Auto Attendant Greetings DIY or Hire a Pro? Which Is Best?
Businesses invest a lot into looking good, everything from reception areas to waiting rooms, office furnishings, building signage, etc. Yet, few businesses give much consideration to how they sound! However, numerous studies show that just like it’s important to look professional, it’s equally important to sound professional!
In fact, a New Voice Media survey indicates that nearly 70% of respondents still prefer the telephone as their preferred method of communication with a business. So, even with all the advancements in technology and new ways for customers to communicate with businesses, you may be surprised to learn that the granddaddy of the contact methods is still the number one preferred method of contacting a business. Yup, the telephone!
With customers showing a strong preference for contacting you by phone, how important are your telephone greetings? Very! Can you afford to potentially lose these buyers from a poor customer experience?
Here are some staggering numbers based on a resource report by the research and evaluation company Software Advice.
– 70% of consumers say the telephone is still their preferred method of contacting a business.
– 92% of customers will base their opinion of a company on the quality of the recorded voice greeting experience.
– 63% of consumers surveyed say they’ll take their business elsewhere after a frustrating experience with an auto attendant.
Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of a DIY approach vs Professional Recordings?
DIY Approach:
Pros:
It’s cheaper. This is the only pro to taking a DIY approach to your auto attendant greetings. (But, cheap isn’t always necessarily a good thing!)
Cons:
While it’s true that the DIY approach to recording your phone systems’ auto attendant greetings may be cheaper than hiring a pro, but do you really want the first impression of your brand to sound cheap? What you may save in an initial investment, may be costing you more in lost business due to poor customer experiences!
Let’s say you’re lucky enough to have a staff member with what you think has a decent sounding voice record your phone menu prompts. What happens if that employee leaves and you need to change some of the recordings? This is sure to leave you with brand inconsistency in an era when most business are seeking ways to unify how their brand looks and sounds.
Voice artists are professionals, and when businesses opt for the DIY approach, one of the many problems that occur is that an amateur speaks too quickly or too slowly. Additionally, background noise, microphone feedback, breathing sounds, and more can seriously diminish the quality of a recording, your brand impression and customer experience.
Hiring a Professional:
Pros:
This one is pretty simple. Do you self-diagnose an illness, or do you seek the advice of a professional, a specialist who is properly trained and educated. There’s much more that goes into a voice recording than you think, and using a professional with a pleasant, velvety voice will give callers a great first impression and make you sound more credible, which can give a business a leg up on the competition
Regardless of the size of your business, you can sound like a Fortune 500 company. Far surpassing the traditional automated message, your professional, upscale phone greeting will portray a big business image, or the right voice can give your big business a more personalized touch instead of disconnect with callers.
As noted above in the DIY section, one of the pitfalls is amateurs often create recordings that are too long. A professional knows how to create an easy-to-use menu that will direct customers promptly to the department they desire, thus providing a better overall customer experience.
Cons:
It requires a minimal investment, which costs money.
Worth The Investment?
Are you convinced that professional auto attendant recordings are worth the investment? If not, consider this–JD Powers & Associates reports that 73% of the total call experience in the U.S. alone is handled by automated attendants or IVRs–not a live person. Even if you have the slickest, hippest, cleverest advertising in the world, it can fall flat when the boring, ordinary recording at company headquarters or call center doesn’t match the brand image.
Consider this, one of the best known brands (and largest companies) is Apple, and they certainly know a thing or two about brand image and the customer experience. They also know how important right brand sound is, and that an attractive-sounding, resonant voice would make their device even more prestigious and important to use–and that those positive feelings would be transferred to their brand. They held auditions around the world in order to get the voice flavor, tone, elocution and energy – just right!
Customers today are picky, right? They expect a quality experience in person and on the phone. Many small business owners don’t realize that their auto attendant recordings and voicemail greetings play a large role in impressing customers. Enhance the image of your company and dramatically improve the customer experience for incoming callers by using professionally recorded voice prompts.
