Voicemail Greetings Guide
At Aircall, as a phone software company we see from our customers that phone is widely used and appreciated by startups.
Voicemail greetings can be an incredible conversion technique for your business phone. However, they can be trickier than you’d think. Thus, we’ve compiled a guide to set up the right voicemail greetings to impress your customers and prospects.
Here are 4 reasons why you need a personalized voicemail greeting for your business phone:
1. Define the greetings experience you want
Would you welcome customers or prospects in an empty office, with no logo and no one to answer questions or to guide visitors to the right person? I guess not.
Just like you personalize your visitor’s experience in your brick-and-mortar office, you want to own your caller’s experience.
2. Make your caller feel welcomed on the phone
Getting one’s phone and calling someone, let alone a company, isn’t trivial. Your caller must have a very good reason to reach out to you. The least you can do is make them feel welcome and attended to.
After all, we all know the rule: it only takes 7 seconds for someone to make an opinion on you. You don’t want to waste those 7 seconds by discouraging your caller with a generic and impersonal voice message.
3. Match your voicemail greeting with your company’s image and set the tone
Your voicemail greeting is the first impression your caller will get of your company. You want to set the tone and convey the proper image — your own image.
Are you more of a serious or fun type? Do you want to convey an image of dynamism and excitement or do you want to look measured and reassure your customers?
Next, you want to pick a voice. Choosing a male or female voice can be a tricky question. Beyond gender clichés, you really want to choose a voice that reflects your industry and brand.
4. Don’t lose a customer or prospect over your voicemail
Let’s talk goals for a second. When a caller hits your voicemail greetings, what’s the next step you want to lead him or her to? For your general greetings with an Interactive Voice Response or announcing a wait, you probably want your caller to stay on hold until someone is available to answer. Otherwise, you most certainly want your caller to leave a message for you to call them back.
With this in mind, your voicemail greeting is all you have to engage with your callers and encourage them to wait or leave a message. Who knows who’s calling? You might be missing out on your next big client.
Now that you’re convinced, keep on reading to learn how to create the best voicemail greetings for your company.
Here’s how to set up your business voicemail greetings right:
Keep your voicemail greeting short and simple
Your caller’s attention span is quite small and the timeframe he or she can dedicate to you very limited. Don’t waste their time, make sure you keep your message short and simple. 20 to 25 seconds are more than enough to say all you need to say in a voicemail greeting.
Make sure your voicemail greetings are clear and nice to hear
Choose a voice that reflects your company’s culture, and make him or her speak distinctly. He or she needs to be both welcoming and firm. Also, don’t forget to smile while recording the message, it will come out more authentic.
Give all the elements your caller needs
State your company name and tagline
State your opening hours
Explain why you cannot take their call right now
Invite them to leave a message, and ask for their identity and phone number
Commit to an expected time to get called back — and do return all phone calls
Give your caller alternative options: website, FAQ, email, …
Don’t forget to thank them
Bonus: use some humour
Here’s our secret sauce to recording an attractive voicemail: try to inject a little humanity and humour to differentiate yourself and make your voicemail greetings memorable. But don’t go too far with humour: you don’t want to leave your caller puzzled or discouraged.
Business voicemail greetings: a few samples:
We listed a few simple samples especially designed to help your business. Click here to read more…
With Aircall, if you don’t want to record your own voice, write down your message and we will vocalize it for you.
Are your ready to set up your own professional business greetings?
