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Our top tips for creating an amazing and effective voicemail
Spending time creating a really great voicemail greeting might seem like a waste of your time, but it really can help you stand out from the crowd and set how potential customers view you and your business.
So what makes a great voice message? And what do you need to include? To help you out, we’ve pulled together our top tips for creating the ideal voicemail greeting with a couple of examples to get you started:
Keep it short - The best voicemail greetings are between 4 and 8 seconds. This may not sound like a lot of time but you want to keep it brief and ask your customer to leave you a message.
Identify yourself and your business - This confirms that your customer has reached the right person. It will also reduce the number of wasted calls, hang-ups, that your small business receives.
Be professional - Avoid using humour or being too casual in your greeting. While it's important to create a message that's polite, telling jokes in your greeting may create the wrong impression.
Smile while you’re talking - It might sound a little strange , but your customers will be able to hear the smile in your voice, which creates a really positive impression.
Record it in a quiet place - Make sure there are no background noises in your message – like tv, radio, or traffic.
Set expectations - Let your callers know when they can expect a call back from you. Will it be two hours? Within 24 hours? Or do you return all calls between three and four pm? Whatever the case, say so on your voicemail and then follow through with your call-backs at the expected time.
Update your message regularly - more people are likely to listen to your message in its entirety if they haven’t heard it (a lot) before. Anytime you are going on holiday update your voicemail to reflect this.
A final tip..
You can make your voicemail a little more interesting by adding in a random fact about the business, or perhaps a special sales promotion available that week.
Provided it isn’t too long, adding in these bits of information can create a bigger impact and therefore, be more memorable to your customers. It shows customer’s that you pay attention to the details and that you care, which are qualities that encourage people to do business with you.
Example 1
Hi, this is [name] at [company]. I’m sorry I couldn’t take your call at this time. Please leave your name, number and reason for calling and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Example 2
Hi, you've reached [name] at [company]. I can’t get to the phone right now, but leave your name and number and your reason for calling, you can also send me an email at [your email]. I will return your call or reply to your msg after [time] Thank you, and have a nice day.