When asked what aggravates them most about modern phone communication, the majority of people will say that it is voicemail. Pressed for details, they explain that it is the automated answering process that companies use to screen and direct calls that bugs them, not the basic messaging-taking function.
According to Gordon Matthews, the inventor of voicemail, he never anticipated that his automated message system would be used to confuse and frustrate business callers. He didn't foresee how many ways businesses could devise to misuse his system. "There's not anybody who really cares about using voice messaging the way I envisioned it," he says.
Advantages and drawbacks of voicemail
Companies are spending large sums of money to antagonise their customers and it only seems to get worse. When a person needs help with a problem and can't reach another human being, the situation deteriorates rapidly.
Using the numbers on your touch-tone pad is fine when you want to verify your bank balance, pay a bill or have a dry newspaper delivered. But when your pipes are backing up, your new computer just crashed, or a tree just fell on your brand-new car, call processing may not be the answer.
There are advantages to an automated system:
- It saves money in salaries and benefits.
- It prevents old-fashioned phone tag by allowing people to leave detailed messages in their own voice with clear and correct information.
- Voicemail crosses all time zones, so people can leave and retrieve messages at their convenience.
The disadvantages are:
- People can hide behind voicemail.
- Often the prompts are confusing.
- Working through the menu can be more time-consuming than speaking to a "live" person.
- Some people just don't like talking to machines.
Six tips for customer-friendly voicemail
If your company uses an automated system to process calls, make sure it provides the best customer service by following these suggestions:
- Keep your greeting short and sweet. (No one cares that your menu options have changed. They only want to know what options they have now.)
- List your menu options according to popular usage.
- Tell callers how to reach another human early in the process.
- Think twice before using voicemail for customer service issues.
- Survey your customers from time to time to see how they feel about your voicemail system.
- Try calling your own system occasionally, to find out first-hand what your customers are experiencing.
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