Sean Cho
January 13, 2023
•
9
min read
Remember when Coca-Cola changed its classic formula in the 1980s? Loyal customers rebelled, hoarding the "old" Coke until the company reversed course. This same principle applies to your customer support phone system.
Customers crave familiarity and consistency when they call your phone number. Sudden or off-brand changes to your phone prompt recordings can confuse and frustrate them, damaging trust.
Yet, consistency doesn’t mean staying stagnant. With advanced AI and smart agents prompting tools, you can deliver the right relevant information in real time during every phone call, ensuring a seamless and efficient experience.
Join us to learn why your recorded messages matter, discover best practices, and explore the top 10 prompts that turn every caller’s experience into a great day.
What is the importance of voice prompts?
Voice prompts are more than recordings—they’re your first impression.
In today’s fast-paced world, customers contact you to solve problems quickly. Good prompts reduce frustration, guide callers clearly, and set your brand apart. A smooth call flow makes every interaction feel intentional—whether handled by artificial intelligence or a real human.
For example, banks place lost card prompts first because speed matters. Clear options help callers navigate high call volume without confusion. With an AI assistant, you can direct calls intelligently and ensure someone—or something—is ready to assist you today.
Your brand voice should remain consistent across every touchpoint. Whether a caller hears a familiar spokesperson or a professional AI, it signals a world-class experience.
Use prompts to:
● Confirm choices and show you’re listening
● Reduce hold times and improve satisfaction
● Connect personally even before an agent joins
For example:
● “Press 3 for delivery questions.”
● “We’ve received your overseas activation request.”
● “You’re being connected to the next available concierge.”
Implementing telephone voice prompts
"I don’t have a complex IVR system." — That’s okay. With a platform like CINNOX, you can launch professional phone prompts quickly, without high costs or technical skills.
No need to hire voice talent. Use advanced text-to-speech to type your message—it’s instantly converted into clear, consistent audio. Edit or update prompts anytime.
Essential phone prompts that improve every call:
● Greetings. A welcome message that greets callers.
● Waiting. Music or a message that plays while a caller is on hold
● Voicemail. A message to ask callers to leave a voice mail message.
● End. A thank you and goodbye message to the caller.
To learn more about voice prompts in CINNOX, visit our Online Help Centre.
Best practices for voice prompts
Simply adding voice prompts or an IVR system will not automatically improve the customer experience. Like tweaking a classic recipe, poor implementation or a flawed marketing strategy can backfire badly for your brand. Here are some best practices to follow so that you leave a good impression on customers with your recorded voice prompts.
1. Keep it brief and simple
The best voice prompts are no more than two sentences long. Any longer than that and you risk losing the caller's attention before they even get to what matters most: communicating information about your business. Time is truly money. Short voice prompts help customers get to where they think they want to be with a minimum of fuss and roadblocks.
Which would you rather hear whenever you call your regular bank?
❌ "Welcome to Generic Bank, winner of the Best Online Financial Institution Award for 5 years in a row. We know small and medium-sized businesses like yours and we appreciate your patronage. Please choose from the following options."
✔️ "Thank you for calling Generic Bank. Please choose from the following options."
2. Be consistent with branding
Use branding elements like tone and language style consistently throughout all communications channels, including recorded voice prompts. This will help reinforce brand awareness while also providing uniformity across channels, so customers know immediately when they are interacting with voice prompts, IVR and agents from your unique company.
For example, if your travel and hospitality brand refer to customers as "guests, " use it throughout your spoken and written communication. Jumping between "vacationer", "holiday maker", "patron" or "client" will look off-brand when you use it and will only confuse your real guests. Here are some examples of how to use terms consistently:
❌ Inconsistent
• "ABC Resorts welcomes vacationers like you."
• "The needs of holiday makers drive every interaction at ABC Resorts."
• "We strive to please our clients and keep them returning to ABC Resorts."
✔️ Better
• "ABC Resorts welcomes guests like you."
• "The needs of guests drive every interaction at ABC Resorts."
• "We strive to please our guests and keep them returning to ABC Resorts."
3. Use clear language
While English is the world's most spoken language, Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish are close runners-up! Whichever language you are using to record your voice prompts, be sure to use simple language and clear pronunciations that first-time callers can understand. This means avoiding jargon and not making any assumptions about callers:
❌ "Please press 2 if you are having trouble with your bicycle's chain ring, derailleurs or crank set."
