7 BEST Virtual Receptionist Services Companies (2023)
Matthew Martin
Managing phone calls is crucial for any business as it paves the way to growth and better branding. This is why agents must always be available to handle the customers and leads. Usually, large enterprises hire employees to do this job; however, not all companies can do so.
Virtual receptionist services help businesses that need agents 24/7 but have cost restrictions. Virtual agent service provides live human and auto-attendants to deal with callers.
These receptionists manage communication mediums like calls, emails, sms, etc. To help you choose the best virtual receptionist, we compiled a list of top companies after extensive research.
Best Virtual Receptionist Services for Small Business
| Name | Customer Support | Pricing per month | Free Trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoAnswer | Live chat | $50 | 30 days | Learn More |
| Ruby | Call, live chat | $230 | No | Learn More |
| RingCentral | Call, Community | $30 | 14 days | Learn More |
| Nextiva | Call, Live Chat | $18.95 | No, only demo | Learn More |
| Ooma | Call, Live chat | $19.95 | 30 days | Learn More |
1) GoAnswer
Best overall virtual receptionist services
GoAnswer is a virtual receptionist provider that handles phone calls, web chat, emails, SMS, and outbound telemarketing calls. It provides services for industries like e-commerce, legal, real estate, finance, healthcare, publishing, etc. This provider has a multichannel contact center, so you can tackle all channels during and after business hours.
This virtual receptionist provider also has a mobile application that is always on. In this app, you can view all the activities of accounts in real time and receive reports along with other details.
GoAnswer additionally helps in scheduling appointments, alerts the time of meetings and schedules, checks the customer subscription of your business, etc. It also helps with sales, handles market research, and ensures customer satisfaction.
Features:
- Email response service: Get email support specialists to handle your inbox.
- Live agents: It has live agents available to take your calls and reply to your clients.
- Legal intake rockstars: There is a dedicated team of legal experts who can handle all your legal intakes.
- Real-time dashboard: It provides free access client portal and allows monitoring of real-time call data, ongoing calls, and call volume.
- Custom scripting: Get individual assistance to create personalized scripts.
- Real time email alerts: Provides real-time email alerts and text notifications.
- Customer support: It has a live chat for immediate responses.
- Professional greetings: Offers custom, friendly, and professional greetings to address clients after hours.
- Appointment setting: Manages appointments and scheduling.
- HIPPA trained: The virtual assistants are HIPPA trained and know how to handle sensitive information
- SMS and email alerts: You can get SMS alerts anywhere, anytime, and stay updated.
- Order entry: Secure sales over the phone through order entries.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Bilingual support available | High overage fees. |
| Get unlimited user accounts. | 24/7 customer support requires extra fees. |
| Uses real humans for voicemail instead of bots. |
Key Specs:
Free Trial: 30 Days
Moneyback guarantee: No
Supports: SaaS, Android, and iOS platforms.
Pricing: Plans start at $50 a month.
2) Ruby
Best for 24/7 live virtual receptionist
Ruby is a virtual receptionist provider that greets callers 24/7 and deals with your website visitors. It handles your after-work hours and makes sure that your business never misses any client.
This virtual assistant takes calls, provides customers with call center services, and assists in navigating your product. It also offers personalized insights that help in turning leads into customers.
Ruby is all about creating connections with clients and allowing a small business to scale. Its virtual receptionists are trained experts with access to proprietary software. These tools help them personalize each call with the customer and answer their queries till their issues are resolved.
Features
- Custom voicemail: It has unlimited voicemail boxes that contain customized greetings.
- Mobile app: Ruby offers a mobile app where you can update your call managing instructions.
- Bilingual receptionists: The callers can choose either English or Spanish.
- Information update: Get an update after the receptionist takes your call.
- Call forwarding: It has a flexible call forwarding feature.
- Lead capture: This virtual receptionist screens and filters out potential customers for you.
- Robocall filtering: Route robocalls automatically to Ruby’s voicemail box.
- Number porting and hosting: It has enhanced features and can also host your business.
- Outbound calling: You can send requests to Ruby to confirm appointments, etc.
- Integrations: Clio Manage, Rocker Matter, My Case, Clio Grow, etc.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| Have HIPAA security on-site for complete protection. | It might not be customizable enough. |
| It works according to your preferred calendar to book appointments. | The call quality can deteriorate sometimes. |
| Ruby has flexible pricing. |
Key Specs:
Free Trial: No
Money back guarantee: Yes
Supports: Android and iOS platforms.
Pricing: $230 per month
3) RingCentral
Best for integrating with other business systems
RingCentral is an automated phone system and a virtual receptionist service that increases your business efficiency. It welcomes your callers and routes them to agents and departments anywhere. Your line is always active with RingCentral, and all your clients can reach you throughout the day.
