- Communication
- Marketing management
- Multitasking
- Knowledge of computer applications
- Organizational skills
- Collecting data from the calls you receive
Q #4) Can you work as a receptionist from home?
Answer: Yes, you can work as a receptionist from the comfort of your home. Many companies are now advising receptionists to work from home, due to the chronic conditions of the pandemic prevailing everywhere. All you have to do is have a phone, a good Internet connection, and a PC.
Q #5) How much does a virtual receptionist make?
Answer: According to Glassdoor, the average salary of a Virtual Receptionist in the United States of America is $29,812 per year.
Q #6) How much does a virtual receptionist cost?
Answer: The virtual receptionist services providers offer different price plans and you can choose the one that suits your requirements and your budget. The price plans can typically range from $25 per month to about $3000 per month.
Our TOP Recommendations:
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| AnswerConnect | Ooma |
| • Live Chat • Lead Qualification • CRM Integration | • Auto Call Routing • Custom Messages • Dial by name |
| Price: Quote-Based Trial version: NA | Price: $14.95 monthly Free Trial: NA |
| Visit Site >> | Visit Site >> |
List of the Best Virtual Receptionist Services
Here is a list of popular virtual receptionist solutions:
- AnswerConnect (Recommended)
- AnswerForce
- Ooma
- Grasshopper
- Ruby
- Nexa
- My Receptionist
- ReceptionHQ
- Abby Connect
- Davinci
- POSH Virtual Receptionists
- PATLive
- Unity Communications
- Smith.ai
Comparing Top Virtual Receptionist Companies
| Company Name | Best for | Price | Free Trial | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnswerConnect | Top-rated call answering support. | Get a Quote | -- |  |
| AnswerForce | Prioritizing people - ensuring their business remains personal. | Get a Quote | -- | |
| Ooma | Automatic call routing and custom messages | Essential plan: $14.95 /user/month. Office Pro: $19.95 and Office Pro Plus $24.95 | Not available | |
| Grasshopper | Getting calls directed to the personal phone. | Starts at $29 per month | Available for 7 days |  |
| Ruby | Delivering 24/7 personalised experience to your callers | Receptionist plans start at $319 per month, Chat plans start at $129 per month. | Not available | |
| Nexa | Services based on your industry type. | Starts at $99 per month (additional setup and per minute call charges) | Not available | |
| My Receptionist | Appointment scheduling and reminders | 70 minutes: $100 150 minutes: $175 235 minutes: $250 | Not available |  |
| ReceptionHQ | Compassionate virtual receptionist services for businesses of all sizes | Starts at $20 per month | Available for 7 days |  |
Detailed reviews of the above-listed services:
#1) AnswerConnect (Recommended)
Best for Top-rated call answering support.
Never miss a call again with 24/7 support from a team of experienced, real receptionists. With customized call scripts and call routing, you can make sure that the most important opportunities reach you right away. Every caller reaches a friendly voice, no matter what time they call.
Features:
- Over 20 years of experience.
- 24/7 call answering, live chat support, appointment scheduling, lead qualification, and more.
- Integrate seamlessly with your favorite CRM platforms e.g., Salesforce, Hubspot, and Zoho.
- Best-in-class mobile app to organize prospect and client communications.
Verdict: With over 700 top-rated reviews, AnswerConnect provides best-in-class service to clients from a wide range of industries. Their people-powered solution helps you to keep your business human.
Price: Contact directly for a price quote.
#2) AnswerForce
Best for Prioritizing people – ensuring their business remains personal.
Capture leads and schedule callouts around the clock with calls and chats being answered by real people after hours, at weekends and over holidays.
AnswerForce specializes in virtual receptionists who support you 24/7, allowing you to save on the cost of missed opportunities and focus on what truly matters: your customers.
Features:
- Flexible plans that scale with clients’ businesses and seasonality.
- Appointment booking, estimates and callbacks.
