In this quick guide, we’ll take a look at what makes a good business voicemail greeting, breaking it down into the elements that every voicemail greeting should contain.
If you’re actively looking for a telecommuting gig, or you’re a small business owner looking to project a polished, professional image, do yourself a favor and call the number you’re giving out and listen to your voicemail greeting or, heaven forbid, see how your phone is answered by whatever family member happens to pick up the ringing phone. Are you impressed, or embarrassed? Was it useful, or was it a colossal waste of your time? Could you understand every word clearly, or did it sound like you were in a tent in the middle of a monsoon? Is the information you provided recent, or was it dreadfully out of date? Did it sound like someone you want to work with or hire? Or not?
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The voicemail message can be anywhere between 10- 25 seconds. Keep it as short as you can because the prospects need to hear the vital details in it.
What kind of company do you run? A law firm may prefer more formal business voicemail greetings than a trendy retail store, for example.
Even in today's fast-paced world, customers don't like being greeted with an automated message. According to the New York Times, callers of a certain age are put off entirely if they are answered by a voicemail instead of a real person.
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.
On occasion the option to send a call straight to voicemail is not available. If it is determined that the recipient does have a voicemail box but the Voice Mail option does not appear as in the screenshot above, this is likely because the recipient is a Skype for Business on Mac user.
Put some thought into your message before you hit “record.” It takes very little time to write a script for yourself to read as you record your greeting. Reading off a script eliminates unnecessary pauses, “ums” and “ahs.”
35. Hello, we’re wishing you all a happy [X holiday]. Our office is currently closed so our employees can celebrate with their loved ones. Please leave your name, number, and reason for calling and a member of our team will return your call when we reopen on [X date].
Well there you have it...all the steps you need to create a professional voicemail greeting. But if you don't want to do it yourself, you can leave the work to the professionals at Snap Recordings! Best of all, you can get a professionally recorded voicemail greeting starting at just $50! Get started now! Topics: Phone Greetings, Professional Voice Recordings, Voicemail Messages
@umbra21 - It's not jokes that annoys me so much as someone who leaves a message ten minutes long, particularly when you have to wait out the whole thing before you can leave your voicemail.
12. "Hi, you've reached [company]. We're available by phone from [hour] to [hour] [time zone] Monday through Friday [optional: and from hour to hour on the weekends]. You can also contact us by going to our website, [URL], and live-chatting or emailing us. If you'd like us to call you back, please leave your name and number after the tone."
While they are listening to your voice, they are internally deciding whether or not it is worth their time to continue or hang up. Look at your voicemail message as its own short advertisement.
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7. “Hi, this is [your name]. I’m either on a call or away from my desk. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message and I’ll get back to you. Thank you.”
We expect to reopen on Friday at 8:30 AM. If you would like to leave a voicemail, please press 1 or send us an email at [email protected] After-hours greetings can improve your customer service. There is no one, perfect after-hours voicemail greeting template for every business. It all depends on your company.