Using Answering Services Instead of Voicemail
These days, there are a variety of methods businesses use to answer the phone. The benefits of using a live answering service instead of voicemail or IVR (Interactive Voice Response) are something worth contemplating. Many individuals are still split right down the middle as to which method offers the most advantages.
Due to its low cost and constant availability, voicemail has become the default choice for many businesses. Though many companies have chosen this form of automated answering, a few businesses still value customer service over the automation option and utilize answering services. Overall, this industry has lost market share due to the number of businesses choosing to use voicemail. However, the large number of negative responses stemming from voicemail technology has allowed answering services to regain the ground they had lost in recent years to automated technology.
One might think the only victims resulting from automated answering systems are answering services. However, the businesses choosing voicemail over a live person receive lower customer service scores, since customers prefer talking to a real person over a machine. Clients can explain their frustrations to a human, but not to an answering machine. Even though voicemail services go to great lengths to personalize their services, no machine can compare to an actual person who has the ability to respond promptly and properly to the client’s requests and questions and can empathize with the problems the customers are experiencing.
Customers who are greeted by an automated answering system disconnect without leaving messages approximately 70 percent of the time. Few businesses can survive if they are losing seven out of ten potential or existing customers due to choosing voicemail, which on the surface appears to be the cheaper option. When you are not receiving calls, you cannot convince customers to do business with your company. That is why answering service operators who capture messages and can relay them in real time can help increase your profits in excess of the money you “saved” by switching to an automated answering system. To learn more about how AnswerHero’s services can help, check out our pricing plans or contact us today!
