Handy Hints

Did you know…

…that in today’s technology driven world, often the first point of contact between you and your customers, is the recorded voice prompts they hear down their phone line? It’s your shop front window. Here are some handy hints to make sure that first impression is a positive one.

Writing Scripts…

• Short is good! When writing scripts, the shorter the better, make sure they are clear, precise instructions, and minimize unnecessary dialogue. Use friendly words, for example “press” instead of “push” for digit menus. The simpler the language, the easier the information is received.
• Read your scripts out loud to yourself (no whispering or mumbling!) This allows you to check on the length of your script for any time limitations and, your ears pick up what your eyes don’t. Often it’s not until you have heard the script in spoken word, that any changes you want to make stand out. You might feel a bit silly but this really works! You could also get someone else to read them aloud to you.

Your voice talent…

• Using a professional voice actors can make your company sound more professional and add to the feeling and image of your company
• Continuity – keep the voice consistent in as many parts of your customer service systems as possible, the same voice helps to create a more seamless journey for your customer.
• Using one of your staff may seem like a good option – but what happens when that staff member leaves your company, and you need to make updates? And even if a staff member has a “nice voice”, the ability to make a script sound natural and not “read” and to bring your voice prompts to “life”, is usually a trained skill.
• Big booming “radio” voices are a thing of the past, people want to listen to people who are more real, more like themselves, but at the same time professionally delivered.
• Your company’s voice should as much as possible match your company’s image and marketing profile. Consider the gender, the age, personality, attitude ie professional and formal, or fun and funky. So give some direction to your recording studio.

Recording…

• Studio recorded voice prompts reduce distracting noises, such as static, clicks, breaths in between words and background noise. Clean prompts help your customer to stay focused on the information.
• Make sure your prompts are recorded specifically for phone systems. Recording studios that do a lot of TV and radio audio work, may not understand that phone system audio needs to be adjusted in the right way (EQ’d) for maximum clearness when played down a phone line.
• Are all of your prompts the same volume levels through out your system? Consistency is important as variations can be distracting. Too loud is unpleasant, and too quiet is annoying.

Regular health checks! – make it a planned task to dial in and navigate through your system to check on the health of your prompts. If your system has had an upgrade, check that the upgrade hasn’t degraded the quality of your prompts.