When should you choose a pay as you go answering service?

Pay as you go call answering.

Just like a pay as you go mobile phone contract, pay as you go call answering is a way for businesses to get all the benefits of a call answering service without being tied into a monthly contract.

Sounds great right?

But as we all know from owning mobile phones, while pay-as-you-go sounds great on paper, sometimes it can be better in the long run to jump in with both feet and get the big 24-month contract.

After all, you’re going to use it!

Well the same thing applies with pay as you go telephone answering services. For some people a pay as you go answering service is best, while for others, a contract might provide the best value.

But how do you know which is right for you?

Let’s get started.

What is a pay as you go call answering service?

A call answering service is essentially an outsourced call centre, which businesses can outsource their calls to.

The call answering service will answer the calls and take a message or transfer the call to the relevant person in the business, just as a receptionist would.

Typically, a company using a call answering service will sign a contract with the call answering service provider, which will give them a fixed number of call answering minutes per month. Any calls taken over this agreed amount will be charged at an additional per-minute rate.

By agreeing to a contract with a fixed number of minutes, the call answering service is able to offer a reduced rate. However, any unused minutes are lost at the end of the month.

With a pay as you go call answering service there is no set amount of minutes to be used per month. The business using the service will either “top up” their account in advance, or pay a bill at the end of the month based on their usage.

The benefit of using a pay as you go call answering service is that you can’t “lose minutes” at the end of the month if you’ve not used all the minutes in your contract.

The disadvantage is that on a per minute basis a pay as you go call answering service will typically cost more than a contract.

So how do you now when a pay as you go call answering service is right for you?

When to choose a pay as you go call answering service?

Ultimately, there are two key factors when it comes to deciding if you want a pay as you go call answering service; flexibility and consistently of call volume.

If you want a call answering service where you aren’t tied into a contact, then a pay as you go answering service is perfect for you, especially if it’s one that works by topping up the account with credit in advance.

With pay as you go telephone answering you can simply top up the account by how much you’re happy with at that time. Once you’ve topped up the account you have no further commitment, and you won’t be required to spend any more money if you don’t want to. The call answering service will simply continue to take your calls until the credit runs out, and then you are free to walk away.

When you compare this to the industry standard of 3 month contracts, a pay as you go answering service is considerably more flexible.

The other reason to choose a pay as you go call answering service is if you do not have a consistent call volume.

If you’re going to sign a contract for 200 call answering minutes a month, you want to be confident you’ll hit round about 200 calls a month on a regular basis, or you’ll be paying for calls you’ll never use.

With a pay as you go service it doesn’t matter.

You could have 10 calls one month and 1000 the next – you’ll only ever be charged for exactly what you use.

If the amount of calls you take can change drastically by the month, then you might want to consider a pay as you go call answering service.

You can find out more about call answering services on our telephone answering service page.