An automated attendant can be used almost every day if you have a mobile phone. If you lose a call, your contacts are instantly forwarded to your voicemail, or your phone goes off. The personalized greeting will be played first. If you do not have one, it will say something like, “To leave a message, please remain on the line.” Press five to leave a callback number.
You might not think about the message when you leave a voicemail. It’s just one example of an automated attendant and how it can help an individual user.
Customer service teams use auto-attendants to direct customers to the right resources to solve their problems. This eliminates the need to have receptionists manually transfer calls between departments.
Auto-Attendant vs Virtual Assistant vs Auto-Attendant
Virtual assistants assist customers via live chat and video, while auto-attendants pass calls to customer service representatives. Virtual assistants, unlike auto-attendants, can be used to transfer calls to customer service reps and help troubleshoot issues.
Best Auto-Attendant Phone Systems
Ring Central
Ring Central’s auto attendant offers a variety of customization options. If your team is not working, you can personalize greetings or route calls based on business hours. You can also forward customers directly to voicemail if they are out of the office. Ring Central allows customers to translate greeting messages into different languages. This will allow you to use consistent messaging to increase your customer base.
Pricing Essentials plan: 20$/user/month, Standard plan: 28$/user/month, Premium plan: 35$/user/month, Premium plan: 35$/user/month, Ultimate plan 50$/user/month
Vonage
Vonage is unique among other phone providers because you can create multiple auto-attendants from the same account. This allows you to customize your support system according to the number that customers dial. If someone has questions about pricing, they can call a support number specifically for pricing inquiries. This is especially useful for large customer support departments where an auto-attendant can be assigned to each section or team.
Pricing: Mobile plan 20$/month, Premium plan 30$/month, Advanced plan 40$/month
Phone.com
Phone.com, a business phone system with a wide range of features, is a good choice. It even has an automated attendant. Phone.com’s video calls are a unique feature that all users can enjoy. This platform allows you to communicate with customers face-to-face or collaborate with colleagues internally.
Pricing:13$/user/month Basic plan, 20$/user/month Plus plan, and 30$/user/month Pro plan
Nextiva
Nextiva offers a unique “call pop” feature which displays caller information from its CRM whenever someone contacts your business. Reps will have all the customer information they need before picking up the phone. This is important because 8×8.
The auto-attendant at 8×8 is unique because it can exclude certain callers from the phone system. You can forward a customer who is violating company policy or calling too many people to your office to a voicemail, where they can leave messages. Although the customer may still wish to speak with a person, it is better to leave them on hold and ignore their calls.
Pricing: Pricing is available upon request