In today’s digital-first world, it can be extremely easy to treat things like your business voicemail as an afterthought. Your voicemail has the potential to communicate so much more effectively than its digital counterpart.
10.) Guten Tag. Sie sind verbunden mit der Mustermann GmbH. Aus technischen Gründen können wir im Moment Ihren Anruf leider nicht persönlich entgegennehmen. Wir hoffen sehr auf Ihr Verständnis und arbeiten mit Hochdruck an einer Lösung. Wenn Sie möchten, können Sie uns gerne eine Nachricht über unsere Homepage www.mustermann.de zukommen lassen. Vielen Dank und auf Wiederhören.
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Thank you for calling. You have reached (Your Name) at (Your Business). Please leave your name, number, and a brief message and I’ll return your call as soon as possible.
"This message is AMAZING! Exactly what we were looking for and we couldn’t be more impressed. Thank you very much! "
The main objective of a caller navigating an IVR system is to get to the desired destination as quickly as possible. If the script contains overly wordy phrases and long descriptions, the callers will get frustrated with every passing word.
e. Never Assume Anything: Phrases like “You Know What To Do,” “Sing Your Song at the Beep,” and others mentioned above are awful to leave in your greeting. For the sake of universality and comprehensiveness, NEVER assume the caller knows what to do. Lay it out clearly. f. Leave a Message: This phrase, by itself, will not do. It’s imperative for users to identify themselves in their greetings. Callers need to know they’ve reached the right person. g. Disregard Lethargy: If you’re not excited about your greeting, why would anyone else be? Never display a lack of enthusiasm in your greeting as it could turn callers off to both you and your business. h. Speak Clearly and Never Slur: Callers need to understand your every word; therefore, mumbling, slurring, and all other detractions of speech should never be recorded. d. Be Creative Without Sacrificing Quality: Callers know how voicemails work–i.e. leave a number, message, etc. While you want to be clear, it’s important not to be contrive or redundant with your message. Creativity can help users to differentiate themselves, as well as intrigue callers. While users should avoid the tropes of creativity listed above, it’s definitely good to think outside the box. That being said, scripting and practice can help users to experiment more with their greeting–ultimately allowing for more unique and creative approach. e. Speak With Diction: It’s important to present one’s self as an authority without alienating callers. As such, it’s crucial to articulate and speak with clear diction. “ if your voice recording has you stumbling over words and speaking haltingly, it does not convey confidence and competence,” states Ron Sellers of Grey Matter Research & Consulting. Remember, this greeting represents you; therefore, you want to appear collected and professional, as well as welcoming. To do this, one must carry themselves well through their recorded message. f. Account for Timeliness: Your message should be concise. No caller wants to be sitting through a rant/diatribe of redundant statements. Your greeting should flow without dragging. Inversely, one doesn’t want to be terse, either. Engage callers with a simplified approach laden with creativity. h. Account for Quality: Aside from speaking clearly, users want to eliminate any noise in the surrounding environment. The quality of the greeting is just as important as what’s being said in the greeting itself. As such, one doesn’t want to undermine a great message with poor quality. i. Courtesy, Tastefulness, & Tact: This is pretty self-explanatory and straight forward–NEVER be rude. Being light-hearted and humorous is very different from being obnoxious and/or abrasive. Again, these tools can be helpful if utilized properly, but not everyone perceives humor the same way. So play it safe. The last thing your voicemail greeting should do is offend a caller. k. Provide Options: if you’re part of a bigger company, it might be good to offer caller options. For example, allow a menu to defer callers to a colleague or co-worker in your absence. This can help show callers you care about their well being. Another option might be offering different modes of communication–i.e. email, fax, etc. In offering users diversity, contact may be much easier to maintain.
“Good morning. You’ve reached the voicemail of [your name]. Today is [date]. Please leave me a message with your name and contact information. Oh, and here’s my motivational quote of the day: [read quote].”
Keep it simple, concise and to the point. Callers won’t need your life story, and won’t want to wait around for a 2-minute greeting to end just so they can leave a message. Don’t hide the details, tell them where you will be, when you will be there, or when you won’t be there, and how to get in touch.
5.) Gentile Cliente, il nostro ufficio sarà chiuso dal 24 Dicembre fino al 2 Gennaio. Potete contattarci come sempre da Lunedì 5 Gennaio. Auguriamo a voi e alla vostra famiglia un felice Natale e un Buon Anno Nuovo di successo.
4.) Bienvenue chez M. John Doe. M. Doe n’est pas à son bureau. Laissez un message pour que M. Doe puisse vous rappeler dès que possible. Merci beaucoup pour votre appel.
3.) C’est un service payant. Si vous restez sur la ligne que vous serez connecté à un technicien, sinon merci de raccrocher.
7.) Добро пожаловать в адвокатскую контору «Вася Пупкин и Ко». К сожалению, мы в настоящее время не можем ответить на ваш звонок лично, так как вы пытаетесь с нами связаться во время нашего ежегодного отпуска. Вы можете отправить нам письмо по электронной почте [email protected] – мы свяжемся с вами как можно скорее после отпуска. В неотложных случаях, пожалуйста, свяжитесь с нашим представителем в офисе. Информацию можно найти на нашем сайте www.lawoffice-johndoe.de. Большое спасибо за ваш звонок – до свидания.
Our previous post on funny voicemail greetings got so much attention, we thought we'd continue…
4.) Herzlich willkommen bei Mustermann. Haben Sie Fragen zu einer Bestellung, dann drücken Sie bitte die 1, für Änderungen an Ihrer Speisekarte oder Ihren Öffnungszeiten drücken Sie bitte die 2, bei Fragen zu einer Rechnung die 3, und für Informationen zu ihrem aktuellen Auftrag die 4.
2.) Benvenuti alla John Doe. Purtroppo ci state chiamando fuori dal nostro normale orario di lavoro. Ci potete contattare personalmente dal Lunedì al Venerdì dalle 8am alle 6pm e il Sabato dalle 9am alle 4pm. Si prega di lasciare un messaggio o di inviare una e-mail a: [email protected]. Vi contatteremo al più presto possibile – Grazie.
"Everyone is looking for instant gratification, and if you can't provide that...a lot of times they'll simply hang up," he says. "Companies are losing a lot of business opportunities because people are not leaving them messages. "
9.) Bienvenido/a a John Doe. Lo sentimos, en estos momentos no hay nadie en nuestras oficinas. Por favor, déjenos un mensaje con su nombre y número de teléfono tras escuchar la señal. Le devolveremos la llamada tan pronto como sea posible.