Statistically, nearly 80% of all cold calls end up going to voicemail, while a typical sales representative leaves around 70 voicemails per day on average. Considering that leaving each voicemail requires around 60 seconds, it ultimately adds up to approximately 25 hours per month. That’s how much time each of your sales reps can save and dedicate to more productive, higher-value tasks with a simple yet powerful feature known as voicemail drop.
Let’s explore the voicemail drop feature in detail, along with how it works, the value it brings to outbound call center teams, and how you can leverage it effectively in your outreach campaigns for prospecting and sales.
What is Voicemail Drop?
Voicemail drop is a call center technology that allows agents to automatically ‘drop’ a pre-recorded message into someone’s voicemail inbox, eliminating the need for them to do it manually. It’s a simple and non-intrusive way for call centers to reach out to those prospects or customers who don’t answer phone calls. Voicemail drop is a valuable feature of outbound call center software and auto dialing solutions.
How Does Voicemail Drop Work?
A call center agent pre-records one or more voicemail messages. When an agent calls a prospect or a customer using the auto dialer software and there is no pickup, the agent selects that pre-recorded voicemail message they want to leave – and the dialer system automatically drops the message into that person’s voicemail inbox and ends the call, moving on to dialing the next number.
That’s how the traditional voicemail drop feature works, but there’s more to it, known as ringless voicemail drop.
Typically, voicemail drop requires an agent to call the prospect first, and it leaves a pre-recorded voicemail message only if it detects an answering machine instead of a live person on the other end. With ringless voicemail drop, the voicemail drop software system bypasses the phone network and drops the message directly into the server that hosts the voicemail without triggering a call event on the recipient’s device.
That means ringless voicemail drops allow you to send voicemail messages without causing the phone to ring. Instead, your prospect or customer will simply get a notification that they have a new voicemail message and they can listen to it at their convenience.
Why Use Voicemail Drop?
✓ Effective: Cold calling can be intrusive – no wonder most people on your calling list won’t answer your call. But while it’s easy to decline or ignore an uninvited phone call, people are far less likely to delete a voicemail without listening to it first. That makes voicemail drop outreach an efficient way to connect with your audience and get your message delivered.
✓ Far-reaching: Voicemail drop works with mobile phones and voicemail-enabled landline devices, allowing you to reach a broader audience. With landlines, it works exactly the same way as with mobile phones. Once you call and the recipient doesn’t answer, the system will leave a voicemail message on the person’s answering machine.
✓ Time-saving: Voicemail drop is an excellent time-saver for your team. Instead of waiting for the calls to go to voicemail, listening to the voicemail greetings, and leaving the same message over and over again, your reps can record one message, send it in one click, and move on to the next call, saving considerable time during their calling campaigns.
✓ Customizable: Voicemail drop is easily customizable. You can record different messages for different customer segments, catering to each group’s specific interests and needs. On top of that, with AI voicemail drop, which is an advanced version of the traditional voicemail drop feature, you can tailor messages based on recipient information, creating a deeper level of personalization.
✓ Cost-efficient: While voicemail drop providers may offer different pricing plans, and prices can significantly vary, voicemail drop can cost you as low as a few cents per voicemail message delivered, making it an affordable solution. And there are also potential cost savings associated with improved agent productivity and increased efficiency of your calling campaigns.
✓ Consistent messaging: In addition to all of the above, but no less valuable, voicemail drop helps you ensure that every prospect or customer receives the same professionally crafted message, reducing the risk of miscommunication or missing information. It also enables you to maintain a consistent brand voice across your communications.
How to Use Voicemail Drop in Your Outbound Calling Campaigns
Keep your messages short and concise
Though automatic voicemail drop has some obvious limitations, you can still make your message impactful. While you cannot personalize each message and greet prospects by name, you can segment your prospect lists and create separate messages for each of the segments, making your message seem personal.