- Bilingual (English/Spanish) answering.
- Lead qualifying and capture
- Integrations with workflow, CRM and calendar software.
- Flexible options for calls, overflow, after hours and weekends.
Verdict: Over 480 reviews on TrustPilot with an Excellent score of 4.9/5 for over – AnswerForce reviews speak for themselves.
Price: Contact them for flexible pricing – all packages include call and chat support.
#3) Ooma
Best for automatic call routing and custom messages.
With Ooma office, you get a flexible virtual receptionist that caters to businesses both small and large. It works quite well when it comes to routing calls automatically. With calls routed automatically, Ooma helps your business save face as no calls are missed. Another area where Ooma excels is in creating custom messages.
It is very easy to create custom messages via Ooma by adding general information associated with business, like location and operation hours. You can also create menu options for different languages such as English, French, Spanish, etc.
Features:
- Dial by name
- Easily create modes for business hours
- Customized message creation
- Automatic call routing
- Choose from various greeting templates
Verdict: Ooma’s virtual receptionist feature provides you with the opportunity to create a professional presence for your business. Virtual receptionist aside, we would recommend Ooma to small and large businesses as a feature-rich business phone service.
Price:
- Essential plan costs $14.95 per user per month
- Office Pro costs $19.95 per user per month
- Office Pro Plus costs $24.95 per user per month.
#4) Grasshopper
Best for getting calls directed to the personal phone.
Grasshopper is a cloud-based virtual phone system for small businesses. They provide phone numbers for business purposes and can transfer the calls to your personal phone for you to answer them from anywhere.
Features:
- A mobile application that lets you get calls and messages from customers on your own mobile phone.
- A desktop application to receive VoIP calls, text messages, and voicemails so that you can respond to your clients accordingly.
- Call transfer and call forwarding.
- Auto call answering.
- Call blasting feature: They provide multiple phone extensions so that no call gets missed.
Verdict: Many Grasshopper users stated that the customer services provided to them were not up to the mark. As pointed out by a user, their phones were not ringing, even when their customers were calling them. Apart from that, the system is easy to use and the call blasting feature makes sure that no calls get missed.
Price: There is a free trial for 7 days. Afterward, pay according to the following price plans:
- Solo: $29 per month
- Partner: $49 per month
- Small business: $89 per month
#5) Ruby
Best for delivering a 24/7 personalized experience to your callers.
Ruby offers virtual receptionist solutions, including 24/7/365 live receptionists and chat, as well as a mobile application so that you can instantly instruct whenever to take up with your customers’ calls. The receptionists at Ruby are trained to deliver personalized experiences to your callers.
Features:
- 24/7/365 virtual receptionists
- Hire virtual receptionists for 24/7 services or for a shorter duration, as per your need.
- Ruby mobile application, that serves as a link between you and the virtual receptionists who work for you.
- Outbound calling for marketing campaigns, etc.
Verdict: Ruby is a highly recommended Virtual receptionist services provider. Their services bring about increasing returns for their clients.
Price: Price plans are as follows:
- Call Ruby 100: $319 per month
- Call Ruby 200: $599 per month
- Call Ruby 350: $999 per month
- Call Ruby 500: $1399 per month
*Chat plans start at $129 per month
Website: Ruby
#6) Nexa
Best for services based on your industry type.
Nexa is a U.S.-based virtual receptionist services provider, which brings up bilingual receptionists, who are trained to cater to the call answering needs of different industries. They extend their services mainly for insurance companies, home services, and legal professionals.
Features:
- Outbound calling for increasing sales and to undergo marketing campaigns.
- Appointment scheduling.
- Mobile application, which lets you have insights into useful data-driven through the calls.
- 24/7 live virtual receptionist services, carried out by bilingual agents.
- Reports that summarize the information collected from calls.
Verdict: The reviews stated by the users of Nexa portray the satisfaction they have got by using their services. Some users have said that they faced some issues with the services in the beginning, but the team was quite helpful and sorted out their issues well.
