Auto Attendant Recordings Are An Overlooked Touch Point!

Have you ever called a business, and hung up because the automated attendant system recordings were poor quality, too confusing or intricate? Better yet, have you ever called your own business to see exactly what the caller experience is like?

We’ve all heard the saying first impressions are everything. Well in business, that couldn’t be a more accurate statement. And, we’ve also often heard “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Again, in business, a very accurate statement!

In order to present a consistent image for your brand, you need professional auto attendant recordings. With this is mind, we pose the following question. What impression do callers get from your auto attendant recordings?

Why You Should Care About What Your Brand Sounds Like?

Just like it’s important to look professional, it’s equally important to sound professional! As an audio branding and marketing company we hear and make auto attendant recordings everyday so we know that having an awesome auto attendant can do a lot for your business. Customers or prospects are more likely to stay on the line when directions are easy and direct to follow. This in turn leads to happy and future customers.

However, a company’s auto attendant recordings are often an overlooked customer touch point, thus most businesses are doing callers a disservice and missing out on an easy customer satisfaction win.

As stated above, this is often the first impression someone has of your brand, so don’t make your first impression- your last! When a phone greeting’s quality is poor or the sounds like someone is reading off a piece of paper (and stumbling over words too!), and nothing is uniform, your customer won’t feel comfortable doing business with your company!

How Can You Create Awesome Auto Attendant Recordings?

Auto Attendants are more common than ever and becoming a staple in various industries. However, many people still complain. 92% of customers will base their opinion of a company on the quality of the recorded voice greeting experience!

So how do you create an awesome auto attendant? Here’s what we have found to be the best practices when optimizing your auto attendant.

1.If you use an amateur, it’s likely you’ll sound like an amateur!

Select a professional voice talent from our roster that reflects your brand. While using an amateur, or just an employee with a nice voice from within the organization may sound like a good way to save money, it can cause complications. If that employee quits and you have changes, now you’ll be using different voices at different times keeps you from having a consistent tone and may actually confuse callers.

2.The top pain points of auto attendants are long introductions and too many options.

Many business want to create an endless laundry list of options, departments, and extensions, but the top pain point of auto attendant systems among callers are longer than necessary greetings, and too many options. So, the best approach is to keep is short and sweet. How? Chart out call flow, which allows you to design and organize your auto attendant greetings based on what callers most frequently call about, need or those departments or personnel that have the greatest call volumes.

3. Times and schedules

Did you know that most auto attendants allow you to use time schedules? This means you can have different recordings for business hours, after hours and holidays. Take advantage of this functionality, and let your callers know upfront if they’re calling when your business is closed, when your regular business hours are and what times you can be reached. Save your customer frustration from having to wait to find out that you’re actually closed.

4.Explain shortcuts

Many auto attendants have the capability and are actually already configured with an operator line. This means that if a caller presses a number (usually 0) they’ll be connected to someone in your company (typically a receptionist or secretary) that acts as an “operator.” However, unless you mention this in your recording, the caller will have no idea this option is available to them. So drop a line in there saying something like, “Press 0 at anytime to speak with an operator.”

This also applies to a feature called “Dial By Name” that allows for callers to simply say the name or extension of their intended caller at any time. But, once again, if the auto attendant recording doesn’t mention this, the caller has no way of knowing it exists.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to the caller experience, even Fortune 500 companies have a difficult time implementing effective automation solutions that are simple and concise. According to the research, the caller experience will become an increasingly important component of customer satisfaction programs, leading to increased usage of more caller-friendly technologies to connect callers. Companies recognizing the importance of a great experience via their #1 customer communications channel will see customer satisfaction gains against the competition.

While a company’s auto attendant recordings after often a blind spot — don’t miss a powerful  opportunity to make a positive impression on your callers and raise customer satisfaction.