Additionally, knowing the optimal length of a voicemail can significantly impact the type of response you will get from your prospects. According to stats from InsideSales, the optimal voicemail length is 18 to 30 seconds, and with every additional second after 30, your chance of receiving a response decreases by 2%. When crafting your voicemail message, make sure it fits within the optimal time frame, provides a clear reason for your call, sets the right expectations, and, most importantly, encourages prospects to call you back.
HubSpot recommends to include these basic elements in your voicemail message:
- Your name and company
- Your phone number
- Your reason for calling
- The benefits of calling you back
- What you want the prospect to do or expect
Get inspired by the examples
If you struggle to create an effective voicemail message for your outbound calling campaigns, you can save yourself time and effort by taking advantage of the ready-made voicemail drop script examples. Luckily, there are plenty of script examples you can find and get inspired by when crafting your own messages.
For instance, if you’re in a real estate business, take a look at this real estate voicemail drop script you can use when cold calling potential home buyers:
Hi, this is [Your Name] from [Real Estate Agency Name]. I just wanted to let you know about an exciting new property that just came on the market in your area. It’s a gorgeous 3-bedroom, 2-bath home with a newly renovated kitchen and a large backyard. It won’t last long on the market, so if you’re interested, please give me a call at [your phone number] for more details or to schedule a viewing. Thank you!
If you’re in a SaaS business, your voicemail drop message could look similar this this one:
Hi, this is [Your Name] from [Your Company Name]. I’ve been working with [similar company] and they’ve seen a 20% increase in monthly sales with our solution. I’d like to share with you how they did it to see if we can produce the same results for your business. Feel free to call me back on [your phone number], and I’d be happy to walk you through how everything works. Looking forward to hearing from you. Bye.
And here’s the one you can use if you are selling auto insurance:
Hi, this is [Your Name] from [Your Insurance Name]. I’m touching base to share information on our new auto insurance offers. Are you looking to save on your auto insurance? We’re offering significant discounts on our auto insurance policies this month. Call us at [your phone number] to find out how much you can save and to get a no-obligation quote. Thank you, and have a great day!
Leave multiple voicemails
One of the most common mistakes sales reps make with voicemails is leaving only one message. While leaving a well-crafted voicemail message can help you increase response rates, the number of times you leave a message matters, too. Based on statistics published by Cognism, you have a better chance of getting a response from prospective customers if you leave at least three voicemails.
More specifically:
- 1st voicemail = 11% callback rate
- 2nd voicemail = 22% callback rate
- 3rd voicemail = 33% callback rate
Be selective when using pre-recorded messages
Though voicemail drop works well for cold calling campaigns when you are trying to reach out to your cold leads for the first time, it isn’t always the best choice when you’re calling someone you’ve previously spoken to. In that case, it might be better to leave them a voicemail manually and personalize your message by calling the prospect by name and mentioning something you talked about during the previous interaction.
Find out what works best with A/B testing
Lastly, create several message variations for each segment and A/B test to find out what works best. You may want to try different messaging or even different variations in your voice tone. But make sure to change only one variable at a time between your message versions to clearly identify what causes differences in performance. Tracking engagement metrics like callback rates, response rates, response times, and conversion rates will give you an idea of what resonates best with your audience.
Take Advantage of Voicemail Drop with the VoiceSpin Auto Dialer
Voicemail drop is a powerful and efficient business communication tool that can improve the efficiency of your outbound calling campaigns and your overall outreach strategy. By understanding how to use it effectively, you can instantly unlock its benefits while enabling your sales reps to focus more on live conversations. And with the right predictive dialer software, you can make your sales team even more productive.
VoiceSpin AI auto dialer featuring automatic voicemail drop skips busy signals and disconnected numbers, connecting agents only to live prospects and increasing agent talk times. What’s even more, the dialer intelligently connects prospects to the best-suited sales reps based on the probability of making a successful sale, helping you maximize your sales conversions.
Book a demo call now to see VoiceSpin AI predictive dialer in action, make an informed decision, and start using voicemail drop alongside other powerful features to boost the efficiency of your outbound calling campaigns.
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