Some providers will work an inbox alongside the phone. It works well for the same reason phone scripting works: where the incoming messages fall into a small number of shapes with known answers. It works badly where every message is different, and an inbox is far more likely than a phone line to be full of messages that are all different.
Sort the inbox before outsourcing it
Spend an hour categorising a week of messages. Most businesses find a handful of categories cover the majority: a status question, a price enquiry, a booking, an invoice query, and a long tail of everything else. Those first categories can be answered from templates by somebody who is not you. The long tail cannot, and it is what you should keep. Handing over the whole inbox without that sorting is how businesses end up reviewing every draft, which is slower than writing them.
Decide send or draft, and be honest about it
An operator can send replies directly or prepare drafts for you to approve. Drafting feels safer and removes most of the benefit, because reading and approving a draft is nearly as much work as writing it. The arrangement that saves time is direct sending on the categories you have templated, with everything else flagged to you untouched. That requires trusting the templates, which is why the sorting step matters.
Email carries more risk of saying too much
A written reply is forwarded, quoted and kept in a way a phone call is not, and it is attributed to your business in writing. Where the subject matter is regulated or sensitive, the drafting boundary needs to be tighter than the phone equivalent, and anything approaching advice should be on the flag-to-me list rather than the templated one. Review a sample of sent replies weekly for the first month rather than assuming the templates are holding.
How it is priced
Email handling is an add-on, generally priced per message or as a block of hours, and none of the nine providers in this record publishes a rate for it on its pricing page. Ask for it alongside the call rate, and ask what counts as a message: a thread with four exchanges prices very differently depending on whether the unit is the thread or each reply.
Questions people ask about email answering service
Can an answering service handle my inbox?
Some do, as an add-on. It works where incoming messages fall into a few shapes with known answers, and badly where every message is different, which is more common in an inbox than on a phone line.
Should replies be sent or drafted for approval?
Direct sending on categories you have templated, with everything else flagged untouched. Approving drafts is nearly as much work as writing them, so it removes most of the benefit.
Is email riskier than phone?
In one respect yes: a written reply is forwarded, quoted and kept, and attributed to your business in writing. Keep anything approaching advice on the flag-to-me list and review sent replies weekly at first.
How is email handling priced?
Per message or as a block of hours, and no provider in this record publishes a rate. Ask what counts as a message, since a four-exchange thread prices very differently by thread than by reply.