Make a positive impression right from the start of the call with your customer. The content of a phone greeting can't be left to chance and should contain exactly as much information as necessary.
It's not difficult! Below I've prepared, in a few points, how to put together the basic content of a caller's welcome message on your answering system. I also have an almost ready-made solution you might like - ready-to-use examples of phone greeting scripts that you just need to adapt to your needs.
Greet the caller
In a well-prepared phone greeting recorded by a professional voice-over artist, you should simply say hello. A simple "Good morning" or "Welcome!" will do. Depending on the type of business you run, you might consider a less formal welcome, for example if you run a toy shop.
It's also worth stating the company name at the start, even if the caller already knows the number and who they're calling. The company name can be beneficial from a marketing perspective - hearing the brand name helps callers remember it even better.
Examples:
- Welcome to Our Company.
- Good morning! This is Our Store - advertising slogan.
- Good morning. You've reached Company Name.
- Welcome to Company Name. Thank you for calling.
Example of a professional phone greeting recording:
Inform the caller about call recording*
If you record calls with customers to analyze and improve the quality of your service, remember that you must inform your callers of this.
Recording conversations without the caller's knowledge and explicit consent is against the law. This information is therefore essential.
Examples of call recording notices:
Ladies and gentlemen. Please be advised that, in order to maintain the quality of our services, calls with our consultants may be recorded. If you do not consent, please contact us in person at our office.
We kindly inform you that calls with our consultants are being recorded. If you do not consent to this, please contact us by email or visit one of our stores. Addresses can be found at www...
Indicate possible topics of conversation
Once the greeting and legal information are behind us, it's time to direct the caller to the department or person who can efficiently handle the topic they're calling about. Most often, this takes the form of a "tree" presenting the company's individual departments.
State the departments callers can connect to and the number assigned to each, followed by the transfer.
If your phone system allows it, you can ask the caller to hold and thank them for their patience.
Example of a greeting with a choice of conversation topic:
To learn about our current offer, press 1.
For billing information, press 2.
To file a complaint, press 3.
If you're calling about something else, please hold for one of our consultants.
Some phone systems let you pass caller data along during the call, such as the caller's number, so that when the call connects, the agent can already see the customer's profile.
If you are already our customer, press 1. (2-3 seconds of silence follow, waiting for the caller's response)
If the caller pressed 1 (i.e., they are already a customer), we present them with possible conversation topics:
Enter your customer number and press the hash key. After entering the customer number, we present the possible conversation topics:
Choose the topic of your call:
1 - Offers and promotions
2 - Technical support
3 - Complaints and returns
4 - Payments(If the caller did not select "1", after 2-3 seconds they will hear similar prompts, but no data will be passed to the consultant.)
Example of a professional phone greeting recording with a topic-selection menu:
Personal data processing (GDPR)*
Under the "General Data Protection Regulation" (GDPR), in force since 2018, callers should be informed about the entity that will process their personal data.
You should inform callers of this even without call recording.
You should also indicate where the company's Personal Data Processing Policy can be found.
Example GDPR notice:
Please be advised that the administrator of your data is Our Company, based in the City. Information on the scope and manner of processing your personal data can be found at the following website address...
Example of a professional voice recording about data processing:
*) Source: https://kruczek.pl/nagrywanie-rozmowy-telefonicznej-zgodne-z-prawem/ - Accessed: 1 Oct 2018
Outside business hours
To avoid frustrating your customers, during the hours when your office is closed, let them know and ask them to get in touch at another time.
Don't let it happen that a caller connects to your company, selects a topic, and then waits several minutes for a connection that will never come. This way you avoid disappointing customers and spare yourself negative reviews about the quality of your phone service.
Example of an after-hours phone greeting:
Good evening! Dear callers, our hotline is currently closed. Please contact us Monday to Friday between 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM, and Saturday between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
Example of a professional voice recording for an after-hours phone greeting: