Answer Correctly by Time of Day: Store Hours and Closed-Hours Calls with Voka

Why Store Hours and After-Hours Handling Matter

For small and medium businesses, phone calls are a critical source of leads and bookings. But your business isn’t open 24/7. When calls come in outside your store hours, many SMBs lose those opportunities. Callers who ring after you close still want a clear, helpful answer.

Simply sending after-hours calls to voicemail isn’t enough. Callers often hang up, frustrated, and move on to competitors who answer promptly—even if it’s automated.

How Voka Handles Store Hours and After-Hours Calls

• Store Hours: Enter each location’s weekly hours once. The assistant answers “are you open right now?” against that location’s own timezone, and hours changes flow to the live assistant automatically.
• Correct Responses Around the Clock: The same assistant answers whether you are open or closed. There is no separate after-hours mode to configure: it answers questions, transfers to a person if you’ve set that up, and books if a booking system is connected.
• When You’re Closed: Instead of voicemail, the assistant books straight into Square, Acuity, Calendly or Google Calendar if one is connected (a paid add-on), or takes a callback request if not.

Before Voka

• Calls after hours go to voicemail or ring unanswered.
• Potential customers hang up or call competitors.
• Lost revenue and wasted marketing spend on unreachable leads.

After Voka

• Callers get the right answer based on your store hours.
• After-hours callers can book into your connected calendar or leave a callback request.
• Fewer callers left with nothing but a voicemail greeting.

Who Benefits?

Every SMB with fluctuating business hours or after-hours call volume benefits. Retailers, salons, professional services, and more can:

• Give callers an accurate “are we open?” answer at any hour.
• Book after-hours callers into a connected calendar instead of sending them to voicemail.
• Free staff from answering calls outside business hours.

Setting It Up in Voka

1. Log into your Voka dashboard.
2. Enter each location’s open and close times by day.
3. Connect your calendar (Square, Acuity, Calendly, or Google Calendar) so the assistant can book rather than take callback requests.
4. Test by calling during and after your store hours to confirm correct responses.

ROI and Impact

Consider a hypothetical example: if your business receives 100 calls per week and 20 of them come in after hours, those 20 calls currently go to voicemail. Say half of those callers hang up without leaving a message: that’s 10 potential customers a week you never hear from.

If the assistant answers those calls instead, each one gets a real answer and, with a calendar connected, a chance to book. How many convert depends on your business; your call log and monthly call report will show you what actually happened.

Trade-Offs to Consider

• Setup Time: Initial configuration requires setting accurate store hours and integrating calendars.
• Automation Limits: Complex after-hours queries may still require live follow-up, and there is no holiday or special-hours scheduling.
• Pricing: Plans are month-to-month; most businesses start on Flex ($89/mo, 300 minutes) or Value ($149/mo, 600 minutes). Booking integrations are a paid add-on.

Voka’s store hours aren’t just about answering calls—they’re about giving every caller the right answer, open or closed, and a way to book instead of a voicemail beep.

Ready to stop losing after-hours leads? Get started with Voka today.