Tilly vs voicemail: what happens to the call
Voicemail records a message and waits for someone to listen to it. Tilly answers the call, books appointments in your PIMS, takes requests as tasks with every detail, and connects possible emergencies to a person straight away. 25–30% of calls to small and medium veterinary clinics go unanswered. (Source: Today's Veterinary Business.) Voicemail catches the ones who leave a message. Tilly helps the ones who wouldn't.
At a glance
| Tilly | Voicemail | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers when | 24/7, in the modes you choose | Records when no one answers |
| Speaks to callers as | Tilly, the AI assistant at your clinic | Your recorded greeting |
| Books into your PIMS | Yes, during the call | No; your team calls back to book |
| Refills and results | Complete, verified request as a task | Whatever the caller says in the message |
| Possible emergencies | Checked on every sentence; caller connected to a person or given your emergency partner's details by voice and text | Depends on the caller hearing and acting on your greeting |
| Medical advice | Never | None |
| Texts and WhatsApp | Yes | No |
| Capacity at peak times | 10 calls at once per location by default | Depends on your phone system; mailboxes can fill up |
| What you see afterwards | Summary, outcome and transcript in your dashboard within a minute | Audio messages to listen to and act on |
| Languages | Caller's language among those your clinic supports | Your greeting's language |
| Data location | In the US | Your phone provider's |
| Pricing model | Per location per month with included minutes | Usually included with your phone service |
The differences that matter
- Callers who won't leave a message. Many callers hang up at the beep and ring the next clinic. Tilly talks to them.
- Mornings start with tasks, not a mailbox. No one listens through twenty messages and writes them down. Each call is already a booking, a task or a summary.
- Emergencies don't wait in a mailbox. A worried owner who leaves a voicemail at 9 p.m. may not be heard until morning. Tilly gives them your emergency partner's details by voice and text straight away and alerts your on-call vet.
- Tilly never sends calls to voicemail either. If something goes wrong, the call rings through to your clinic's fallback number.
When voicemail may suit you better
- You get very few calls when you're closed or busy.
- You'd rather every caller waits for a person, whatever they need.
Using both
You can keep voicemail on your own lines; Tilly answers only the calls you route to it, such as overflow or after hours.
Questions to ask yourself
- How many messages are waiting each Monday morning?
- How many callers hang up without leaving one? (Your phone system's call log can show unanswered calls.)
- How long does it take to call everyone back?
- What does an after-hours caller with an emergency hear today?
Cost comparison
Voicemail is free, but missed bookings aren't. Put in your numbers.
Inbound calls on a typical weekday. Your phone provider's call log shows this.
Calls that ring out, hang up in the queue or go to voicemail. Many clinics don't know this number.
Source: Today's Veterinary Business: "Data from MissedCalls.help shows that 25–30% of calls to small and medium veterinary clinics go unanswered."
Adjust assumptions
Your estimateEstimate
Enter your calls per day to see your estimate.
Plan cost excludes overage and tax.
This is an estimate based on your inputs and our stated assumptions, not a promise of results. Real results depend on your call mix, your rules and your team.
How we calculate it
missed_calls_month = calls_per_day × days_open × missed_pct lost_bookings_month = missed_calls_month × booking_share × no_callback_share lost_revenue_month = lost_bookings_month × visit_value lost_revenue_year = lost_revenue_month × 12 recoverable_month = lost_revenue_month × capture_share plan_cost_month = plan price per location × locations payback_days = ceil(plan_cost_month ÷ (recoverable_month ÷ 30.4))
Example with 50 calls a day and the default assumptions:
275 · 66 · $12,210 / $146,520 · $8,547 · $349 · 2
Questions
Isn't voicemail good enough after hours?
It records messages. It can't book, can't tell callers what to do in an emergency beyond your greeting, and many callers won't leave a message at all.
Can Tilly take a message for a specific vet?
Yes. It becomes a task assigned to that vet, with the caller's details.
Can we still have voicemail for staff lines?
Yes. Tilly only answers the calls you route to it.
How do we see how many calls we miss today?
Run the one-week missed-call audit in our blog to count them. When you're ready for Tilly to answer them: Start free — setup is free and you don't add a card until you go live.