A VoIP voicemail service is one of the prominent, expected features businesses will find when they compare phone systems. Their comparisons will also lead them to a number of ways in which voicemail is tied to other mainstay phone system features.
When your phone service provider is not up to par, it costs you. These bad experience statistics put the cost into perspective. A person spends an average of 9.5 minutes attempting to reach a human when trapped in an automated phone system. Globally, the average value of a lost customer is $243. 71% of consumers have ended their relationship with a company due to poor customer service. $83 billion is the cost of poor customer service in the US. Turnover for customer service employees is 27% annually. More than two-thirds of customers have hung up on a business phone system in frustration of not being able to reach a live person.

Another advantage to virtual phone numbers is they are transferrable in the event the business changes location. The number can also remain with the business if the owner later decides to change services or phone devices.
You may think this is boring, but it’s what works. Leave the sales talk and the promotion for when you call them back. Leaving a greeting is all well and good, but if it has no context you’re going to struggle to stop the person from giving up on you. Make sure people know that they’ve reached the right place. Hello, this is the office of X, the Y department. Please leave your name, reason for calling, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. By mentioning the specific department or office they’ve reached, you’re reminding them that they’ve reached the right place, and this is not some generic support department they’ve been redirected to. We talk to lots of different people every day. Make sure you remind people of who you are, and why you’re the best person to handle their call (and more importantly their valuable time). Hello, my name is X, the Senior Manager of Y, I’m sorry I’m unavailable right now, but if you leave your number I’ll return your call as soon as I can. Not only have you revealed who you are, but you’ve also given them the reassurance that their call is important to you. It leaves the right impression. The order of your words can seriously impact how your greeting is received. Research shows that we remember the first and last items on a list best, so the statements that matter most are those at the beginning and those at the end. Hello, you have reached X. I’m out of the office at the moment. Provide me with your contact details and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Do you see how important the order of the words is? The name comes first and the call to action is last. Most people will put all this important information in the middle of their greeting. It may not seem like a big difference, but it really matters. It can be tempting to try to fit as much information into a voicemail greeting as possible. Don’t do that. Sometimes less is more. Try to incorporate some strategic pauses into your greeting, so you can let everything sink in. Hello, this is X from Y. [Pause] I am not available to take your call right now. [Pause] If you are calling about Z, then please leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as you can.