VoIP voicemail: how to set it up and what to say

How Vohippo voicemail works

Voicemail is one of the nine modules you use to build a number's flow. When the call reaches this step, a synthetic voice reads your greeting, then the caller speaks and their message is recorded and sent by email.

The module has only a few fields:

Voicemail is included in the price of the number: you pay neither for the messages you receive nor for the greeting being read. It is also always the last step in the flow, because after the message the call ends. All the other modules, and how to chain them, are described in the guide to the call routing modules.

The greeting read by a synthetic voice

You do not need to record anything in your own voice: you write the text and the system reads it. This has two practical advantages. First, the greeting always sounds clean, with no background noise or hesitation. Second, you can change it in a minute: for an unexpected closure you just edit the text in the portal.

You can choose the voice from alloy, ash, ballad, coral, echo, fable, nova, onyx, sage and shimmer; if you do not choose, the system uses nova. The voices have different tones: listen to the result with a test call and keep the one that best suits your business.

The text can be up to 500 characters, spaces included. That may not sound like much, but it is about 30 seconds of speech, already plenty for a voicemail greeting. The rule is brevity: callers want to know whether they have reached the right place and what they should say.

Email with attachment and the Voicemail page

Every message left reaches the email address you entered. If you turn on «Attach the audio file», you will find the message as an attached WAV file, which you can play on your phone or computer and forward to a colleague. It is worth using a shared address, such as voicemail@ or info@, if several people need to handle the messages.

You can also listen to messages on the Voicemail page of the portal, where they remain available even if the email ends up in spam or is deleted by mistake. So one of the first things to do after activation is a test: leave a message and check that the email arrives in the right inbox.

Maximum length and silence

The maximum length ranges from 10 to 600 seconds, with a default of 180, or three minutes. For most businesses three minutes is more than enough: a useful message rarely lasts more than a minute.

Recording also stops when the caller stays silent for 3 seconds. In practice, as soon as the person has finished speaking and says nothing more, the message ends by itself, without forcing them to wait or hang up.

When should you shorten it? If you get a lot of long, rambling messages, a limit of 60-90 seconds encourages callers to be more direct. When should you lengthen it? For a law firm or a technical practice, where clients describe complicated situations, the default 180 seconds can go up.

Set the length according to what you ask for. A greeting that asks only for a name and number needs no more than a minute; if instead your greeting asks for a lot of information, such as name, contact number, case reference and reason, leave more room, because callers will have more to say.

Combining voicemail with other modules

Voicemail works best when it is chained with the other steps. Here are the most useful combinations.

With «Play a message»

«Play a message» reads out a text of up to 1000 characters and then moves on. Put it at the start of the flow to give a welcome or the call recording notice, before the phones ring:

1. «Play a message»: welcome and recording notice.
2. «Ring SIP accounts», 25 seconds.
3. «Voicemail».

This way the voicemail greeting can stay short, because you have already given the general information at the start. If you record calls, remember that the platform does not warn callers by itself: the rules are in the guide on call recording.

With «Send an SMS»

Want to know straight away about a missed call, without waiting for the email? Put «Send an SMS» just before voicemail. The message can be 140 characters long and use {CALLER}, the caller's number, and {DID}, the number that was called:

Unanswered call from {CALLER} on {DID}. Check your voicemail.

Each SMS costs €0.05 and only goes out when the call reaches that step, that is if nobody answered earlier. You cannot put it after voicemail, because voicemail always ends the flow.

With «Hang up», instead of voicemail

There are times when you do not want messages: the summer holidays, an office move, a number being retired. In that case remove voicemail and finish with a message and «Hang up»:

1. «Play a message»: «We are closed for the holidays until 25 August. For urgent matters please write to [email protected].»
2. «Hang up».

Callers get clear information and do not leave messages that nobody would listen to for weeks.

How to write a good greeting

An effective voicemail greeting answers three questions in this order: who have I called, why is nobody answering, what should I say. Anything else is superfluous.

Some practical rules:

• Name the business in the first sentence, so callers know they have dialled the right number.
• Ask for the information you need to call back: name, number, reason. If you need a specific detail, such as a number plate or an order number, ask for it.
• Say when you will call back, but only if you can keep to it: «by the end of the day» works if it is true.
• Avoid detailed opening hours if they change often: you would have to update the greeting every time.
• Write the way you speak: short sentences, no acronyms. The synthetic voice reads exactly what is written, so write numbers the way you want them pronounced and run a test.

Sample greetings

For a professional firm:

You have reached Conti & Associates. We cannot take your call right
now. Please leave your name, a phone number and the reason for your
call, and we will call you back within the working day.

For a car repair shop:

Ferrari Motors, good morning. We are busy working on the cars and
cannot get to the phone. Please leave your name, your number plate
and a contact number: we will call you back as soon as we can.

For an online shop:

Thank you for calling Casa Verde. All our staff are busy. If you are
calling about an order, please leave your order number and your
name. You can also write to us at [email protected].

Out of hours, if the greeting stays the same all day:

You have reached Bianchi Opticians. If nobody has answered, we are
busy or closed. Leave a message with your name and number and we
will call you back as soon as possible.

Each of these texts is well under 500 characters. You will find more ideas by sector in the guides on VoIP for car repair shops and VoIP for law firms.

Common mistakes

The first mistake is a greeting that is too long. A greeting that lists opening hours, address, website, email address and fax number makes callers hang up before the beep. If a piece of information is easy to find on your website, there is no need to read it out on the phone.

The second is a promise you do not keep. «We will call you back within the hour» is a commitment: if you usually call back the next day, say «within the working day» or «as soon as possible». Callers remember the broken promise more than the greeting.

The third is forgetting to update it. A greeting that still announces the Christmas closure in February makes a business look neglected. When you change the text for a particular period, note in your calendar the day to put it back as it was.

Finally, not testing it. The synthetic voice reads words exactly as they are written: acronyms, abbreviations and long numbers may sound different from what you expect. A test call after every change removes any doubt.

Voicemail or AI secretary: which to choose

Voicemail and the AI secretary solve the same problem, the call nobody can answer, in two different ways. Voicemail records a free-form message and sends it to you; the AI secretary asks the caller questions, sends you a written summary and asks whether you want to take the call.

Many flows use both: the AI secretary to screen calls and, at the end, voicemail for anyone who reaches the bottom without an answer.

What voicemail does not do

There are features people sometimes expect from voicemail that Vohippo does not have. There is no different greeting by time of day, because time conditions do not exist: there is one greeting, and you change it yourself in the portal when needed. That is why the «out of hours» example above is written so that it works at any hour.

There is no transcription of messages: you get the audio, not the text. If you need to know from the notice itself who called and why, consider the AI phone secretary, which sends you a written summary of the conversation. Nor is there a menu letting callers choose which mailbox to leave a message in: if you need several mailboxes, use several numbers, each with its own voicemail, or a PBX connected with a SIP trunk.

If you are activating your first number, the guide to set up an inbound number takes you from purchase to the first test call; the available numbers are in the virtual number search.

Frequently asked questions