A customer’s first impression of your company matters—but what if you don’t have the luxury of being there? The reality is that for many people, your company’s greeting recordings will be the first real interaction they will have with you and your business.
Is it setting the right tone?
Your customer service representatives won’t always be available. Your automated attendant, call queue, and virtual voicemail will need to stand in for them at times, hopefully providing enough personalized service to start newly engaged customers off on the right foot.
In this article, we’re taking a look into some best practices and things to avoid concerning recorded greetings so you can nail it the first time. We’ll also share more about how B-Lynk can support your greeting recording needs with expert advice, recording, and upload assistance.
The Duality of Greeting Recordings
Auto attendants and other scripted greetings are necessary for this day and age, but they still have drawbacks if not done right. Between auto attendants turning into a frustrating roadblock for callers and bad routing and scripting, call abandonment can become a real problem before you even get the opportunity to help.
The global abandonment rate for call centers is between 5 and 8%. The majority of this abandonment happens while callers are still in the midst of your interactive voice response program or stuck in a caller queue.
If your call center greeting recordings are done well, however, it can help callers navigate their way to the right department, create shorter wait times, and result in more satisfied customers.
It’s important to think of all the various greeting recordings you use—auto attendant, call queues, and virtual voicemail—and ensure they’re all providing the same level of direct, attentive, and helpful service.
Before Recording: What to Consider
Before you start recording, there are a few things you should keep in mind regarding what separates a good greeting recording from a bad one.
Do:
- Start with a true greeting. Be friendly, warm, and welcoming to the caller on the other line, but keep it professional.
- Keep it short. Somewhere between one to three sentences will work great.
- Propose alternatives. Some caller questions and concerns are best served through self-service options, so offer alternatives such as an online knowledge base of support content or email support.
- Rank your options. When giving a caller routing options, prioritize the most commonly selected options as the top choices.
- If you change things, let them know. Callers who routinely call in can get frustrated by new changes they’re not aware of.
- Always offer a live agent option. There’s nothing more frustrating to a caller than not being able to speak to a real person when it’s needed. If possible, reserve the zero key for the function of speaking to a live agent.
Don’t:
- Trim things unnaturally. Leave natural space and time between chunks of information. Rolling routing options right into business hours with no natural transition feels clunky and awkward.
- Offer too many choices. Don’t overwhelm your callers with endless options. Analysis paralysis is real.
- Hide the fact of the zero key. If it’s available as an option to speak with a representative, let them know.
- Hang up. Auto attendants that disconnect callers are a major mistake. Keep callers on the line until their issue is resolved.
Greeting Recording Tips
Now it’s time to record your call queue, auto-attendant, and virtual voicemail greetings. As you record, apply these best practices as best you can:
- Use a warm welcome, then cut to the chase. After starting with a professional, friendly greeting, include the most important information as soon as you can. This could include hours of operation, what issues and concerns customer service agents can resolve, estimated wait times, and the most frequently used menu options.
- Present menu options logically. Offer the option first, followed by the number they should press. Here’s an example: “For support, press 1.” It’s easier for the callers to remember their options.
- Have lots of menu options? Create sub-menus to keep things organized rather than list them all out. Keep your list limited to six options when possible.
- Give them control right away. Let callers go back, dial a specific extension, or speak to a representative as quickly as possible. This will minimize unnecessary backup in the call queue and get them to the proper department faster.
- Be friendly, but not overly friendly. There’s no need to say “please” before every menu option or squeeze in a tagline or slogan to fill up space. The caller’s goal is to get to the point and solve the problem at hand.
Nail Your Greeting Recording With B-Lynk
Recording a winning greeting recording can feel daunting at first, but the experts at B-Lynk are here to help you nail it the first time.
Want to handle the process on your own, but need guidance to do it right? Our UC experts are happy to offer their advice as you troubleshoot challenges and strategize.
Prefer to let someone else handle it? We understand how important this first impression can be, and we’ve recorded hundreds of greetings for companies just like yours over the past decade. Let us handle the recording for you using your own preferred script.
Need technical support? Once you have the perfect greeting, we can save it in the appropriate file format and ensure a smooth upload.
We’re proud to offer our greeting recording service with an average turnaround within five days. We can also create Spanish and French recordings if needed.
Give your UC customers the virtual voicemail, auto attendant, or call queue experience they’re looking for with professional, streamlined greeting recordings created by the professionals at B-Lynk. For more details, contact us today.