AI receptionist vs answering service vs voicemail
Each option fixes a different part of the problem. If the calls you miss only need a reply later, a text back may be all you need. If they need dealing with while the caller is still on the line, that's a receptionist, human or AI.
| Voicemail | Missed-call text-back | Answering service | AI receptionist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caller speaks to someone | No | No, they get a text | Yes, a person | Yes, an AI voice |
| Out of hours | Yes | Yes | Depends on the plan | Yes |
| Books into your diary or job software | No | No | Sometimes, if set up to | Yes, when it's connected |
| Several calls at once | Yes | Yes | Depends on staffing | Yes |
| Urgent calls reach you | No | No | Usually by message | Yes, put through on your rules |
| How it's usually paid for | Free | Monthly plus texts | Monthly or per call | Monthly plus call minutes |
Will callers know it's AI?
Some will, and it shouldn't pretend otherwise. We set it up to say it's the business's assistant, and anyone who asks for a person can be put through or promised a call back. What callers mind is being stuck: a voice that can't understand them or won't let them speak to someone. So most of the build is the handover rules, not the greeting.
How do urgent calls get through?
You decide what counts as urgent. For a heating engineer that might be no heat with a vulnerable person in the house; for an electrician, no power or a burning smell; for a clinic, pain or bleeding after treatment. When a call matches, it's put straight through to your mobile, or to whoever's on call, and if nobody answers it tells the caller what to do next. Anything that isn't urgent gets booked or logged instead of interrupting you.
How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK?
Off-the-shelf AI receptionists for small UK businesses are sold as monthly plans. For example, Team-Connect's trade plans run from £9.99 to £79.99 a month depending on minutes, and ARROW lists plans from £99 a month. Those plans answer and take details; what they connect to varies.
A receptionist built for you costs more to set up and is priced on what it has to do. What drives the cost:
- Call volume, because voice and phone line minutes are paid per minute.
- What it connects to: a diary, job management software, a CRM, your accounts.
- How many kinds of call it has to handle, and how many handover rules.
- Whether it also answers WhatsApp, texts or web chat.
We don't publish prices because the build depends on those four things. The free audit call is where we work them out, and you get a fixed price before anything is built.
Off-the-shelf, or built around your business?
If you need calls answered and details emailed to you, an off-the-shelf plan is the sensible start. A built receptionist is worth it when the call has to change something in your systems: book into a real diary with travel time between jobs, check whether a customer is existing, create the job in your job software, or follow rules only your business has.
What it does in different businesses
Trades and construction
Takes the postcode, the job and how urgent it is, texts a link for photos of the fault, and books a survey or puts an emergency through. See trades and construction.
Clinics and practices
Separates new patients from existing ones, books or moves appointments, and hands clinical questions to a person. See clinics.
Offices and agencies
Answers overflow and lunchtime calls, books viewings or consultations, and routes callers to the right person with the details already taken.