Voice Announcements

The voice messages and phone announcements that your clients hear when calling your business play an important role in developing a rapport with your customer and addressing their needs as efficiently as possible.

Custom designed for your audience, your on hold soundtrack should include carefully selected music that subtlety projects the audio image of your company alongside the on hold script for the clearly articulated voice messages and announcements made by your phone announcer. Combined, both music and voice should convey the desired character of your business.

Finding the best on hold voice over for your company’s image

First of all, start thinking about your brand. What you do and what do you do better than others? At the same time you need to think about your customers and what feelings you want your brand to evoke in them. Whether consciously recognized or otherwise, we know that factors such as the talent of the voice artist and whether it is a male or female voice are all strongly associated with cultural nuances that are triggered when the voice phone announcements are heard.

You have probably noticed that car advertisements are typically narrated by male voices, while household products will feature a woman’s voice. Whether you like the stereotypes or not, the voice that most closely matches the consumer, is most readily internalized by that audience.

Secondly, consider your callers and the general desire to hear a sound that is pleasing to the ear. For developing IVR and auto attendant announcements, experience shows that most companies select a female voice over male. Why? Most marketing managers will justify their decision as that is the voice that most clearly matches their receptionist or it is easier to listen to the voice prompts when narrated by a woman or simply they just like the sound of the female voice talent the most.

Targeting your language demographic

You may also want to consider having the phone announcer available in different languages. This is vital if your business serves more than one language demographic. In the aim to reach every available client and enhance their customer service experience, you need to determine at least three of those primary languages and have the respective phone announcement available.

The voice your callers want to hear

For voice messages on hold most would agree that whether you choose a male or female voice is simply a matter of personal preference. The focus, however, needs to be on using the voice that your callers want to hear and enjoy listening to, thereby making your advertising on hold that much more effective. That means while a legal firm may choose a strong voice that exudes confidence and capability, a kindergarten may choose a softer voice that conveys nurture and kindness, while pet shops have been known to incorporate  animal voices and sounds as their phone announcers – because, well, pet owners are their audience.  

Finding the right voice that best represents your brand and speaks poignantly to your callers can be tricky, but when effectively achieved it can be that magic ingredient that makes your on hold script stand out. To find the right on hold voice over for your IVR system, messages on hold and voicemail we recommend that you sample our selection and get a good feel for what you think would work best for your company.