5 Best Business Phone Services for Small Business
Do you want a great business phone service for your WordPress-powered website? Adding a phone service can help you manage customer calls more efficiently. We have hand-picked some of the best business phone services that you can use in conjunction with your WordPress site in this article.
When and why do you require a business phone service?
In most cases, you can simply add your landline or mobile phone number to your WordPress site and use that to receive customer calls. Your phone number, on the other hand, will not appear professional, and you’ll be unable to communicate effectively.
By incorporating a proper business phone service, you will be able to do the following:
- Call duration, hold times, wait times, and overall usage can all be easily tracked.
- Call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, inbound call routing, call recording, and other features are standard with most business phone services.
- Share a single business phone number with multiple users at the same time (auto attendant feature allows you to route calls to the first available representative)
- To receive and make calls, you can use a desk phone system, cordless phones, a mobile cell phone, or a computer.
- You can easily add new employees without involving an IT technician.
- Business phone systems transmit voice over the internet (VoIP systems), allowing you to use your local or toll-free number from anywhere. All you’ll need is a fast internet connection.
If you have an online store or a small business website, adding a professional business phone service can help you grow your company. You can use it to improve customer relations through professional sales and phone support.
That being said, let’s take a look at the best business phone services for your WordPress site.
1. Nextiva
In terms of features and ease of use, Nextiva is the best business phone service. They provide a comprehensive set of features, as well as quick setup and reasonable pricing. It includes a simple web-based admin panel that allows small business owners to manage the unified communications platform like a pro.
Nextiva’s VOIP phone service for small businesses features advanced call routing, unlimited free domestic calling, voicemail to email and text, online faxing, text messages, and other features.
You also receive a free local or toll-free number, free number porting, and all of the standard call management features such as caller ID, call forwarding, routing, custom greetings, advanced IVR (interactive voice response) system, and more. As a platform, Nextiva also provides powerful features such as CRM, Live Chat, online surveys, call analytics, and other solutions that integrate seamlessly with business phone systems.
Their call quality is excellent, their VoIP solution has a 99.999 percent uptime guarantee, and their customer service representatives are always helpful.
The Essentials plan for Nextiva’s business phone service starts at $18.95 per user per month. As you add more users, their pricing decreases. To save even more money, open a pre-paid account.
On WPBeginner, we use Nextiva as our business phone service. Nextiva, in our opinion, is the best small business phone system on the market in terms of both features and pricing.
Our favorite feature as a small business is that Nextiva allows us to add a business line for cell phones, so our team can receive incoming calls from our office or even when working remotely without having to share their personal cell phone numbers. The Nextiva app is compatible with both iPhone (iOS) and Android (Android) smartphones.
They also provide text messaging and video conferencing, which allows our team to connect with our customers via their preferred business communication channel.
That being said, if your company requires an office phone system that works with existing handsets, Nextiva provides that as well. Call centers and enterprise businesses frequently use Nextiva to convert their Avaya PBX system into a powerful cloud phone system with SIP trunking.
Nextiva is the official phone provider for top universities such as Stanford, UCLA, and the University of Southern California, as well as well-known brands such as Taco Bell, Conan O’Brien, and others.
Expert Opinion: With affordable enterprise-level plans, we believe Nextiva is the best overall business phone service for small businesses.
2. RingCentral
RingCentral is another well-known business phone service for businesses of all sizes. They provide one of the most feature-rich small business phone systems available.
Their business phone platform includes all of the standard business call functionality you’d expect, such as unlimited calling, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting and transfer, sharing a single line across multiple mobile devices and users, SMS texting, and more.
Other features include video meetings with screen sharing, team messaging, 1000 toll-free minutes, and integrations with Gsuite, Dropbox, Microsoft, and other services. It comes with an easy-to-use cloud-based administration system that makes it simple to set up and manage your calls.
Their Essentials plan starts at $19.99 per month for each user (billed annually), with a maximum of ten users allowed. Other plans have varying pricing and features.
You can also pay an additional fee to get a vanity number for your business, which allows you to have a catchy and memorable business phone number.
RingCentral is an excellent phone solution for both physical offices looking to replace landline phones and those transitioning to a virtual office.
When compatible, it can work with your existing phone system, or you can use their virtual phone system via the RingCentral desktop app and mobile app, which works on all smartphones (iOS and Android).
RingCentral has a large app integration directory because it is one of the most popular business VOIP platforms.
This enables you to connect to other services for automatic transcription, real-time analytics, voice over call recording service, sales call insights from Chorus.ai, integrations with call center software, connection with support help desk software, and many other add-ons, allowing you to have an integrated customer contact center.
Expert Opinion: We believe RingCentral is an excellent business VOIP solution for small and medium-sized businesses.
3. GrassHopper
GrassHopper is a voice over internet protocol (VOIP) service that provides virtual phone numbers for solopreneurs and small businesses. Any phone number or mobile device can receive calls from a virtual phone number. Outgoing calls, on the other hand, will require a regular phone line.
To manage your account and phone service, they provide user-friendly web and mobile apps. Your phone number can have multiple extensions, and you can choose from local, toll-free, or vanity phone numbers. It provides local and toll-free numbers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
All of the standard features are included in GrassHopper, including call forwarding, routing, waiting, call hold music, voicemail to email transcripts, and more. Because you can add extensions that can be used from anywhere using mobile or desktop apps, it’s ideal for remote teams.
Their monthly plans start at $29.99 and include one local number and up to three extensions. On their higher plans, you can add multiple local phone numbers and increase the number of users.
