How to Leave a Voicemail for Your Customers
Do you want to sound clear and professional when you leave a voicemail for your customers? Voicemails are great for piquing prospects’ interest, and even more, generating conversions.
While 80% of all cold calls go to voicemail, about 60% of customers still prefer to be contacted via phone, according to RAIN Group’s survey. If your call redirects to voicemail, be prepared to drop a stellar voicemail. This article will provide you with practical strategies to get the job done!
For customer service reps, perfecting the art of leaving professional voicemails has never been more important.
Leaving the perfect voicemail can be daunting, but with the right effort and applying the tips and strategies we share below, you will be right on your way to leaving high-value voicemails that are sure to get you callbacks.
Tips on How To Leave A Voicemail
- Know Your Audience
It might seem obvious, but alarmingly, off-base voicemails are still common. It’s one reason why voicemail redirects are so high! No one wants to feel like another number in your CRM, which will be evident to the customer if you don’t do your research.
A brief check to get relevant information about your customer will make all the difference. Review the customer’s information in your database, their purchase history, and past inquiries and complaints.
The more you know about the customer, the better you can focus your messaging around specific solutions that they may need.
- Be Prepared to Leave a Voicemail
When you’re placing calls to customers, your efficiency will be determined by how you can guide them through the next step of their interaction with your brand. It would help if you practiced and practice to avoid leaving out crucial info or, worse yet, sounding clueless.
Imagine receiving a long, rambling voicemail from a customer service rep that is generic and offers no particular value to you. Chances are, you won’t be contacting that rep for any solution.
You don’t want to be that rep. While you shouldn’t memorize every detail of what you want to say, having personalized bullet points highlighting what you intend to talk about will help you stay on topic.
- Be Yourself
Although you should be prepared, avoid sounding scripted. Speak naturally as you would to a friend. Let your voicemail reflect your unique personality and your humanness. We deal with bots every day, so we tend to be turned off by people who seem programmed and inauthentic. A human touch in your voicemail is sure to stand out to your customer and make them believe they matter to your company.
- Go Straight To The Point
Customers are busy people who have received one too many “Hi, my name is Jane Doe, and I work with….” If you’re looking to start your voicemails with this intro, don’t. People have been conditioned over time to dismiss such calls as just another irrelevant message, and they will press the delete button.
You can command their attention if you start the conversation by mentioning their recent interaction with your company. Warm up your call by asking them a question that will trigger their memory and personalize your message to each customer.
E.g., start with, “Hi Judith! You recently purchased a set of baking pans from Pans’r’Us, and I want to know how you are enjoying them so far? By the way, this is Kylie with Pans’r’Us. If you have any complaints or comments, do let me know. You can call me on [phone].”
Your introduction should promise value and not make them feel that you care about building a relationship.
- Indicate Your Next Actions
If you intend to follow up your voicemail with an email or another call, clearly state it. If you’re following with a ring, make sure to call exactly when you say you will and not later. Disregarding time will make your customers assume that you have no respect for their schedules, and it will hurt their perception of your company.
Implementing these steps will make you more likely to receive a response from the customer and give them a positive customer service experience.
How to Leave a Voicemail: Best Practices
- Keep your voicemail short and sweet.
A good voicemail shouldn’t exceed 30 seconds. You can manage a great voicemail in about 20 seconds. It’s hard enough to get people to listen to voicemails that aren’t personal. Even when they press play, there is no guarantee that they won’t exit before getting to the end. Keeping your message to the point will help you deliver relevant information that adds value to your customer and gets your call returned.
- State your phone number twice
You have no assurance that customers will listen till the end of your voicemail, so stating your phone number at the beginning and end of the conversation is essential. Also, calling out your number twice makes it easier for customers to write it down accurately should they want to reach out to you.
- Find the perfect timing to leave a voicemail
No one wants to handle a voicemail on a busy Monday morning, and customers may forget to listen to your voicemail as they head out of the office on a Friday evening.
Experiment with days of the week and timeframes to find the periods when your voicemails receive more customer responses.
A common practice is leaving voicemails between 4-6 pm on weekdays, but some professionals have claimed success with early voicemails between 7 am – 9 am. Experiment and find what works best for you and your customers.
- Speak clearly when you leave a voicemail
Be mindful as you speak. Try hard not to rush through your message. There’s nothing as frustrating as having to repeat a voicemail several times to understand it. Enunciate your words and spell out your name, especially if you have a long one.
- Adjust your cadence
Keep your voice at a normal pitch. Remember I mentioned earlier that you should speak as though you’re conversing with your friend? You wouldn’t put on an artificial high-pitched voice for your friend, would you?
As the voicemail progresses, slow your roll. Take strategic pauses that’ll make your customer interested in the next thing you have to say.
- Use your prospect’s name
Humans naturally pay more attention when we hear our names. Address your customers by their names to keep them engaged through the conversation. It also shows that you intended the message for them.
- End with a solid call to action
At the end of your voicemail, your customer should know what to expect from you next or the next step they are to take. You can nudge them to call you back by teasing them with some new products you’ll tell them about the next time you speak. You can also state when next you’ll be calling or if you’ll send a follow-up email. Better yet, open up room for a more solid conversation by inviting them to schedule a meeting with you. You can suggest a specific day, e.g., “Jane, I’ll love to guide you through how you can maximize the premium features of our service that you recently purchased. We can schedule a call. How does Wednesday sound to you?” You can also open up the calendar and suggest a few times that you are available.
- Get rid of background noises.
Don’t send a voicemail around fans, TVs, radios, and traffic. They can and will affect the quality of your voicemail.
Don’t forget: Leaving a professional voicemail is only one touchpoint in your customer’s journey. Don’t use it as a medium for sales pitches. Instead, treat it as a means via which you can deliver excellent and continuing value to your customer.
Examples of Voicemail Scripts
- Standard voicemail script
“Hi, this is [Your Name] with [Company Name]. I’m calling because [insert reason for calling]. I’d love to talk to you about [value you can offer if they call back].
My number is [phone number]. I’ll also follow up with a call in 2 days. I look forward to hearing from you.
Have a great day. Goodbye!”
- Professional voicemail script
“Hi, Karen. This is Dave from [company]. On [insert date] you purchased our [product/service].
I wanted to see if you’ve been getting results on it so far. If there have been any hitches, I’d love to help. You can reach me at [phone number].
Again, it’s Dave at [company] – [phone number].”
To complement your scripting efforts, make sure you have a great voicemail greeting if your customer needs to leave a voicemail. As a customer service professional, chances are you are always busy. Having an engaging voicemail greeting will leave a good first impression on customers when you cannot take calls!
