Gist vs. Ruby Virtual Receptionist Services

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Gist
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Gist is a unified marketing, sales, and support platform. It includes live chat, a help desk, knowledge base, email marketing, marketing automation, opt-in forms, and more.
$29
per month
Ruby
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Ruby, or Ruby Receptionists headquartered in Portland, boasts supporting more than 10,000 businesses with live virtual receptionists and 24/7 available chat services. Users set their preferences to have Ruby answer the phone part-time, full-time, or after hours, and Ruby deploys personalized company greetings to custom call handling instructions.
$129
monthly
Pricing
GistRuby Virtual Receptionist Services
Editions & Modules
Professional
$29.00
per month
Premium
$99.00
per month
Chat Ruby 10
$129
monthly
Chat Ruby 30
$299
monthly
Call Ruby 100
$319
monthly
Chat Ruby 50
$469
monthly
Call Ruby 200
$599
monthly
Call Ruby 350
$999
monthly
Call Ruby 500
$1,399
monthly
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
GistRuby
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsBundled Chat Ruby 10 Your Call Ruby Plan + Up to 10 Chats for $99 Bundled Chat Ruby 30 Your Call Ruby Plan + Up to 30 Chats for $249 Bundled Chat Ruby 50 Your Call Ruby Plan + Up to 50 Chats for $399
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
GistRuby Virtual Receptionist Services
Features
GistRuby Virtual Receptionist Services
Chat Analytics and Reports
Comparison of Chat Analytics and Reports features of Product A and Product B
Gist
8.9
Ratings
3% above category average
Ruby Virtual Receptionist Services
-
Ratings
Chat history and transcripts8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Chat reporting8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Chat and web analytics8.90 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
GistRuby Virtual Receptionist Services
Small Businesses
Olark
Olark
Score 10.0 out of 10
Smith.ai
Smith.ai
Score 9.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Genesys DX (discontinued)
Genesys DX (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Enterprises
Genesys DX (discontinued)
Genesys DX (discontinued)
Score 10.0 out of 10

No answers on this topic

All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
GistRuby Virtual Receptionist Services
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
6.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
GistRuby Virtual Receptionist Services
Likelihood to Recommend
Gist is perfect for SaaS I'd say, and perfect for long sales cycles with lots of lead nurturing involved, and for scenarios where you re-market via FB ads, because there's FB custom audience integration built into the workflows. Perfect for customer service and support. Really outstanding there. It's a little less suited to ecom but they're hammering out the finishing touches to make ecom cart recovery easier.
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Ruby Virtual Receptionist Services is well suited for a business that needs call screening and message-taking services. The service is expensive but if the user is willing to put a lot of time and effort into planning and scriptwriting, as well as call handling instructions, it may work well. Also, if there is not much information that must be captured by the receptionist, I feel this may be a better fit.
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Pros
  • Gist provides endless ways of interacting with customers. I can chat and email with them, track their usage on my site, qualify them, add tags and other profile information, and so much more.
  • There is even an awesome live view that lets me spy on visitors to see how they're using the site.
  • The tools are powerful, easy to use, and constantly getting improvements. It seems like every week there is another update being rolled out that substantially extends the functionality or usability of the features in Gist.
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  • Call-out request "personal assistant services."
  • Ruby Receptionist app.
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Cons
  • Free plan limits are too low.
  • Chatbots should work not only for Gist's native online chat, but also for the other chat-based channels such as Facebook. (instead of having to use another software for that purpose)
  • Pricing structure - Support bot should not be an add-on but a core feature.
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  • Clarity in billing.
  • Shortened hold times.
  • Less transfer time from call to receptionist (between English and Spanish).
  • Better training of receptionists to prevent certain things from being said to clients - decreases client confidence.
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Likelihood to Renew
Gist is a quite reliable service with a lot of added values. We don't need to pay for different Saas for these important features. If I had an issue the team was super responsive and helpful, that is essential for every business. The email delivery is great, so virtually no email has landed into spam folder
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No answers on this topic
Usability
Gist does pretty much anything you want it to when it comes to managing your contacts. Sometimes I wish it updated faster, but wait a few beats and it gets there. I really love that I can show a colleague how to use the chat messenger and they understand it right away. Very user friendly!
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
I have communicated with their team multiple times and every time they have been very responsive, knowledgeable, and polite. They work to make sure you are happy and informed of what is going on. Better their team keeps up to date with their app, giving you new features, and keeping you notified and educated about what they are and how to use them. A+
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
They both seem to have parity with each other with each having their own small advantages. I went with Gist because it was more affordable. Infusionsoft customer for almost 5 years and it seemed I was always working more on getting it to work instead of getting work done. Gist is so intuitive I had it setting up and running the basics in a few hours.
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We switched over from Answer First to Ruby Receptionist because we wanted a more full-service answering service. We wanted to be able to call out using our business number as well as text in and out. We also really liked the "call-out request" feature as it freed up our time and allowed Ruby to handle minor client communications, etc.
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Return on Investment
  • Our ROI has increased significantly because of Gist's chat and app integration into our website. Contact forms are great but a real-time conversation means you can be more effective in meeting your customer's needs.
  • The additional features in the recent upgrade mean we can use Gist for more. They have always been effective for email campaigns, but the addition of the knowledge base and more effective workflows means we can automate more. This has saved us from buying more software.
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  • Increased efficiency.
  • NEGATIVE ROI.
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ScreenShots

Gist Screenshots

Screenshot of Live ChatScreenshot of Email MarketingScreenshot of Marketing Automation WorkflowsScreenshot of Knowledge BaseScreenshot of Meetings