Expert Opinion: GrassHopper is the best business phone service for freelancers and solopreneurs, according to our research.
4. Phone.com
Another good option for small business phone service is Phone.com. They provide a straightforward web and mobile administration panel with standard phone service features such as call forwarding, call routing, caller ID, conference calling, video conference calls, and more.
They include several European countries and Canada in their local call minutes, making calls to those countries significantly less expensive. You can also connect your business phone service to CRM software like Salesforce and Zoho.
They offer two pricing options: pay per minute and pay per minute unlimited. Pay-per-minute plans begin at $12.99 per month, while unlimited plans begin at $22.99 per month.
Expert Review: We believe Phone.com is the best low-cost business phone service for small businesses on a tight budget.
5. GoToConnect (formerly Jive)
Another great option for small business phone service is GoToConnect, formerly known as Jive. They provide a cost-effective cloud-based business phone system.
All of the standard features of their VOIP phone service are included, including unlimited calls, extensions, call forwarding, number sharing, voicemail to audio email, automatic call attendance, mobile apps, chat, SMS, and more.
They also have hundreds of CRM and marketing integrations with well-known services like Salesforce, Zoho, Microsoft Outlook, Google Workspace, Zendesk, Slack, and others.
GoToConnect is a unified business communication platform that includes more than just business phone services. They have high-definition video conferencing, making it simple to collaborate with customers and team members.
They offer over 100 cloud VoIP features, including unlimited call queues, an advanced dial pad editor, cloud branch exchange, advanced ring groups and wait time announcement for call centers, a paging system, and eFax, among others.
Because GoToConnect is part of the larger GoTo software family, it works seamlessly with GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoToTraining, and other webinars and meetings software.
The basic business phone service is available for $24 per month. For larger call centers, their premium plan includes advanced features.
Expert Opinion: GoToConnect is the best business phone service for small businesses in the education and healthcare industries, according to our research.
Which Business Phone Service is Right for You?
We believe that Nextiva is the best business phone service provider on the market after thoroughly researching all of the top business phone service providers.
Their plans are affordable for businesses of all sizes, and they include a wealth of powerful features as well as excellent customer service.
The best part is that, in addition to working on your cell phone, tablet, and computer, Nextiva frequently runs free promotions for advanced business phone systems like the Poly VVX150 or Nextiva X-885, which are used by many professionals for multi-line handling and more.
We chose Nextiva for our own business for all of the reasons stated above, and we consider it to be the best business phone system on the market.
RingCentral came in second place in our research. Their voip phone system has many of the same features as Nextiva, and in the end, price and customer service were the deciding factors for us.
With either of these top two VoIP providers, you can’t go wrong.
We also looked into a number of other business phone service providers that aren’t mentioned in this article, such as Vonage, 808 Communications, AT&T, Verizon, Skype, and others. We decided that listing them all in this article would be counterproductive because we didn’t want to cause decision paralysis.
Instead, our goal is to make it as simple as possible for you to select the best service provider for your needs.
We hope you found this article useful in your search for the best business phone service for your WordPress website. You might also be interested in our articles on how to create a free business email address.
Frequently Asked Questions about Business Phone Systems
We’ve answered a lot of questions after helping thousands of business owners find the best business phone system for their needs. Some of the most frequently asked questions about VoIP business phone systems and service providers are answered below.
What is Voice over IP (VoIP) and how does it work?
VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) is a telephone technology that allows you to make and receive calls over the internet rather than traditional phone lines.
Here’s a quick visual infographic on VoIP:
Is a business VoIP phone service less expensive than a traditional landline phone?
Yes, VoIP business phone systems are less expensive than traditional landlines because they rely on your existing internet connection rather than a separate system or hardware. By simplifying the overall workflow, VoIP business phone service reduces internal IT and support burdens.
Call queuing, call transfer / automatic call forwarding, music on hold, extension dialing, conference bridge, and other advanced call features are typically charged extra by traditional landline phone providers.
With business VoIP, all of the advanced features are included in a flat monthly fee, and top providers like Nextiva can even save you up to 90% on internal calling costs.
Is it possible for me to switch from a landline phone to a business VoIP service?
Yes, your landline business phone system can be easily converted to an online business VoIP solution. When switching from a landline to a VoIP phone system, all of the top business phone system providers, such as Nextiva and RingCentral, make it simple to keep your existing business phone number.
Is it possible to use my cordless phone for business VoIP?
Most business VoIP providers allow you to use your existing cordless phones, softphones, and desk phones. All of the top providers on our list also have a mobile phone app that you can download to your personal phone.
You can use a VoIP adapter to keep your current business phone system if you’re currently using analog phones or have a PBX setup.
What are the drawbacks of VoIP phone systems for businesses?
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) business phone services allow you to make calls over the internet. The most significant disadvantage is that if you do not have a stable internet connection, the quality of your customer calls will suffer.
Additionally, if your business loses power, your internet router will most likely lose power as well. Calls may be dropped as a result of this. To avoid call quality issues, we always recommend using a battery backup with your internet router.
These drawbacks are easily overcomeable, and the benefits of VoIP business phone systems far outweigh any drawbacks.
Without the high costs of landline phones, you get all the advanced call features like call routing, music on hold, conference calls, auto-attendant, interactive voice response (IVR), call queuing, extension dialing, voicemail forwarding, and a lot of flexibility.
We hope that this guide helped you choose the best business phone service for your small business.
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