Introduction to Anser: The AI Receptionist

01What is Anser?

Anser is an AI receptionist: software that answers your business phone calls in a natural voice, the way a human receptionist would. It's sometimes called a virtual receptionist or an AI call answering service, but the idea is simple. When your phone rings and you can't pick up, Anser does.

Unlike a basic phone menu or voicemail, Anser has a real conversation. It answers questions about your business, takes down what the caller needs, and passes everything on to you. Unlike a traditional answering service, it works every hour of every day, can take more than one call at a time, and costs a fraction of a full-time receptionist.

Anser is built in the UK by a small team, and it's for businesses of every size, from one-person businesses to busy multi-site teams.

02How Anser works

Getting started doesn't mean learning new software or changing how you work. We build your receptionist for you, and you hear it before you pay a penny.

1. STEP 1

   We read your website.

   We build a receptionist that knows your services, your area, your prices and the questions customers actually ask.

2. STEP 2

   You call it first.

   Ring your working receptionist and hear exactly what your customers would. If anything's not right, we fix it.

3. STEP 3

   Forward your number.

   Keep the number your customers already know and divert calls to Anser. You can go live the same day.

You choose when Anser covers your calls: all the time, only after hours, or only when you don't pick up. See the full walkthrough on our How it works page.

03What Anser does on every call

• Answers, 24/7. Day, night, weekends and bank holidays, including when you're busy with a customer.
• Knows your business. Your services, your area and your prices, taken from your own website.
• Handles the routine questions. Opening hours, services, pricing and availability, so you're not answering the same questions all day.
• Takes the booking details. It captures what the caller needs and when, so you can confirm the job in seconds.
• Knows when to hand over. If a call needs a person, such as a complaint or an emergency, it transfers the caller. If nobody's free, it takes the details for you.
• Tells you everything. A summary, transcript and recording of every call, sent straight to you.

Your rules, your business.

You decide how Anser behaves when you're open, closed or busy, and what counts as an emergency. An urgent call at 2am gets routed the way you choose instead of sitting in voicemail until morning.

04Who Anser is for

If your phone ever rings when you can't answer it, Anser is for you. It's especially useful for businesses where missed calls mean missed work:

• Salons, barbers and beauty businesses, where your hands are busy with a client.
• Garages and vehicle servicing, where “how much for…” calls come in while you're under a car.
• Trades and home services, such as plumbers, electricians and locksmiths, who are on the tools all day.
• Cleaning and domestic services, where the team is out on jobs.
• Letting agents and property managers, with out-of-hours calls from tenants and applicants.
• Offices, agencies and multi-site teams that want every call answered consistently.

See more examples on our Who it's for page.

05AI receptionist vs voicemail, receptionists and answering services

Most small businesses handle calls in one of three ways. Here's how an AI receptionist like Anser compares.

Receptionist and answering-service details vary by provider. Swipe the table sideways on a phone.

For a deeper comparison, read our guide to the best AI receptionist and what to look for.

06Your callers and your data

An AI receptionist speaks for your business, so it has to be honest with callers and careful with their information.

• Callers always know. At the start of every call, Anser tells the caller they're speaking to an AI assistant and that the call may be recorded.
• Recordings are kept for 30 days, then deleted automatically.
• Recording can be switched off, while still keeping transcripts and summaries.
• Your data isn't for sale. We don't use call data for advertising, and we configure our providers so it isn't used to train their AI models.

The full details are on our GDPR & data and Privacy policy pages.

07What Anser costs

Anser has simple monthly plans, with no contract and a 30-day money-back guarantee on your subscription.

• Solo, £99 a month: 500 minutes, one call at a time.
• Team, £299 a month: 1,500 minutes, up to three calls at once.
• Scale, from £499 a month: from 2,500 minutes, with custom concurrency.

A one-off £149 setup fee applies. If you go over your minutes, small 100-minute blocks are added automatically (capped at five a month) so your line is never cut off, and you can switch this off at any time. Full details are on our pricing page.

08Frequently asked questions