Is Voicemail Enough for Small Business Customer Service?

As a small business owner, you’re used to wearing many hats and juggling a multitude of tasks every day. But amidst all the duties, there’s one area that should never be overlooked: customer service. Your business’s customer service is one of the most important factors in determining whether customers return, recommend your brand, or find another business entirely.

Every missed call can mean a missed opportunity. But as a small business owner, you already have a lot on your plate, and being available around the clock just isn’t realistic. When calls go to voicemail, customers might not wait for a callback or even leave a message, and that delay can drive them straight to a competitor.

Here’s why small businesses need to offer more than just a phone number and why investing in customer service channels is crucial to building a strong, customer-focused brand.

24/7 Customer Service and Reliance on Voicemail

A potential customer calls your business, excited about what you offer and hoping to speak with someone who can help them. Unfortunately, you aren’t available to answer. You’re working and you don’t have a dedicated customer service team. So, the potential customer is directed to voicemail. Will they wait for your call back? Will they even leave a message?

For many small businesses, this is a common, everyday occurrence. Most independent business owners are a part of their own workforce and don’t have time to answer every single call that comes their way. Whether you’re working, driving to a location, or simply resting at home after a long day, missing calls is almost inevitable unless you’re willing to risk burnout. It’s simply not realistic for you to be available 24/7.

Letting a call go to voicemail seems to make sense. The customer can leave a message, and you’ll get back to them as soon as you have time. But, whether it’s a 5-minute delay or several hours, a customer’s needs don’t pause until you’re ready. They want an immediate response, and the reality is that many won’t want to wait.

Instead, they’ll simply move on to the next option, and it’s highly likely that by the time you return their call, they’ve already found a solution with a competitor. In fact, 35-50% of customers will buy from the first business to answer their call. So, no matter how good your products or services are, no matter how engaging your advertisements are, you still risk losing customers when relying on voicemail alone.

Offering More than One Way to Reach You

You can’t answer the phone 24/7 and voicemail isn’t a fix-all. So, the next step is to offer more channels, whether this be social media, WhatsApp, or even just email. This way, your customers can choose the method that works best for them. It’s all about making it easier for people to reach you and get help whenever they need it.

If you have social media or a website for your business, this is where your customers are going to find you digitally. Everyone leads busy lives, and we no longer live in a world where popping into a store to ask the staff about services is the norm. Most customers are going to do their research online, by themselves, before they even consider reaching out to you.

Once they’re ready, those customers will try to reach you on their preferred platform, and it may not be the one you expect or even want them to contact you on. In fact, Statista reports that 79% of customers expect a business to provide customer support through social media!

If your business is active on social media but you aren’t responding to messages, it can give the impression that your brand is disengaged or uninterested in helping. This is a big problem (especially for small businesses trying to build relationships with customers) because, just like with voicemail, you’re inadvertently sending potential customers to your more responsive and engaged competitors. As a small business owner, you simply can’t afford to lose potential clients because you aren’t providing the right customer service options.

So, what’s the solution? Must you be available 24/7, no matter what you’re doing? Could you hire a single receptionist to answer your calls? Do you need a whole customer service team to handle social media, WhatsApp, and email? Well, there are a few ways to tackle this problem, but we think that the easiest, most effective, and usually cheapest method is to work with a call and message answering service like AllDayPA.

But we would say that, right? So, let’s talk about why.

The Role of a Call and Message Answering Service

An answering service can fix all these problems easily and cheaply compared to maintaining and outfitting your own team. Answering service providers like AllDayPA are professionals, with decades of experience in customer service. They have expertly trained teams on call 24/7 and software to support them, connecting everything together so your customers receive a seamless experience across every channel.

An answering service takes care of calls and messages after-hours, at weekends, or even just during busy times when you’re unable to answer. They handle incoming calls and messages and quickly pass along important details to you whilst leaving the customer feeling satisfied that they’ve been met with an appropriate response. Your customers never feel ignored, and you can rest assured that you’re not missing out on any sales, allowing you to focus on what you do best: running your business. What’s more: an answering service doesn’t have to cost a king’s ransom (our prices start from just £1.80 a call).

When you consider the potential revenue lost due to unanswered calls and delayed responses, the investment in a reliable answering service becomes a no-brainer. Even better: businesses like AllDayPA work on a monthly rolling contract so if you’re ever unhappy with the service, you can simply leave. Learn more about our virtual receptionists, or reach out to the team today to discuss how it works.