RingCentral is a cloud-based unified communication solution that is built for all types of businesses. This platform offers a huge range of services like phone, video, SMS, fax, webinars, push to talk, Omnichannel CX, sales, etc.
It has a top-notch DevOps team and has all kinds of security like network, physical, data encryption, and fraud prevention.
Features
- Custom Company Business hours: You can set the auto-attendant to show your company’s working hours.
- Dial-by-name Directory: This lets you assign an extension number to find callers by name.
- Call recording: Record calls and custom greetings.
- IVR settings: It has a customizable IVR menu for callers.
- Integrations: It integrates with your business applications.
- Regional settings: You can change basic settings according to the location.
- Customizable: This special answering service is a highly customizable platform where you can change and modify settings.
- Call flow: Manages your inbound call flow efficiently.
- Self-service: Clients can use this feature to reach their desired agent or department.
- Call delegation: Manage a high volume of call transfers with this visual and simple way of monitoring assistants who call on executives’ behalf.
- Call screening: Block calls of specific callers or numbers and have full control of who can reach your company.
- Call flip: Move live calls between mobile, desk phone, and softphone without the knowledge of the caller.
- Ring out: This feature helps in making a call with one touch from any internet-connected computer or phone.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It does not require any hardware on-site to function. | The mobile app can be slow at times. |
| Reduced spam call time as it handles actual client calls. | It might be a little challenging to scale. |
| Build a flexible structure for the employees at satellite and local offices to connect. |
Key Specs:
Free trial: 14 days
Money back guarantee: Yes
Support: iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows
Pricing: $20 per user, paid annually
4) Nextiva
Best for answering calls with auto attendant
Nextiva is a smart platform that engages with your customers and handles your conversations. It reduces the workload by providing you with a centralized communication platform.
It is a multi-level auto attendant that directs your calls across PBX with sub-menus. This virtual assistant helps you offer reliable and quick customer support to your clients at all times.
Nextiva comes with built-in business tools like automation, service and sales tools, analytics, customer journey, and call pop for increasing efficiency. It also provides social media and reputation management that helps in improving your brand image.
Features
- Modification: This answering service provider has flexible features and configurations.
- Security: It is SOC2 and HIPPA compliant.
- HD call: Nextiva has HD voice technology and high-performing data centers.
- Customer support: Get 24/7 live support
- Scalability: It is easily scalable, so all your calls are handled.
- Voice recording: This platform has professional voice recording for the auto-attendant.
- Integrations: It integrates with all your existing apps and popular software.
- Custom greeting: You can create a custom greeting for every call.
- Call recording and rating: You can listen to call recordings from reports, rate them, and share them with colleagues.
- Call screening: Segregate calls depending on their character and block unwanted calls.
- Conversational AI: This AI allows callers to use their own language to describe their reason for calling instead of presenting them with a menu.
- SIP Trunking: With this feature, you can connect to customers faster than ever; it allows your business to modify, establish and stop multimedia sessions.
- Call notification: This alert sends employees an email notification when they get a call that has pre-defined criteria.
- Call presence: This helps you set the status from your employees’ and colleagues’ phones.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It is easy to set up, even for non-technical staff. | Adding contacts can be a bit confusing. |
| Nextiva has a very stable service. | It doesn’t integrate deeply with some applications. |
| Its online site manages phone systems easily. |
Key Specs:
Free trial: No, but you can get a demo.
Money back guarantee: Yes
Support: Android, macOS, Windows, iOS
Pricing: $18.95 per user per month
5) Ooma
Best for voicemail forwarding and transcription
Ooma is a versatile virtual receptionist service provider for small business. It assists companies in directing incoming calls and sharing important information about the business. It lets you schedule calls and send them to its virtual receptionists’ menu.
This tool automatically sets up for answering the main number’s calls. Its default setup has a text-to-speech greeting that is personalized with your brand’s name.
Ooma offers functionalities such as call queueing, video conferencing, hot desking, advanced call management, etc. It also comes with caller info and a free toll-free number.
Features
- Custom messages: You can create custom messages with information about your business.
- Menu options: It lets you create menu options for different languages.
- Dial-by-name: This lets the users reach a specific agent that they want.
- Create modes: You can create modes after and during work hours.
- Direct incoming calls: The virtual receptionist can direct calls to the accurate place
- Send calls to extension or voicemail: This platform helps users find dedicated or virtual receptionists as per their issues.
- Integrations: It integrates with CRM, Salesforce, etc.
- Customer support: It has call support and live chat.
- Route calls: You can route the calls to extensions and ring groups.
- Voicemail transcription: Automatically converts your voice mails and transcribes them into a written format.
- Enhanced call blocking: Block unnecessary spams and robo calls.
- Multi ring: It lets the call ring in multiple devices for the agents to answer the nearest device.
