A Short Guide on Creating an Ideal Business Voicemail Greeting

An advanced voice mail system is one of the best business productivity boosters money can buy. Not only does it help streamline all communications with your customers, but it also offers functionality that enhances the cost efficiency of operations across various departments and improves the overall performance of your company. Investing in the right voicemail system will let you stay in touch with your existing customers 24/7 and prevent new leads from rejecting your business if they tried and failed to reach you outside of work hours.

For a voicemail system to serve the above purposes at the top of its abilities, it has to have the perfect greeting that will appeal to your callers and persuade them to leave a message you can work with. Below are a few ideas about how to create one.

What should you not Say on Your Voicemail?

Alongside the many great things you can say in your business voicemail greeting, there are a few that should be avoided at all costs. Using the wrong phrases can ward off your callers in seconds and make you appear incompetent, insecure, and dull. These are some major no-no’s to keep in mind:

1.  Do not lead with “Your call is important to us.” This commonplace opening phrase contains no real value to the caller.
2. Do not omit the identifying details. Callers need to be sure they have reached the correct number before sharing any information with the voicemail.
3. Do not take it for granted that your callers will want to leave a message. Apologize for not being able to answer the call in person and politely ask for a chance to call them back.
4. Do not leave your customers in the dark about when to expect a callback from you, and if you promise to get back to them, make sure you deliver on that promise.
5. Do not limit your callers’ voicemail experience to just one option. Let your customers know about other company employees who can help them in your absence.
6. Do not bore your callers with too much information. Keep it short, simple, and polite.

A professional voicemail greeting should not address a particular category of callers but rather speak the universal language of business communications. It should follow the etiquette accepted across your industry and only be creative to the point where it does not sound inappropriate or too personal.

What to Say on Your Voicemail

Now that we know what things are best left OUT of your voicemail greeting, it is time to focus on what should be included IN your voicemail greeting. Feel free to use the following tips when designing an engaging and professional voicemail greeting:

Keep your voicemail greeting short but informative.

Keeping your voicemail message as short and precise as possible is the best way to show your callers that you value their time and comfort. Provide enough information to encourage your callers to stay in touch but do not make it into a 5-minute long pitch about your business.

Create customized voicemail greetings for different times of day and different seasons.

Recording tailored messages for different times of day, seasons, and holidays helps connect to your callers on a more personal level. It also allows you to provide them with more relevant and time-sensitive information in a manner that will not appear salesy.

Enable your callers to obtain the information they need by themselves.

If your callers reach you only to inquire about your business hours or location, you can save them and yourself a lot of time by providing quick and easy access to the voicemail menu, which they can self-navigate to retrieve the necessary information.

Invite feedback from your callers.

One of the options offered by your voicemail can be to record a short voice testimonial. This feature can help you significantly enhance the customer experience. Let your callers know what you are planning to do with this information, and make sure to thank them for any feedback they are willing to share.

Sprinkle a little humor into your voicemail messages.

Humor is a great communication facilitator and can help you make your voicemail greetings more appealing, but only if it is tasteful and in the spirit of your brand’s purpose. You can use it subtly for less formal messages where a dash of creativity is expected and leave it out entirely when recording strictly formal greetings.

Inform callers of the current or upcoming promotions and sales.

A short and friendly voicemail greeting can be an effective tool that will help you provide your customers with essential and exciting information about any special deals, promotions, or limited-time offers available to them. Tell your callers about the offering in general and explain how they can learn more if they’re interested.

Urge your callers to provide more details in their voicemail messages.

Prompt your callers to be more specific in their voicemail messages. The more detail they provide, the better you can prepare to help them on your callback call, and the less time it will take you to get the matter resolved.

What Tools to Use to Record a Business Voicemail Greeting

The best way to take full advantage of the unique opportunities that come with a professional voicemail system is to invest in a modern virtual PBX. These virtual telephony solutions help your company function more effectively by making it possible to record, update, and upload customized voicemail greetings swiftly and with minimum effort.