Price:
- Nexa Go: $99 per month (+ $1.99 per minute + $49 setup fee)
- Enterprise: Contact directly for a price quote.
Website: Nexa
#7) My Receptionist
Best for appointment scheduling and reminders.
My Receptionist is a 24/7 virtual secretary services provider, having 132 employees. Its services range from call answering, message taking to CRM integration, and much more.
Features:
- Mobile messaging feature, which lets you send encrypted messages to your clients.
- Appointment scheduling.
- Reminds your clients about their upcoming appointments.
- 24/7 Live answering services.
- Call screening.
Verdict: The services rendered by My Receptionist are being applauded for their quick response to the calls and professional behavior with the callers.
Price:
- 70 minutes: $100
- 150 minutes: $175
- 235 minutes: $250
Website: My Receptionist
#8) ReceptionHQ
Best for warm and compassionate virtual receptionist services for businesses of all sizes.
ReceptionHQ is a U.S.-based virtual receptionist services provider that has served over 25,000 customers to date. They offer a 7-day trial period. You can see a demo on how they work, before actually paying them.
Features:
- 24/7 live call answering service handled by bilingual receptionists.
- Call scripting.
- Flexible messaging and call transfer options.
- Mobile application that allows you to manage your call, greeting, transfer, forwarding, and other settings.
- CRM integration.
Verdict: ReceptionHQ offers you almost all the features that you want in a virtual receptionist service. They offer flexible price plans based on your business size, which is also a plus point. Some users have registered to undergo some issues with the sign-up process.
Price: There is a free trial for 7 days.
Price plans that follow are stated as under:
- ReceptionistPlus: $20 per month
- ReceptionistPlus 25: $59 per month
- ReceptionistPlus 50: $105 per month
- ReceptionistPlus 100: $189 per month
- ReceptionistPlus 200: $369 per month
*Contact directly for a price quote tailored for a large enterprise.
Website: ReceptionHQ
#9) Abby Connect
Best for a well-trained receptionists’ team.
Abby Connect is one of the best virtual receptionist companies out there, which is equipped with a well-trained receptionists’ team, which is bilingual, professional, and dedicated to serving the best to your callers.
Features:
- Get answering services for your business hours or 24/7 services, as per your requirements.
- Bilingual receptionists.
- Appointment scheduling.
- Professional, trained receptionists’ team.
Verdict: Abby Connect has got some really astonishing reviews from the users. Their service is highly recommended.
Price: There is a free trial for 14 days, then pay according to the following price plans:
- 100 minutes: $279 per month ($2.79 per minute)
- 200 minutes: $499 per month ($2.49 per minute)
- 500 minutes: $1089 per month ($2.18 per minute)
Website: Abby Connect
#10) Davinci
Best for unique features.
Davinci brings about modern-day solutions for your business needs. The services advanced by them include virtual business addresses, 24/7 live answering services, real spaces for meetings, and much more.
Features:
- 24/7 Live virtual receptionist services
- Auto receptionist
- Global, virtual office address, to put on your business cards
- Real spaces can be booked instantly, on per hour basis
Verdict: The features offered by Davinci are the coolest among the best virtual receptionist services providers. Their virtual receptionist services are reliable and the customer services are reported to be nice.
Price: Price plans for virtual receptionist services are:
- Business 50: $99 per month
- Business 100: $239 per month
- Premium 50: $249 per month
- Premium 100: $319 per month
Website: Davinci
#11) POSH Virtual Receptionists
Best for the mobile application which makes everything quick and easy.
POSH Virtual Receptionists is a 20 years old virtual receptionist services provider, who provides 24/7/365 Live answering services at affordable prices and a mobile application that brings forth an intuitive interface that lets you instruct on how you want the services to be handled.
Features:
- Customized call scripting
- Forward your calls to POSH, for an hour, or a day, or as long as you want. You do not need to change your business number.