✔️ " Please press 2 if you are having trouble riding your bicycle."
4. Use humour carefully
Not every customer appreciates humour when they simply want to get things done over the phone. A banking and financial institution, for example, should not use humour if they want to nurture trust and transparency with their clients. On the other hand, an offbeat B2C consumer brand can let its personality shine with funny voice actors and music to match!
5. Manage voice prompts in one place
If you are using a platform like CINNOX for your customer experiences and contact centre, you can easily manage all your voice prompts in one place. When you don't have to deal with different systems for prompts during the call process or an IVR, you can ensure that the same voice actor is used for all your recordings, for example.
Ten most common voice prompt greetings
The purpose of voice prompts is to inform callers where they are in the call process or to provide a self-service channel with an IVR system. If their question is complex or requires the assistance of an expert, callers should have the option to speak with a live agent. Here are ten examples of voice prompts that you have heard before.
1. "Welcome to [Company Name]."
This greeting is short, direct, and friendly. It reminds the customer to whom they are talking to before they even start interacting with the IVR. It also makes it clear that your business wants to provide quality service. Lastly, it ties back into your brand by using your company name in place of something generic like “hello” or no recorded greeting prompt at all.
2. "Our business hours are…."
This recorded prompt is best used when you want to be upfront with customers that your contact centre is not running 24/7 or that you do not use an IVR system. While callers may be disappointed that their call cannot be answered immediately, they now know about your operational hours and understand that they can seek answers again.
3. "Please choose from one of the following options."
Your IVR should immediately present a high-level overview of the options available to the caller. Your workflow should help customers narrow down their issues or question so that the best resolution or agent can be presented to help them. For example, is the consumer calling about their motor car, personal accident, hospitalisation or life insurance policy?
4. "Press 0 if you wish to speak to a customer care representative."
You should always provide an option for callers to speak with a live agent. While an IVR works as a self-service channel, not all enquiries can be answered using pre-recorded prompts. Customers may not want to browse your IVR, they may not know which option best suits their enquiry, or they may simply prefer the warmth and efficacy of a human touch!
5. "Please hold while we transfer you."
After selecting the product or department that best matches the caller's enquiry, this message serves to confirm the choice they made. Ideally, this recorded message should be used where the call can be answered in three rings or less as it suggests that an agent is available to take the call immediately. For longer waits, use the following recorded greeting.
6. "Thank you for your patience, an agent will be with you shortly."
If a caller's enquiry cannot be answered within three rings, this waiting prompt should be played to acknowledge that the caller is waiting and that they will be served soon. Do note that a specific wait time is not given but the expected time frame for a response is within a few minutes. For extended wait times, look to use the following recorded message.
7. "Thank you for holding. Your call is very important to us, and an agent will be with you shortly."
Another variation of the previous waiting prompt. In addition to thanking the caller for their patience, you are also acknowledging that you want to help with the first-time resolution of their enquiry. After all, if the customer drops the call, they will either leave dissatisfied with the enquiry unresolved or add to the calling queue when they call back later.
8. "All of our agents are currently assisting other customers, please hold on the line or call back later."
This is the waiting prompt that few customers want to hear! You are being honest about the long wait time by playing this voice prompt. While still not providing a time frame, you are explaining the cause of the wait (that could be due to peak calling periods, a promotion or an event) and giving the caller an option to hold or call again later during off-peak hours.
9. "You have reached the voicemail of…"
Not all enquiries can be answered by a team of agents. Some enquiries may be routed to the finance department who can answer questions about invoices, refunds and charges, for example. In case they are not in the office or unavailable, a voicemail message serves to give a name to the caller and allows them to leave a message for later follow-up.
10. "Thanks for calling [Company Name]. Good bye!"
A variation of the welcome greeting, this end prompt concludes the conversation on a good note by thanking the customer. In addition to refreshing the caller's memory about which company they interacted with, it is putting customer service in front by showing the customer that you appreciate their patronage.
Review your voice prompts for better experiences
Voice prompts should be seen as part of the entire customer experience. As a phone channel, it complements all your other channels when customers have enquiries that need to be answered. While there is scope for creativity in recording voice prompts, make sure you address what customers expect with these top ten voice prompts for a start.
.png)
