How is Smith.ai different than Ruby Receptionists?

Price

Smith.ai’s cost per call is lower than Ruby Receptionists in just about every way you calculate it. First of all, to get started, Smith.ai’s smallest plan starts at only $140 per month. Compare that to Ruby Receptionists’ starting price of $299 per month (over twice as much).

Breaking down the price per call on Smith.ai’s smallest plan, you pay $7 per call with no hidden or additional fees. Assuming your average call is around 3 minutes, the same call will cost you $8.97 with Ruby Receptionists. (Ruby will tell you that their average call time is less — but that’s only because they are counting spam, sales, and wrong numbers in that total, all of which trigger their 30-second minimum-increment charge). Furthermore, if your average call is more like 5 minutes, the price per call with Ruby Receptionists is $14.95. And if you have them making outbound calls, you will also pay for the time it takes the receptionist to summarize the call and send you follow-up notes. It’s a no-brainer: You are likely to pay twice as much per call with Ruby Receptionists than Smith.ai.

As you increase your call volume with Smith.ai, the pricing remains predictable. At 120 calls per month or more, you pay only $5 per call. So for 200 calls, you pay $1,000. You don’t even need a calculator to do that math. With Ruby Receptionists, as your call volume increases, pricing per call can become even more uncertain. If your average call is 3 minutes, starting at about 66 calls, you’ll pay $8.38 per call. And at about 166 calls, you’ll pay $7.61 per call. This more complex (and expensive) pricing is not ideal for small- to medium-sized law firms that are looking to scale efficiently.

Features

Smith.ai offers lead qualification and intake services that go far beyond Ruby’s simple call-answering services. We personally onboard every one of our customers before ever taking a call, so we know exactly how to field different callers, from clients, VIPs, and leads, to industry contacts, courthouses, and anyone else contacting your business. For the same price as an inbound call, we offer outbound calls, which is useful for quick responses to leads who complete web forms, as well as work status updates, appointment reminders, and payment collection for existing clients. Our flat per-call fees mean you won't be surprised by your bill at the end of the month, whereas Ruby’s per-minute billing means your costs can vary widely.

Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists do real work for your business: We answer questions, qualify leads, take payments, book appointments, filter spam calls, and generally represent your business the way you want, for a price you can afford. Instead of a stack of messages at the end of day that require your review and response, you get results from decisions we make on your behalf, guided by your specific directions.

Integrations

Smith.ai has 10 times as many integrations as Ruby Receptionists… and counting! Ruby integrates with 3 CRM platforms and can book appointments for you on Calendly only. But at Smith.ai we are obsessed with integrating your business software (at the request of our customers), since we know that delivers efficiency and saves you time on data entry and other chores. We currently integrate with over 30 programs for customer relationship management (CRM), scheduling, intake, billing, and more. And for the more technically minded, we integrate with Slack and Zapier. In other words, we can act as your in-house receptionist, securely integrating with the software you already use so that we aren’t just another source of data you have to manage at the end of each day.

Quality

Let’s face it, at the end of the day your virtual receptionists absolutely should consistently answer calls the same way an in-house receptionist would. Ruby Receptionists have received many complaints about the ways their calls are handled over the years, and put every caller on hold in order to “pull up” the information needed to address the caller (while continuing to charge per half-minute). Don’t take our word for it; here are two reviews from consumeraffairs.com:

“We found that they were putting 90% of our callers on hold the minute they pick up the phone, which to me is a terrible client experience from the start. They were charging for all of this hold time. They were also charging us for more minutes than they were on the phone. When we questioned them, their response was that calls were placed on hold so the receptionist could review the company information before every call. It was a clever excuse to say the least, but we were told all of their receptionists would be provided training when setting up the accounts, and already know how to answer the call. I am not normally someone to leave a review but felt it was important to warn other businesses who may not have the same call tracking system in place which allowed us to catch all of the inconsistencies and dishonest tactics Ruby Receptionists was committing.”
- Nick of Delray Beach, FL, June 2019

‍“I have used this company for years and years and years, and thought I was always happy with them to the point where I was no longer running tests of my own. Trying to demonstrate the service to a friend, I made a test call. To my surprise, after a long ring time, I was placed on hold, waited some more, and then got a receptionist. To my MUCH GREATER surprise, after some followup with Ruby, I realized I was being billed for not only the receptionist time, but the RINGING and the HOLD TIME. This is wildly unethical.”
- Adam of Grand Island, NY, May 2019

At Smith.ai, our AI software empowers all of our receptionists to get info in real-time based on the type of caller so there's no delay and the conversation flows naturally (not scripted). We train our receptionists on giving the best service to every caller, and our proprietary technology takes care of the personalization.

Other frequently asked questions about the differences between Smith.ai and Ruby Receptionists

Do you have an app?

We don’t make you download yet another app. You probably have enough on your phone already. However, we do have a call dashboard to help you track new leads, search your call history, check up on outbound calls, block and whitelist numbers, and set your preferences. Our call tracking dashboard gives you the metrics you need to monitor our receptionists’ work and measure success with leads, while Ruby’s app mostly offers service updates (which we can handle more easily with a simple text message).

Do you provide custom call handling?

Of course! During your onboarding, we will collect information about you and your business so that our receptionists can deliver personalized service with a true in-house feel. Your Smith.ai virtual receptionists will sound like they are sitting in your office – minus the foot traffic and expensive overhead of full-time staff.

Why is Smith.ai’s price lower than Ruby Receptionists’?

We work smarter. We use technology that makes our virtual receptionists efficient without sacrificing quality. Smith.ai saves you a bunch of money by keeping it simple. We also focus on features that professionals indicate they need most, and don’t waste time on features that are seldom used.

How will I receive messages?

All calls received by the Smith.ai telephone answering service are transcribed and emailed to you at the end of each day. We also screen, prioritize, and send an instant summary of each call via text message or email (your preference), Monday – Friday, 5am – 9pm PT, and weekends, 6am – 4pm PT.

Did we miss something?

Please let us know. We’re here to answer all of your questions. Reach out at hello@smith.ai or call us at (650) 727-6484.