Customize Your After-Hours Voicemail Message

Receiving calls after-hours is inevitable. Though you may not be available to answer customer calls, making the best impression possible is essential to retaining current customers and landing potential new leads. Smith.ai's virtual receptionist after hours answering service is dedicated to your success, even after business is done for the day, which is why we operate 24/7. But for those to whom you may want to offer an after-hours voicemail, you don't want them being met with a generic, impersonal greeting. You can provide Smith.ai with an audio file (ideally no longer than 30 seconds — people often hang up after that) and we will greet your callers with a custom voicemail message for free. You can either record your custom voicemail yourself or hire a professional – it's up to you. Here are a few tips to help you along:

Do it yourself

If you are going to record on your own, you have several options:

• Online: We recommend Online Voice Recorder, which allows you to record your greetings, trim the start and end points, and then, download them as MP3's.
• On iOS/iPhone, use the Voice Memos app.
• Android has many apps, but we recommend Simple Design’s Audio Recorder.
• On a Mac, you can use Quicktime’s “Record Audio” function.
• On a PC, you can use Windows’ Voice Recorder software.

If you are using something else to record, drop us a line, we will be sure to follow up. To make the best impressions on your customers, we have some tips for recording on your own. Take a look at these 5 Tips for Perfect Voicemail Greetings.

To sum that up, that’s:

• Format: MP3
• Optimal Length: Less than 30 seconds

Note: If your file is not an mp3, do not change the file extension to "mp3". This doesn't make it an mp3, it makes it a fake mp3 and will cause serious problems.

Hire a professional

Alternatively, you could save yourself some time and hire an affordable professional. Smith.ai recommends Fiverr’s Voiceover talent. Starting at just $5, you can purchase a customized voicemail greeting, ready in just a few days. Many of our current small businesses and entrepreneurs have messages provided by Fiverr’s talent — we think they provide top-notch service.

When it’s ready, follow the steps below to upload your voicemail greeting:

1. Login to your VR dashboard here: https://app.smith.ai/vr/
2. Click on the handset icon (Call Handling) and scroll to the bottom
3. In the Voicemail Greeting section, click “Update” to upload your personalized voicemail greeting recording
   Note: File must be an mp3, and less than 5MB

"General" covers all missed calls ever. The "After-hours" is an additional option that only plays after your set hours (if you decide against 24/7). If you don't upload a separate After-hours voicemail, it will default to General.

Tips

Not sure what to say, or is your existing greeting making people doze off? Here’s what we recommend:

“Hello. You've reached ______. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you, and have a great day.”

Smith.ai’s friendly virtual receptionists will gladly answer your calls during business hours. We pride ourselves on providing you and your clients with an experience that will keep current customers coming back, and convert those new leads to paying customers.