Auto attendant systems help streamline customer service by routing calls to the correct department or providing quick answers to frequently asked questions.
Customers look for simplicity, 24/7 support, and quick solutions or information when they call a business. Complex menu options, long hold times, and incorrect call transfers can prompt them to take their business elsewhere. While customers hang up if their calls are not answered or routed correctly, inappropriate auto- attendants frustrate them.
This article will review the best auto attendant systems in 2023 to help you choose one that caters to your business and end-user needs and enhances your brand reputation.
Community Phone is the most trusted business phone service provider in the United States, with a robust and customizable auto attendant system and several calling features.
Switch to Community Phone to enjoy the reliability of landline access, impressive VoIP phone features, and the freedom of wireless connectivity without needing internet, copper wires, or fiber optics.
What is an Auto Attendant Phone System?
An auto attendant system routes incoming calls to different extensions specified by callers without the assistance of a human operator. It relies on interactive voice response and helps route the customer’s call to the right person or department or answer frequently asked questions. On occasion, auto attendants ask customers to push buttons to understand their inputs, while others respond to voice commands.
1. Community Phone: The Best Auto Attendant Phone System for Your Business
Community Phone is The best business phone service provider in the U.S. Its wireless Community Phone Base connects to cell towers in your area, eliminating the need for internet or copper wires. The company boasts strong coverage and crystal clear voice quality in rural areas.
With ZERO installation cost, NO contracts, NO hidden charges, cost-effective custom plans, 14-day risk-FREE trial, a variety of business features, and customer-friendly cancelation policies, Community Phone is just what your business needs!
How to Setup Community Phone’s Auto Attendant
Simplify customer service, free up your personnel and distribute their bandwidth to other tasks, and enhance your company's reputation with Community Phone’s customizable multi-level auto attendant.
You don’t have to push a million buttons or access several menus to set up the auto attendant. Community Phone will take care of that for you! Record your custom greeting and menu, upload it to the dashboard, and the company will take care of setting up the attendant for your business. You can also discuss your options with your Community Phone account manager, who will happily set it up for your business.
Talk to a business specialist to learn how Community Phone’s business landline service can add value to your business!
Exclusive Business Features Offered by Community Phone
Call Routing
Putting clients on hold or transferring their call to the incorrect department might jeopardize their trust in your company. Studies report that at least 50% of customers vocalize their negative experiences on various social channels, which can negatively impact your business reputation.
Utilize every customer call as an opportunity to enhance your business image and create customer loyalty with Community Phone’s customized call routing.
Talk to our specialists to learn more about Community Phone’s call routing and forwarding features!
Manage Multiple Extensions
Show your customers you appreciate their business and time by efficiently managing their call. Have the customer reach the correct department in your business every time with the live call transfer feature.
Transfer each call to the person most equipped to help and delight clients or customers and eliminate the irritating hold music, vacuum, or repetitive sales messages. Push a single button associated with various extensions programmed into the phone, and your customer’s call will land right at the desk of the person they need.
Simultaneous Ring and Ring a Second Number
Do not miss the opportunity to engage your customers with unmanned extensions or busy lines. Community Phone’s simultaneous ring feature can program several phones in your business to ring at once, allowing an available representative to answer the call.
Alternatively, you can opt for the ring a second number feature that lets your customer’s call roll over to the second number if the first one is busy.
Boost Your Business with Business Phone Numbers
Your business number is a reflection of who you are. Optimize your business opportunities by getting your business a local, toll-free, or vanity number from Community Phone.
Toll-Free Numbers
Strengthen your relationship with your customers, build brand positivity, and elicit customer trust by getting your business a toll-free number from Community Phone. Customers are more likely to trust your company and show loyalty when you provide them with a toll-free number they can use to ask questions or get answers.
Vanity Numbers
Stand out from the competition and use your vanity phone number to convey subliminal sales messages to your customers. These numbers will help them remember your brand and recommend it to others, increasing your brand's awareness and sales.
Examples of vanity phone numbers include 1-800-FLOWERS and 202-600-HOME, among others.
Local Numbers
Local numbers start with the three-digit area code of a particular region. Build solidarity and connect with customers and prospects in your community with a local number.
Call our specialists to learn more and get a number that suits your business needs!
Why Should You Switch to Community Phone?
Create brand positivity, build customer loyalty, increase revenue, and optimize personnel productivity with your company's perfect business phone system: Community Phone.
Here’s why you should switch to Community Phone
- No internet required: Increase customer satisfaction with the excellent call quality and reliability of the Community Phone business phone service that does not require internet to operate.
- Unlimited nationwide calling: Connect with customers all over the country with unlimited minutes and save massively on your phone bills.
- 24/7 Customer Support: Free your personnel from chasing customer support with telephony issues as Community Phone’s 24/7 support representatives are subject matter experts and take full accountability to resolve your issues.
- Number Choice: You can port your current landline number when you switch to Community Phone so as not to inconvenience your customers. You can also empower your business by getting a toll-free or vanity number to enhance your business image among your customers.
