5 December 2016

Out of office Voicemail greetings for the Holidays

Call CentreIf you aren’t using the services of a call centre this holiday season, or if you don’t have a virtual receptionist in place to field those holiday calls, you need to make sure your customers are greeted by a great message during the holidays. Here are some tips on creating great out of office voicemail greetings for the holidays.

Tell people how long you’ll be away

There’s nothing worse than reaching someone’s voicemail and not knowing when they’ll be back in the office to take your call. Let your customers know exactly when they can expect to reach you or hear back from you. If you plan on checking your voicemail while you’re away, tell them that, too. Just make sure that your message and dates are easy to understand so there’s no confusion. Just make sure you follow through with any promises to return their calls as soon as you can.

Offer an alternative contact

Will you be responding to emails while you’re away? Leave your email address, or, leave the name and phone number of someone who can help your customer instead of you.  That might be someone else in your office, or you could direct your customers to a call centre that can field basic customer service issues while you’re away. You may even want to consider redirecting your incoming calls to a call centre to avoid any frustration on your customers’ part. They’ll reach a live person instead of a robotic voicemail, and you’ll return to far less call back messages.

Get personal

Don’t be afraid to add a personal touch to your greeting. A brief, friendly holiday greeting is fine, but avoid trying to be funny or ironic–it might not translate well during the brief message. Instead, why not leave a general ‰Û÷thank you for your custom’ message to show how much you appreciate your callers? Just don’t get too wordy–customers don’t want to sit through a long message just to leave one of their own.

Contact Answer 365 for more information on how you can use a call centre to handle your holiday customer service needs.