A professional voicemail greeting is a vital component of your communication strategy. It can increase engagement with your clients, create rapport and leave a good first impression when you're currently not available to pick up the phone.
Just like the importance of conducting yourself professionally in person and over email, you want to make sure that if an employer is trying to contact you, that they receive a professional greeting, even if you aren’t able to answer the phone right away.
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You can customize each greeting for each phone number within your OpenPhone account. In addition, you can change it as often as you need.
• You have reached (name of company). Thank you for calling us. If you have the extension number of the person you want to contact, dial it now. Press 1 for (name of department). Press 2 for (the HR). Press 3 for the telephone directory of the company, or press 0 for the operator.
“Hello, you’ve reached [X company]. We can’t take your call right now, but please leave your name, contact information, and reason for reaching out, and one of our team members will be in touch within 24 hours.” “Hi, you’ve reached [company]. Unfortunately, we’re currently unavailable. But we want to talk to you — so please leave your name and number, as well as your reason for calling, and someone will call back ASAP.” “Hi, you’ve reached [company]. We’re available by phone from [hour] to [hour] [time zone] Monday through Friday [optional: and from hour to hour on the weekends]. You can also contact us by going to our website, [URL], and live-chatting or emailing us. If you’d like us to call you back, please leave your name and number after the beep.” “Hello, you’ve reached [company]. If you’re looking for information on [X], please check out our [Facebook page, company website, etc.] If you want to know more about [Y], take a look at [Z page on our site, our YouTube channel, etc.] Still have more questions, or just want to hear our lovely voices? Leave your name and number, and we’ll return your call straight away.”
Some say that voicemail greetings are dying, but some people still want the human connection on the phone, here are a few ideas for making it interesting.
Turn your phone off for 10 seconds and then back on. Place a test call to 611. Do one of the following: If the test call is successful, press and hold 1 to dial into the voicemail system. If your test call fails, confirm you have wireless coverage. If Visual Voicemail won't download, press and hold 1 to check your messages.
1. Select the fixed key with the envelope graphic, or dial the phone’s phone number.
Check out the following samples: One voicemail was recorded while the individual was smiling, the other was recorded when the speaker held a neutral facial expression. Can you hear the difference? Version 1: I am smiling during this recording. Can you tell?Version 2: I have a neutral expression during this recording. Makes a pretty big difference right?6. Keep it short
“Hi! You have reached [your business]. All of our staff are currently busy helping other callers. We understand how valuable your time is, and rather than keeping you on hold, we will make sure to call you back.Be sure to leave us a detailed message with your name and number. We will return your call within two business hours. Thanks!”
Hi, you’ve reached the home of [name]. If you are calling to collect a student loan, gambling debt, or other obligation, please press 1 and hang up now. If you are selling any product or service, or requesting charitable donations, please press 2 and hang up now. Otherwise, press 3 and leave your message now. Pressing 3 is optional.
If, on the other hand, your clients work with a number of team members, you might consider hiring a voiceover professional to record your greeting. While a recording with a voice actor is an extra expense, the result often outweighs the cost.
Voicemails that simply say, “call me” are irritating at best. If the recipient of your messages tends to fall into the trap listed in the previous point, tell him or her, “When you return my call, please leave a message on my voicemail to let me know the status of the project if I’m not able to pick up the phone.”
check words for the English /oʊ/ vowel. Many non-native speakers make this more like a single vowel and it’s a double vowel so it should have /o/ and /ʊ/ smoothly joined together. Check it in the word ‘phone’ . Another double vowel to look out for in your Voicemail Greeting example is the diphthong vowel /eɪ/. This vowel is in words like ‘wait’ and ‘able’. Many people use the word ‘can’t’ in their Voicemail greeting example. This can be a trap for non-native English speakers. That’s why we chose ‘unable’ instead! Watch out for the word ‘can’t’! In American English and British English the vowel in ‘can’t’ is pronounced with the vowel /æ/ like in ‘pat’ – /kænt/.
Does your organization have a witty catchphrase or slogan? If so, use that to your advantage. Here is one that could be tailored towards a custom software company:
Press 6 to enable or disable “announcement only” mode (e.g., your vacation greeting). Press 9 to exit voicemail. To configure your voicemail's other settings, click here. For a downloadable Quick Reference Guide to the voicemail phone menu, click here.
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