- Works during power outages: The 12-hour backup battery in the Community Phone base ensures your phones work during a blackout and communication with customers continues.
- Quick setup: Free your personnel from chasing phone technicians and save on installation costs with Community Phone’s base. Anyone in your business can set up the base in 30 seconds by connecting it to a power outlet and plugging your phone in.
Other Auto Attendant Phone Systems
2. Nextiva
Nextiva is a corporate phone software that allows teams to communicate with their clients and colleagues. Small businesses frequently use it as their go-to platform for voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) services.
Their features include:
- Unlimited domestic calls
- Fax
- Visible voicemail
- auto attendant capabilities and
- Collaboration
It offers three price options: Essential, Professional, and Enterprise. When billed annually, a monthly fee for accounts with one to four users starts at $23.95. Rates differ according to the number of users per account and the subscription term.
3. Dialpad
Dialpad is a cloud-based platform that provides online business communication, a contact center, video conferencing, and sales dialer capabilities. Dialpad is ideal for small teams with remote workers. Using various cloud services, small teams with remote workers can easily stay connected and collaborate on important business communication tasks from anywhere in the world.
Their features include:
- Voicemails
- Faxes
- Virtual meetings across devices with the all-in-one communication platform
- An international phone number
- A personalized voicemail greeting
Dialpad has three plans: Standard, Pro, and Enterprise, with prices starting at $15 per user per month on an annual subscription. All Dialpad pricing tiers include unlimited calls.
4. Ooma
Ooma is a business phone system that provides voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) solutions. It includes a variety of essential calling capabilities for small organizations, particularly when upgrading to an Ooma Office tier. It's an excellent option for small teams seeking a cost-effective solution.
Their features include:
- Free Porting
- International Calling Options
- Extensive Hardware & Software Support
- UCaaS Features
- 7-Digit Dialing
Ooma pricing tiers feature five options. With monthly per-user Ooma price starting at $9.99, all tiers provide unlimited calling inside the United States, but contacting nearby territories such as Canada and Mexico requires the Premier plan or a business plan.
5. 8X8
8X8 is a cloud-based multichannel contact center solution that offers voice, chat, and video services. It improves agent performance and corporate communications by integrating deep customer data, team messaging, and customer relations management (CRM).
Their features include:
- An auto attendant
- Call queues, Call forwarding
- Ring groups
- Call barge
- Call transfer
- Call park.
The company has three contact center pricing options: X6, X7, and X8. The X6 plan includes basic functionality and statistics, while the X7 has automated voice and digital interactions and costs $85 per month each. Its most expensive plan, X8, includes quality management and comprehensive analytics and monitoring functions.
6. Phone.com
Phone.com is a voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) business phone system with many features. It is a suitable VoIP phone solution for individuals and medium-scale enterprises in the healthcare profession.
Their features include:
- Call Handling
- Conferencing
- Phone apps
- Simple User interface
- And Live Receptionists
Phone.com offers three monthly or annual memberships for managing a team of 25 persons, with the 26th person costing $8.99. You can save money by choosing between metered and unlimited plans to meet the demands of individual team members.
7. Ring Central
RingCentral is a cloud-based VoIP communications system. RingCentral is a prominent player in the unified communications market, offering services like voice calls, messaging, conferencing, online meetings, collaboration, and connection with other corporate software (such as customer relationship management systems).
Their features include:
- VoIP calling
- Team chat
- Software integration
- Business phone
- HD video calling
- And toll-free numbers
Four primary pricing levels fit different business sizes: Essentials, Standard, Premium, and Ultimate. The Essentials option is the most affordable, costing $19.99 per user monthly. This package includes one dedicated phone number per user.
8. Verizon
Verizon provides business phone systems with multi-level auto attendant options.
Their features include:
- Call Monitoring
- Call Recording
- Call Routing
- Employee Directory
- IVR / Voice Recognition
- Virtual Call Center
- Web Conferencing
Pricing Begins At $35 per month; its premium plans to scale with your business, combining a wide range of phone functions and unified communications.
FAQs
Why do companies use automated phone systems?
Companies use automated phone systems to reduce fixed labor expenses and free up personnel for customer support or invoice processing tasks.
Is auto attendant the same as IVR?
An auto attendant is similar to an Interactive Voice Response system. It's a phone system with customized menus that allow you to get routed to the appropriate person without waiting on hold or talking to an operator.
How much does an auto attendant cost?
An auto attendant may cost between $20-$100 per month. Prices may vary based on the provider, the number of extensions and the features required. Check out Community Phone’s easily customizable auto attendant as part of their Premium Business Plan.
Conclusion
Customize Community Phone’s attendant system to suit your needs so your business can strike the right balance between customer satisfaction and automation. Streamline your customer service, free your personnel bandwidth, and enhance your company’s reputation with the best auto attendant for your business. Utilize the system's full potential to add value to your business while not frustrating your customers.