This Is Why Your Customers No Longer Prefer Voicemail

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Voicemail was once a groundbreaking technology that changed the course of business and personal communication. However, in today’s modern world, customers no longer prefer voicemail as their chosen method when getting in contact with a business. Where customers once needed to pick up the phone and call, they now have far more options. 

A call center provides companies with all kinds of outsourced services that can boost productivity, including call answering and voicemail. However, the best call centers also offer so much more. Voicemail is one of the least efficient means of communication between a business and its customers. Read on to find out why your customers prefer more modern solutions. 

Your Customers Prefer Instant Results

Today’s customers want quick responses that voicemails cannot provide. When a customer calls a business, and their call goes unanswered, many customers are inclined to hang up without leaving a voicemail at all. This is because confidence in voicemail communication is dropping steadily. 

Customers do not know when their voicemail is going to be heard. Many companies listen to voicemails at the end of the business day, meaning the customer’s voicemail may go unheard for several hours. There is very little urgency when it comes to returning a customer’s voicemail. 

This is not the fault of the business, but it is simply the way voicemail is designed. When phone calls were the only means of communication, there was no issue with waiting for a callback. However, today’s customers want instant communication and results. Each individual customer wants to feel as though their issue is as important to the company they are calling as it is to them. 

Voicemails Create Inefficient Backlogs

Voicemails can go unheard for unknown periods of time. While most companies want to return calls as soon as possible, many unforeseen circumstances can often get in the way. 

If an employee is out of the office unexpectedly, their personal voicemail might go unchecked. If an office experiences an unusually high call volume, voicemails might pile up more quickly than staff can return them. 

At a call center, highly trained agents are available to answer the phone calls coming in, even when there is a high call volume. In turn, there are fewer instances of calls rolling over to voicemail.

Your Customers Want to Speak to a Real Person

Another issue with voicemail is that important information can get lost in translation. When a customer calls and speaks to a real person, like an experienced call center agent, the agent can ask all the right questions to gather pertinent information at the front end of the call. This information can include: 

  • The caller’s name
  • The caller’s phone number
  • The caller’s exact reason for calling

In a voicemail, a caller might forget to leave their name or phone number. They might leave an unclear message that confuses the listener. Without speaking to a real person about a specific issue, even more problems can arise, resulting in reduced customer satisfaction. 

Additionally, the inability to speak to a real person on a customer service call can lead to the dreaded “phone tag” where customers and employees call each other back and forth without actually reaching one another. Certain generations actually dislike talking on the phone at all. So, after enough failed contact attempts, a millennial customer might simply give up and move on with an unsatisfied impression. 

Your Customers Have Many Better Options

With so many contact options for customers to get in touch with businesses to resolve issues and inquiries, customers no longer have to rely on options they do not prefer. Today, customers have multiple methods of contact:

  • Phone
  • Email
  • Social media
  • Live chat
  • SMS text message

With an omnichannel approach, businesses can fulfill their customers’ needs in new ways that appeal to a wider range of audiences. Consider opting for a call center that can handle all of these contact channels seamlessly instead of bogging down your productivity with inefficient and unpopular voicemail.

About Endicott Call Centers

Endicott Call Centers is a national call center company with omni-channel services. We are fully equipped to help you with your business and with any particular circumstances. We draw on decades of experience to help you make the right decisions for your business.

Endicott offers full-service virtual receptionists and a wide variety of other services to help you run your business more efficiently. With Endicott, you have access to:

  • Highly-trained, professional Agents & Receptionists
  • Customized scripts
  • Live agents 24 hours a day
  • 100% US-based locations
  • English & Spanish Speaking Agents
  • HIPAA-compliant For Medical Support
  • 24/7 Solutions for Dentists, Legal offices, eCommerce, and many other industries.
  • Full access to call management and tracking tools that enable you to regularly monitor and evaluate our performance and help you manage your business effectively

Please request a quote or call 800-947-3227 to learn more about our solutions for creating exceptional customer service experiences for your clients. We’re happy to offer our insight into what your customers and employees seek from your company.