What advantage do answering services have over answering machines? 

When a potential customer calls your business and gets an answering machine, what happens next? According to research, 80% of callers who reach voicemail don't leave messages because they don't think they'll get a call back. That's a lot of missed opportunities.

So might it be time to leave clunky answering machines in the past? Does voicemail still serve a purpose in the 2020s? The difference isn't just about upgrading technology to fit in with the rest of the crowd—it's about transforming how your business captures leads, serves customers, and presents itself to your callers.

The evolution: answering machine vs. answering service

Remember the familiar greeting and beep of traditional answering machines? While revolutionary in their time, they've become outdated for today's business needs.

Answering machines simply record messages. That's it. They don't interact, answer questions, or provide immediate assistance to callers, leaving them wondering if you’ve even gotten their message.

Answering services, by contrast, actively engage with callers. They represent your business, answer common questions, and help capture leads. It’s like having a receptionist working for you at all times, minus the yearly salary + benefits.

The world keeps pushing towards faster instant-gratification (seriously, how "instant" can instant become?) People expect immediate responses, and if they don’t get an answer from you right away, they’re calling the next person who can.

Leave a message, or get immediate service?

The biggest advantage answering services have over answering machines is the immediate, personalized interaction they provide.

Consider this scenario: A potential customer calls about your services after hours. With an answering machine, they hear: "We're not available. Leave a message."

With a virtual receptionist service, they might hear: "Thank you for calling ABC Plumbing. While our office is closed, I can help answer questions about our emergency services, schedule an appointment for tomorrow, or take a detailed message for our team."

The difference is striking. One feels cold and impersonal; the other makes customers feel valued and heard.

Capture more opportunities, appointments, & customers

Every answering service will tell you that a missed call represents potential lost revenue—and honestly, it's true. For service businesses, this can be especially costly. Missed calls for home service businesses can cost them up to a staggering $12,600/mo.

With an answering machine, you're basically telling callers to try again later or leave their contact information with no guarantee of when you'll respond. And if they do end up leaving a voicemail, they might end up in what we call the “voicemail blackhole” where no one will get back to them. 

Answering services capture these opportunities by:

1. Converting inquiries into appointments in real-time
2. Gathering detailed information from potential leads
3. Providing immediate answers to common questions
4. Routing urgent matters to on-call staff

A roofing company who recently signed up for Upfirst, an AI answering service, needed help capturing after hours calls on nights and weekends. People would call them asking for inspections for a quote. 

The problem was, these voicemails weren’t logging into their CRM, so they would often miss out on new customers and revenue because they were easily forgotten. They wanted to avoid overpaying for traditional answering services if they could, so they went with Upfirst. 

They ditched the voicemail and started routing after hours calls directly to Upfirst instead of voicemail, using our out of hours call handling service. Now, every caller detail is being captured even when they’re out of office, giving them more opportunity to convert new callers into paying customers. 

Building a lasting professional image

Your phone system is often the first impression potential customers have of your business. An answering machine can make even established businesses seem small or unprofessional.

Professional answering services raise your brand image by providing consistent, polished interactions with every caller. For small businesses looking to compete with larger companies, giving this type of experience is pretty valuable. 

Answering services bring more flexibility

Answering machines just sit there—they can only record messages when you're unavailable. Answering services offer way more flexibility:

• They can handle overflow calls during busy periods, ensuring no caller waits too long.
• They provide 24/7 coverage, allowing your business to support customers across different time zones or outside regular business hours.
• They adapt to your business, learning what your services are and can be customized to fit what you need when it comes to call handling. 

When you scale, your answering service scales with you

When your business grows and you’re still relying on an answering machine, then your call volume will definitely grow too, and the amount of voicemails you get will eventually pile on, making it harder and harder to keep track and follow up with customers.

An answering service can fit right into where your business is at now, and also scale with you as you grow. Your call volume grows, but your service doesn’t slip up because an agent will always be there to greet the caller.

