Traditional answering services use human agents to answer phone calls, usually for a monthly retainer or per-call fee. They suit phone-heavy businesses.
An AI answering service does the same job on your website: it answers questions and captures bookings automatically, 24/7, for a flat cost, and covers hours a human team can't. Which kind fits depends on where your enquiries arrive — phone-first businesses lean on human services, while businesses whose customers start on the website are better served by software.
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Related terms
Browse all 104 terms- AI answering serviceAn AI answering service is software that responds to customer enquiries automatically, around the clock, using AI trained on the business's own information rather than a team of human operators.
- After-hours answeringAfter-hours answering is covering customer enquiries that arrive outside business hours, evenings, weekends, and holidays, so those customers get a response instead of moving on to a competitor.
- Virtual receptionistA virtual receptionist is a remote human, often part of a shared team, who answers a business's phone calls and messages on its behalf, typically billed per call or on a monthly retainer.
- Customer self-serviceCustomer self-service is letting customers find answers and complete simple tasks on their own, like checking prices, confirming service areas, or requesting a booking, without needing a staff member to respond.