11. “Hello! You’ve reached [company name] support line. We’ll be happy to help with your inquiry. In the meantime, have you checked out our [website, help forum, etc.]? It may have the answer you’re looking for. If not, leave your name, number and reason for your call. We’ll reach out to you within the day. Thanks for calling [company name].” Sometimes, a caller likes to find the answer to their own questions. Let them discover by directing them to your website or help forum if you have one.
Your voicemail recording should include several key elements to communicate with your customers. The most important parts of your greeting are: Announcement and identification (“Hello! You’ve reached [your name] with [your business’s name]”) A brief apology (“I’m sorry, but we are unable to take your call as we are [closed, assisting guests, away from the desk, etc.]”) Invitation to leave a message Information you want from them (“Please leave your name, number, and reason for calling”) Promise of a callback and timeframe (“You’ll hear from us within 24 hours!”) How to Sound Your Best

For example, a message like, “Hi, this is Jim. You know what to do.” Well, not everyone is going to know what to do—i.e. they won’t leave you inclusive information. Additionally, they may not leave you a message at all. Aside from this, humor can again be detrimental to your message, this time lending itself to ambiguity and costing you clarity. For example, if a message read, “Hi this is Jim, sorry I can’t answer your call right now. Please leave your name and number and I’ll call you as soon as I can, but you already knew that right? Do I need to tell you what to do?” This is worse than the previous example as this is confusing and can also come across as rude and unprofessional. Complicating a greeting with phrasing like this is sure to cause some harm. e. Ignoring Personality & Identity: Don’t use computer generated greetings. Some users leave default messages (‘you’ve reached the voicemail box of 777-777-777, please leave a message). Believe it or not, even this can cause problems. Callers may be unsure if the voicemail box belongs to you; therefore, they don’t leave a message. Also, some may even be uncomfortable leaving information through a message in a nameless voice message box. As such, impersonalization can cause ambiguity, which again can hurt the effectiveness of your voice message system. This doesn’t mean you have to make an elaborate greeting if you don’t want to, just insert your voice and name so at least callers know they’re calling the right person.
I am not a voice talent, and I hate the sound of my own voice. Every time I lose my cell phone (daily), I call it from another line to help myself find it. And every time I do this, I wish my voicemail message sounded…different. I’m always reminded that I should sit down and rerecord it, so it makes a more professional first impression.