1. Check the cost in four parts
- Initial fee: a one-time cost at setup. Check whether configuration and document preparation are charged separately.
- Monthly fee: the fixed monthly cost of running AI phone and chat reception. Check whether phone and chat are covered by one price, or whether the price changes with the number of conversations.
- Phone number and call charges: actual costs paid to the telephone carrier, separate from the AI fee. They depend on whether you forward your current number or set up a new one.
- Staff time for preparing and reviewing material: the time spent writing down what the AI may answer and fixing the material after reading conversation logs. It does not appear on an invoice.
2. Our published prices
Our AI phone and chat reception (direct setup) is priced as follows on our pricing page and service page. All amounts exclude tax.
- Initial fee: 0 JPY
- Monthly fee: 9,800 JPY before tax. The AI is loaded with your website content and FAQ as they are, and then published. Over a year this comes to 117,600 JPY before tax.
- When pre-training is needed: if there is a lot of material, or the AI must learn industry-specific wording and procedures, we ask about the volume and content and give an individual written quote before starting.
- Phone number and call charges: paid by you at actual cost.
- Minimum contract term: none. There is no cancellation fee or penalty.
The pricing page lists AI phone and chat reception at 0 JPY initial and 9,800 JPY monthly. Any cost not listed there is quoted in writing before work starts.
3. What to check when you get a quote
- Whether you can forward your current number. If a new number is needed, who pays its fees and call charges, and how much.
- Whether the AI answers only from your own material, and does not guess at questions the material does not cover.
- Whether there is a way to hand off unanswerable questions, quotation or contract requests and complaints to a person.
- Whether you can view conversation logs at any time, and decide before launch how long they are kept and which items (such as card numbers) are not recorded.
- The terms of cancellation: any minimum term or cancellation fee.
Our view Choosing only on the monthly price can leave you paying later for phone charges and for preparing material. We think a business should ask for three things in writing at the quote stage: how the phone number is handled, whether pre-training is needed, and the cancellation terms, in addition to the monthly fee. Without AI reception, calls outside business hours or while staff are busy wait for a callback the next day or later, and the caller may contact another company in the meantime. For a company that receives inquiries at night or on holidays, it is worth comparing the 9,800 JPY monthly fee with the orders lost to late callbacks. That comparison can be built from your own rough counts of calls and emails.
4. Treat the handling of conversation logs as part of the cost
Phone and chat conversations contain callers' names and contact details. On June 2, 2023, Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission published a notice on the use of generative AI services (Personal Information Protection Commission, in Japanese). In our reception service, conversation logs are stored in a place only the client can view, and the retention period and the items not recorded are decided before launch. Ask any other vendor you get a quote from about the same points.
This Q&A is part of the AI Adoption Guide for Small Businesses, under Phone and chat reception.
Questions this article answers
How much is AI phone reception per month?
Our AI phone and chat reception (direct setup) is 0 JPY to set up and 9,800 JPY a month before tax. The AI is loaded with your website content and FAQ as they are. If pre-training is needed, we give an individual written quote before starting. Phone number fees and call charges are at actual cost.
Is there a minimum term or cancellation fee for AI phone reception?
Our pricing page states that there is no minimum contract term and no cancellation fee or penalty. When comparing quotes from other vendors, also get the minimum term and any cancellation fee confirmed in writing.
Sources
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If you want to try this in your own business
To see how the topics in this article would apply to your own operations, and what it would cost, send us a message through the contact form.