How answering services can automate your work

Can answering machines collect caller info, and send it to your calendar or other CRM tools? No, you’re likely having to manually put in that administrative work with your own fingers.

Answering services can collect, update, and submit customer information directly to your software tools that help run your business, eliminating hours of manual labor for you. 

• Scenario: You’re a local handyman who relies on Google Calendar to keep your schedule full and organized. Growing dissatisfied with losing potential clients to missed calls because you’re swamped, you hire a handyman answering service to take calls for you. Instead of relaying customer appointment requests to you, the service can integrate with your calendar directly, booking appointments when customers call in without you having to do a thing. Now, you can focus on completing the day’s work ahead.

Cost considerations: The surprising math

Many business owners assume answering services are expensive. Traditionally, they are right—with human operators costing at minimum hundreds of dollars per month.

However, AI-powered solutions are here and they’re leveling the playing field so that any small business can afford to handle calls and get useful features like call transferring and call summary notifications. 

Let's break down the real cost comparison:

An answering machine costs relatively little upfront but consider the hidden costs:

• Missed opportunities (a single missed lead can cost hundreds or thousands in lost revenue)
• Time spent checking and responding to messages
• Professional image costs (looking small or unprofessional)

AI answering services like Upfirst start at $24.95/month—less than many businesses spend on coffee each week. For this investment, you get a professional call handling service that works 24/7.

The ROI becomes clear when you consider that capturing just one additional customer per month typically pays for the service many times over.

Making the transition: Easier than you think

Switching from an answering machine to an answering service is surprisingly simple. Depending on which answering service you choose, the process typically involves:

1. Setting up your account (5 minutes)
2. Customizing your virtual receptionist with information about your business (10-20 minutes)
3. Forwarding your existing phone number to the service (2 minutes)

There's no hardware to install, no complicated training, and you can be up and running in less than 30 minutes.

Is an answering service right for your business?

While answering services offer clear advantages, they're particularly valuable for:

• Service businesses where missed calls directly translate to lost revenue (plumbers, electricians, lawyers, etc.)
• Businesses with unpredictable call volumes that can't justify full-time reception staff
• Solopreneurs and small teams who need to maintain a professional image while focusing on their core work
• Companies that value customer experience and want to ensure callers always receive a helpful response

Getting started with Upfirst

Curious to see how an answering service can help your business? You can try out Upfirst for free and see if it’s right for your business. People use Upfirst every day to:

• Get call summaries with instant notifications via SMS/email, so they can always stay in the loop with who called and why
• Intake new customers by gathering information and pushing it to their CRMs such as Hubspot
• Transfer calls to the right person based on what the caller says (e.g. emergency situations when the caller needs help as soon as possible)
• Answer common questions like pricing, services, hours, and more

Try it out today! Plus, our team is always around to show a free demo or help get set up quickly.

Wrapping up

The advantages answering services have over answering machines go far beyond simply taking messages. They transform how your business communicates, captures opportunities, and presents itself to the world.

In an age where customer experience often decides which businesses thrive and which fall behind, upgrading from an answering machine to a professional answering service represents one of the highest-ROI investments a small business can make.

The question isn't whether you can afford an answering service—it's whether you can afford to keep using an answering machine.

FAQs

Q: Will callers know they're speaking with an answering service?
A: Most callers won’t realize they’re not speaking directly to your staff, though sometimes it does happen. That being said, answering services are designed to sound like an extension of your brand, so it will still feel like “you” when your callers reach out.

Q: What happens if the answering service can't answer a specific question?
A: Quality services are trained to take detailed messages when they can't provide specific information, ensuring the caller feels heard and you receive all the information you need to follow up effectively.

Q: How do answering services handle urgent matters?
A: Most services offer call forwarding options for urgent situations based on criteria you define. This ensures time-sensitive matters reach you immediately while routine calls are handled appropriately.

Q: Can I customize what information my answering service provides to callers?
A: Yes, services like Upfirst allow you to create a knowledge base with specific information about your business, services, pricing, and policies that your virtual receptionist can access when speaking with callers.