247clerk answers your firm’s WhatsApp the second an enquiry lands — screening the matter, answering the fee and process questions, booking the consultation and taking the fee. You arrive to a diary of qualified consults, not a queue of tyre-kickers.
Takes a minute. Nothing to install.
Built for South African practices — POPIA operator agreement on request, consultation fees settled straight into your account.
Most practices have never put a number on a missed enquiry. Take thirty seconds and put one on yours.
Your numbers, your assumptions — we are not going to pretend we know your conversion rate. The point is not the exact figure. It is whether it is bigger than R1 195.
Every enquiry screened while chambers were dark, logged the way a clerk should log it.
While it talks, your clerk files. Every enquiry lands in your dashboard already sorted into matters worth opening and ones that aren't — with the full conversation attached.
"Spousal visa rejected under 8(4). Letter dated 6 August — can you appeal?"
"SARS raised an additional assessment on my 2023 return. R840k in dispute."
"Executor appointed, need help winding up the estate. Two properties."
Wanted free advice on a CCMA matter, declined a paid consultation.
Criminal defence matter — outside the firm's practice areas.
Opposing party already appears on an open file — flagged for conflict check.
A salon loses a R280 booking when nobody answers at 22:00. You lose an instruction. 247clerk is built for the second problem.
Screens the matter, confirms practice area and urgency, surfaces the parties for a conflict check, and books a paid first consultation instead of letting the enquiry go to the firm down the road.
How it works for this practice → One lost instruction > a year of 247clerkEnquiries arrive at all hours and across time zones, usually with a deadline already running. Your clerk establishes visa type, rejection dates and appeal windows in the client's own language, and flags anything urgent for the morning.
How it works for this practice → Deadlines caught, not discoveredHandles the endless "what does a return cost" and "SARS sent me a letter" traffic, establishes the amount in dispute and the assessment date, and books the consultation for anything genuinely worth your hour.
How it works for this practice → Filing season without the inboxAnswers transfer cost, bond and timeline questions instantly, confirms whether an offer has actually been signed, and routes live transfers to you while the tyre-kickers file themselves.
How it works for this practice → Every transfer starts with a questionProperty enquiries land at night and go cold by morning. Your clerk replies in seconds, confirms budget, finance status and timeline, books the viewing straight into your diary, and hands you buyers who are actually ready.
How it works for this practice → First to reply wins the mandateScreens for assets, mandate type and advice needs before a single minute of your time is spent, books the discovery meeting, and files everything else with the reason it wasn't a fit.
How it works for this practice → Qualified meetings onlyThe honest comparison. Voicemail is free — it is also why the enquiry went to the firm down the road.
| Capability | 247clerk | Voicemail & “we’ll call back” | Part-time receptionist | Call-answering service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost a month | From R495 | R0 | R8 000–R15 000 | R2 500–R6 000 |
| Replies inside a minute | Yes | No | Office hours only | Yes |
| On duty at 02:00, Sundays and month-end | Yes | No | No | At a premium |
| Answers fee, process and turnaround questions | Yes | No | The ones it knows | Takes a message |
| Screens the matter against your criteria | Yes | No | Roughly | No |
| Books straight into your diary | Yes | No | Yes | Rarely |
| Takes the consultation fee at booking | Yes | No | No | No |
| Full conversation saved to the file | Yes | No | No | A summary |
| Works on WhatsApp, where clients already message you | Yes | No | No | Phone only |
| Greets the client who walks into reception | No | No | Yes | No |
Receptionist and answering-service figures are typical South African ranges, not quotes — check them in your own city. And no, a clerk will never greet someone at your front desk. It was never meant to.
Simple monthly pricing, by enquiry — not by the message. Cancel whenever. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, up to 25 enquiries.
Pay annually and get two months free. The free trial runs 14 days or 25 enquiries, whichever comes first. One enquiry is one client conversation, however many messages it takes — up to 15 clerk replies. Enquiries from outside South Africa count as two. Your clerk never stops mid-conversation because you’ve hit a limit; set a monthly cap in your dashboard and we’ll tell you at 80%.
From 1 October 2026 Meta charges businesses for every WhatsApp reply. It’s included in your plan — no separate WhatsApp bill to reconcile.
Three steps, in order — because that's genuinely all there is.
Paste your website, fee schedule, or just type your standard answers. Your clerk learns your practice areas, consultation fees, turnaround times and tone — and you set the intake questions that separate a real instruction from a time-waster.
Link the business number your clients already message, or get a new one. Nothing to download on their side — they WhatsApp your firm exactly as they do today.
Connect Google Calendar or use ours, plus PayFast or Stripe. Your clerk offers only slots you're genuinely free, books the consultation, sends the fee link to confirm it, and handles reminders, document lists and reschedules on its own.
Answering these is literally our whole thing.
Intake, POPIA and the practical mechanics of after-hours cover — written for South African practices, not adapted from American ones.
Operator agreements under section 21, special personal information, retention, and where privilege actually sits.
Buying guideWhy voice-first international tools fit SA practices badly, and seven criteria that separate the options.
Practice managementHow to price a paid consultation, take the fee at booking, and cut the no-show rate.
Put your clerk on duty tonight and read the intake log in the morning. Free for 14 days.
Start free trialTell us a bit about your practice and we'll set your clerk up. Takes about a minute.
Open WhatsApp and describe a matter the way one of your clients would. Watch it get screened in real time on your own live dashboard.
Tell us about your practice and we'll connect your own WhatsApp number, tune the intake questions to the matters you actually take, and hand it over.