When we founded Abby Connect in 2005, we set out to create a phone answering service that helped business owners with their basic call answering needs. Today, we have become a highly-revered industry leader in customer service and elite reception all in thanks to our amazing staff and customer feedback. You’ve been talking, we’ve been listening — and we have some exciting announcements to share! All the updates and changes below will be reflected on our website and Portal by Sept. 1, 2018.
You Asked, We Built It — Yes, There’s Now an Abby Connect App
We are pleased to announce that Abby Connect has launched a mobile application for managing your account and call handling on the go. Now you can easily access the most used and improved features of the Abby Connect Portal from your Apple or Android device. You can view your new Dashboard and Account Summary, check your real-time messages and call logs, update your contacts or alerts, and change other settings. Rather than make you wait longer to try our app while we continue to add features to it, we’re inviting customers to use its Beta version and provide feedback along the way. Please contact your account manager for download and installation details!
Extended Answering Coverage – Now INCLUDED
Being able to provide the best around the clock coverage for your business is one of Abby’s highest priorities, so we’ve invested in increasing the amount of coverage included in our service plans. We are excited to expand our extended hours answering and include this optional coverage in our standard rates at no additional charge. That’s right — our extended hours are expanding and are also now FREE. Abby’s new hours include Monday – Friday from 5am to 9pm PST, and Saturday – Sunday 6am to 6pm PST. To take advantage of this increased coverage, simply inform your account manager you’d like to make this change. Clients who’ve been paying for the Extended Hours Add-On will have that cost removed from their bills for their October billing cycle moving forward.
Two-Way Texting With Your Receptionist Team
Emails can pile up, but text messages are immediate. If you need us, you can respond directly to the text message alerts we send you. This will serve the same purpose as emailing abby@abbyconnect.com or your account manager. This feature is active — to get started all you have to do is text us back!
Outbound Calling Using Caller ID
When we’re making calls on your behalf, we can now program your number as the outbound caller ID so that your customer can recognize your number, or call back if necessary. As of September 1, we will be automatically implementing this for all outbound calling.
Sub-Account Minute Usage
For users with multiple sub-accounts with pooled minutes, you can now see your minute usage broken down by sub-account on your Call Volume tab of your Portal.
Updated Portal with Account Dashboard
We solicited feedback on the Abby Portal and made significant updates to improve your experience, including:
NEW Dashboard Summary: To make it easy to see the most relevant information quickly and in one place, we’ve added a Dashboard to the Abby Portal which includes major announcements, your most recent daily update, messages, call logs, invoice amount and due date, along with an easy to read minute usage graph outlining your call volume for the current month and past 2 months.
NEW Message Tab: Instead of viewing messages by contacts in your Account Portal, there’s a brand new Messages Tab which allows you to see all your account’s messages at once.
NEW Additional Portal Users: You can now add additional Portal/App users to your account, along with providing different levels of access for each one. Contact your account manager to set up new logins and access permissions.
Custom Transfer Tunes
Now your callers may enjoy a selection of custom transfer tunes while we connect them to your office. To inquire about adding transfer tunes to your account, contact your account manager who will provide you with upbeat and pleasant options to choose from, or provide instructions on how to add any song of your choice!
Changes to Pricing Structure
Abby Connect takes pride in being a leader in the virtual receptionist industry and we sincerely appreciate all the loyalty and support you’ve given us as we’ve worked along side each other as partners to grow our businesses and reach our goals. In the last year alone, we have expanded our service offerings to include many more features (such as free call recordings!), made monthly product updates based on customer feedback, opened a second office location, implemented technical fail-safes to circumvent outages, and invested in the elite training and the genuine employee happiness that you hear delivered on each and every call.
Since the start, Abby has always put everything back into our business. Starting with our free-two week trial, we earned your business, and then we earned your loyalty and respect. We continue to pay it forward by introducing new technology, features and training methods to keep delivering the most robust service that you can rely on. To continue to evolve and grow these services while increasing the value we bring your company, we must take meaningful steps to expand our investments by raising prices.
Going into effect for your October billing cycle (invoice dates after Oct. 1) our new pricing will be:
- 100 minute package at $279 ($2.79/min overage)
- 200 minute package at $499 ($2.49/min overage)
- 500 minute package at $1,089 ($2.18/min overage)
- Sub-accounts that share minutes: $85/month
Please note that this new pricing allows you to INCLUDE extended hours in your coverage (previously, $45/month)
We want to make sure you are taking full advantage of all our features and are on the best plan for your business needs. If you have any questions about the wealth of new features described above, new hours or pricing — please reach out to us anytime!
We appreciate your continued support, and look forward to continuing to grow with you and your company in the years to come!
From,
Your Abby Connect Team
