“Voicemail is a highly available, affordable, easy-to-use tool that can be leveraged in many ways to help businesses manage their communication needs,” says Holly Hinze, director of Commercial Products for Spectrum Business. “Business owners may not always be available to answer live calls, which makes voicemail still a necessary function,” says Hinze.
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.
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That’s why he suggests having a live person available to answer the phone. “Less than 1 percent of the people will hang up on a live person,” he says. Contact Login Solutions Pricing Demo Request Demo Free trial Resources Why ActiveCampaign ActiveCampaign 101 Learn ActiveCampaign ActiveCampaign Blog Developer Resources Pre-Built Automation Recipes Customer Stories Platform Featured Integrations See our 850+ integrations Pricing Login Contact Request demo Try it free Please enter a valid email address to continue. Stop letting voicemail kill your leads and customer engagement
What’s more annoying than being unprepared? Doing business with someone who is. In other words, don’t wing it — practice your script, speaking slowly and annunciating each word.
Speak clearly. Don't mumble; speak too fast or too slow. You want people to understand your greeting. The way you communicate with people through your greeting is an example of how you communicate with people in the real world.
The best solution would be to forward your voicemail messages to an email address. This gives you a way to download the recordings and forward them along to friends. We offer a voicemail to email service that is available with all our numbers.
According to Gartner Research, more than two-thirds of companies compete for business today primarily based on customer experience – up from only one-third back in 2010. Knowing this, it should not surprise you that customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that are not.
For those with voicemail greetings that get changed about as often as a new president is elected, know that this is doing a serious disservice to the caller-recipient relationship. It signals to callers that the business is anything but an authority, most likely not very detail oriented, and has questionable overall credibility and competency. Those aren’t traits that any business wants to associate itself.
Don’t include the date unless it’s completely necessary. 16 of the messages I heard last month had the wrong date—one of the messages had a date over 2 months old!
A word of warning: These greetings will not do you any favors if you're in the midst of a job hunt or work in a conservative industry. Always remember your target personas. If there's a chance they won't appreciate your sense of humor, opt for a straightforward greeting instead.
38. You’ve reached [your name] at [your company]. I’m sorry, but I’m temporarily unavailable. Please leave your name and number, and I’ll return your call as soon as possible.
There are plenty of options for business voicemail messages, including professional greetings, casual messages, and even funny ones. Consider your brand voice and target audience to choose the tone. And include directions for those who call.
12. “Hello, you’ve reached the Customer Support department at [company name]. We are unable to take your call at the moment. We know your time is valuable so instead of placing you on hold, let us call you back! Please leave your name, phone number, the reason for your call, and two different times that are convenient for you to receive a call back from us. Thank you!” Get a better idea of your caller’s schedule by asking them for a few different times you can call back. Their time is important, too!
Instead of leading with tired old lines like 'Your call is important to us', brush up on your telephone etiquette and start your voicemail with a thank you.
17. “Hi, you’ve reached [your name, the office of X company]. We’re closed until [date]. Please leave your name and phone number and someone will return your call ASAP. Have a great [New Year’s, Fourth of July, day].”
If your caller has left you a detailed message with their query, it enables you to get straight down to business when you reply.
With customers ranging from single person entrepreneurs up to enterprises with thousands of employees, we're confident that, no matter your size, we can help you get more from your phone service. Start by comparing all VoIP Business Phone Plans or get a free demo by filling out this form. Of course, if you want to talk right now, we're standing by for that, too!