6 Common Voicemail Greeting Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

You have seven seconds to make a great impression and this begins with your voicemail greeting.

Voicemails are the customer’s first point of contact with your business, which means you want to create a clear, professional, and helpful introduction. Perhaps you’ve been struggling to produce a good voicemail greeting, but you’re not sure what’s missing.

Sounds like you? Don’t worry, you’ve come to the right place. Here are the six most common voicemail greeting mistakes.

1. Going Unscripted

A major mistake with professional voicemail greetings is if you don’t have a script.

Make sure you write out your greeting and edit it until you and your team are happy with it. You should rehearse the greeting several times until you sound confident. And don’t forget to mention who you are. Many businesses forget to clearly state who the business is as it reassures the caller that they’ve got the right number.

2. Loud Background Noise

Aside from a voicemail greeting script, businesses must also consider the sound quality. Find a quiet room where you can record and make sure no one disturbs you during the time. If not, your voicemail may pick up loud sounds which don’t look professional.

3. Not Speaking Clearly

Regardless of the types of greetings you use, it’s important to speak clearly. Unlike when you’re chatting with friends, you must slow down your sentences and enunciate words. If you’re finding it difficult to get into the zone, then practice deep breathing, try different tongue twisters, and repeat the greeting until it’s perfect.

4. Having a Long Greeting

Does your business often have long introductions? Then, start updating voicemail greetings so that it’s succinct.

You want to serve customers quickly which means you need to say who you are and the name of your business so you’ll receive messages from clients.

5. Not Smiling When You Speak

Sure, recording business voicemail greetings isn’t always fun, but you should sound like you’re having a blast. Although it sounds odd, smile when you record as it changes your voice’s intonation. As a result, you’ll sound positive which leaves a great first impression.

6. Being Like Everyone Else

You’ve likely heard hundreds of business voicemail greetings and you’ll notice they are similar. But don’t be afraid to experiment and add a dash of your personality. For instance, you could add a fun fact about your business or include a promotion, especially if it’s around the holidays.

When you make the greeting more memorable, then it increases the chances of a customer returning to you. You should also regularly update the greeting, especially if you’re going on vacation or anything major has changed.

Avoid These Common Voicemail Greeting Mistakes

Hopefully, after knowing the common voicemail greeting mistakes, you know which ones to avoid.

Make sure you create a script, create a memorable greeting, and reduce the amount of background noise. You should also smile when you speak and craft a succinct greeting so you don’t deter customers. Good luck!

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