- Fax: Send and receive fax online instantly.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It adapts to all kinds of business styles. | The mobile app glitches at times. |
| The backup of Ooma is highly reliable. | Faxing doesn’t work accurately. |
| It is known for no dropped calls and non-echo quality. |
Key Specs:
Free trial: 30 days
Money back guarantee: Yes
Support: Android, iOS
Pricing: $19.95 per user per month
6) Smith.AI
Best for a growing business
Smith.ai virtual assistant is a powerful communication intelligence. It captures and screens callers, logs their details in your CRM and on the calendar, and books appointments.
This virtual receptionist company provides real-time data in the client dashboard, helping you make better decisions. You get a detailed email summary for every call with metadata that includes caller disposition, relevance, priority, actions taken, etc.
This platform is a high-tech and high-touch application that has both live agents and AI to manage your business communications. It offers outbound calls that go on 24/7 for sales, service, and support. Its web messaging, SMS chat, and social messaging services are also available around the clock.
Features
- 24/7 live: You get professional live receptionists 24/7 to assist your clients.
- Transfer destinations: The receptionist can transfer callers to you.
- Customized greetings: You can customize the greeting for virtual receptionists.
- Multiple live transfer numbers: Get multiple phone numbers for people and transfer live calls to destinations.
- Callback on client calls: The receptionists call back the clients in case the connection drops due to network issues, etc.
- Call Notification: Get an instant notification via text message.
- Text message: The virtual receptionists attend to clients through text.
- Recommended business referral: Receptionists can convert bad leads into useful ones by referring them to your custom list of businesses.
- Call disposition: Your calls are marked based on types and priority.
- Reminders: Receptionists remind you about your appointments.
- Integrations: It integrates easily with your business apps.
- Support: Get a call, text, email support, and chatbot.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It offers multilingual support. | Smith.ai doesn’t do outbound calling like marketing. |
| You don’t get charged for spam, bots, etc. | There is no automatic appointment rescheduling. |
| The plans are based on per chat instead of per hour. |
Key Specs:
Free trial: 14-day
Money back guarantee: Yes
Support: Android, iOS
Pricing: $255 per month
Link: https://smith.ai/receptionists
7) PATLive
Best for customizing calls as per your needs
PATLive is a 24/7 live answering virtual receptionist service. It delivers professional and friendly services to your clients. This platform offers all types of call answering and client management services while also helping your business grow.
PATLive lets you customize your entire call flow so you can decide how your calls are received and answered. The customization allows you to use the services either full-time or for a few hours, depending on your needs. It also assists in gathering leads, event registration, scheduling appointments, and much more.
The PATLive virtual assistants are well-trained to work seamlessly for every business and take care of your customers. There is also free upgrade and downgrade for the services. Hence, it is also one of the best virtual receptionists for small businesses.
Features
- Status update: You can update statuses in its mobile apps or web.
- Capture anything from callers: It captures lead-scoring forms and short messages.
- Notifications: Get notifications via email or mobile app about leads, voicemails, and messages.
- Existing app sign-in: The virtual assistants sign in to your existing apps like CRM, scheduling calendar, etc.
- Sales calls: Can answer product questions and send out orders.
- Screening and transfer: Answers calls, screens callers, and transfers them.
- Message taking: Provides you with a detailed message when you are unavailable.
- Event registrations: Offers FAQs and attendee registrations for your events.
- Lead collection: You can capture call data to collect leads.
- Integrations: Integrate with popular applications.
- Customer support: Email, phone, chat, ticket, Facebook, Twitter.
| 👍 Pros | 👎 Cons |
|---|---|
| It has a reliable lead qualification process. | Not cost-effective for a smaller group. |
| Choose how your calls are managed as per your needs. | The support is slow and not available 24/7. |
| Provides bilingual support. |
Key Specs:
Free trial: 14 days
Money back guarantee: No
Support: iOS, Android.
Pricing: $59 per month
Link: https://www.patlive.com/
FAQ
Best Virtual Receptionist Services for Small Business
| Name | Customer Support | Pricing per month | Free Trial | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoAnswer | Live chat | $50 | 30 days | Learn More |
| Ruby | Call, live chat | $230 | No | Learn More |
| RingCentral | Call, Community | $30 | 14 days | Learn More |
| Nextiva | Call, Live Chat | $18.95 | No, only demo | Learn More |
| Ooma | Call, Live chat | $19.95 | 30 days | Learn More |
Verdict
A virtual receptionist provides a highly satisfactory customer experience, captures leads, and much more, boosting your business growth.
From the list above, we recommend GoAnswer as an ideal virtual assistant. It is a feature-rich platform that handles all your business calls, chats, etc.
The other providers, like Ruby, RingCentral, PATLive, etc., also have valuable benefits that you can explore in their free trial.