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Guide · Assistants

Is an AI receptionist worth it for a small business?

It can be very useful, for the right business, if it's honest about being an AI and knows when to hand over. Here's how to tell whether yours is the right business.

By Understudy ·

The short answer

It's worth it if you miss calls or messages you'd have won, and most of them ask the same things. It isn't worth it if every conversation needs your judgement, or if you won't keep its information up to date. Either way, it should always say it's an AI and pass anything unclear to a person.

We build these, so weigh our view accordingly. We've tried to write the page we'd want to read before buying one.

What it does well

  • Answers at 9pm, on a Sunday, and while you're with a customer. After-hours enquiries are often the easiest work to win, because the other businesses are closed too.
  • Handles the questions you answer ten times a day: hours, area, what you do and don't do, how booking works.
  • Takes clean details. Name, number, what they need, when. It arrives in your inbox written down, not scribbled on the back of a receipt.
  • Treats the fortieth caller the same as the first. Same patience, same information.

Where it falls short

  • It's only as right as what you give it. If your prices or hours change and nobody updates it, it gives the old answer with confidence. Somebody has to own keeping it current.
  • Some callers don't want a machine, and some will hang up. A good setup makes it easy to leave a message for a person instead.
  • It shouldn't make judgement calls. Custom quotes, complaints, exceptions and anything legal or medical belong to a person. For law and medical offices, the only sensible version is intake: take the details, give no advice.
  • Usage costs money. Most assistants are priced partly by conversation minutes. Ask how the price behaves in a busy month.

It suits you if…

  • You regularly miss calls or messages because you're working with your hands or with a customer.
  • Most enquiries ask a handful of the same questions before they book.
  • You get enquiries outside business hours.
  • You're willing to spend a few minutes a month keeping its information right, or to have someone do it for you.

Skip it (for now) if…

  • Every conversation is a consultation that needs your expertise.
  • You get a few calls a week and answer nearly all of them. A missed-call text-back or a better voicemail covers you for much less.
  • Your process changes week to week. Get it steady first.

Questions to ask before you pay

  1. Does it always say it's an AI? It should, in its first sentence. Pretending to be a person is a trust problem waiting to happen.
  2. What happens when it doesn't know? It should take a message for a human, not improvise.
  3. Where do the conversations go, and who can see them? You should get every lead and be able to read what was said.
  4. Who updates it when your business changes? And how quickly.
  5. Can I try one first? You should be able to talk to a working one before you buy. Ours is on sambartolotta.com/websites: tap "Talk to my assistant."