- 24/7/365 Live virtual receptionist services.
- Schedules appointments and remind your clients of upcoming appointments through outbound calls or messages.
Verdict: POSH virtual receptionist offers plans suitable for each business size. The mobile application is worthy of appreciation. Overall, the services are recommendable.
Price: They offer a free trial for 1 week. Price plans are as follows:
- Chic: $54 per month
- Vogue: $94 per month
- Elegant: $154 per month
- Luxurious: $284 per month
- Lavish: $684 per month
Website: POSH Virtual Receptionists
#12) PATLive
Best for friendly receptionists who are available 24/7.
PATLive brings up for you friendly receptionists, who can work 24/7/365 to answer your calls, schedule appointments, take messages on your behalf, and do everything you want a virtual receptionist to do.
Features:
- 24/7/365 virtual receptionist services.
- PATLive mobile application that serves as a mediator between you and the PATLive team.
- Up to 10 phone numbers.
- Spanish language support is available at extra charges.
- Order processing.
Verdict: PATLive is a highly recommended virtual receptionist services provider. But, some users have time and again pointed out that their services deteriorate with time.
Price: There is a free trial for 14 days. The prices that follow are as under:
- Basic: $39 per month
- Starter: $149 per month
- Standard: $269 per month
- Pro: $629 per month
- Pro+: $999 per month
Website: PATLive
#13) Unity Communications
Best for e-commerce platforms, for taking control of their basic tasks.
Unity Communications strengthens your business by rendering services like order processing, fulfillment, bookkeeping, providing virtual customer care assistants, managing refund and return processes, and much more.
Features:
- Virtual assistants who make your customer service up to the mark.
- Order processing and fulfillment procedures.
- Refund and return management.
- Administrative services including bookkeeping and data entry.
Verdict: Unity Communications provides services for manufacturing enterprises and is able to increase productivity as well as sales with their services. Their virtual assistants are highly trained and they do proper research work if you hire them to give exceptional results.
Price: Contact directly for a price quote.
Website: Unity Communications
#14) Smith.ai
Best for top-notch answering services.
Smith.ai is one of the top virtual receptionist services providers, who provide artificial intelligence-powered solutions for 24/7 phone answering as well as website chat, SMS text answering, appointment scheduling, and other CRM features.
Features:
- 24/7 Live virtual receptionist services (bilingual) and Live chats.
- SMS Text answering.
- Appointments scheduling.
- CRM integration features automatically log in your calls, chats, appointments, and payments into your systems.
- Artificial intelligence technology, used for the feature of chats.
Verdict: The users of Smith.ai have reported that the services rendered to them are worth appreciating. The receptionists’ team does its research work (about the business they are providing their services to) well and comes up with highly professional delivery of the services.
Price: There is a free trial for 14 days.
- Virtual Receptionist price plans start from $210 per month
- Live chat price plans start from $140 per month (A free plan is also available)
Website: Smith.ai
Conclusion
This article reviews the top Virtual Receptionist service providers in the industry and compares them so that you can decide which one is the best for you, based on your unique requirements.
Also Read =>> Best Help Desk Outsourcing Service Provider
In the end, we can conclude with the following points:
- A good virtual receptionist service can play an eminent role in taking your company to new heights.
- Out of the above-listed ones, Ruby, Nexa, My Receptionist, Smith.AI, Abby Connect, PATLive, and Unity Communications are the overall best ones for delivering quality services.
- Davinci offers unique features like Global Virtual addresses, real spaces for meetings and all, etc.
- The mobile applications provided by many of them act as instant mediators/instructors between you and the service provider.
- A free trial can be quite helpful in having a glimpse of the quality of services offered.
Research Process:
- Time taken to research this article: We spent 12 hours researching and writing this article so you can get a useful summarized list of tools with a comparison of each for your quick review.
- Total tools researched online: 22
- Top tools shortlisted for review: 11