Voicemail: Still an Important Part of Your Sales Outreach

Does voicemail still matter? Many people today say they rarely pick up the phone. If you want to reach them, they recommend sending a text or an email, but in an age of over digitalization and automation, a voicemail may remind your prospect that you are a human too and have a solution to a problem they may be facing. 

In fact, sales voicemails appear to have a very positive lift on conversion rates, according to a recent study, “The Ultimate Guide to Inquiry Response,” where millions of interactions were analyzed in regards to lead engagement across channels. One facet of the study our researchers were curious about was sales voicemails – how effective are they, how many messages to leave, and when to leave them. Here is what we found: 

  Are Sales Voicemails Effective and How Many is too Many?

Our study found that voicemail messages remain a very effective method for outreach. In fact, leads were 34 percent more likely to convert when they received two voicemail messages on six missed calls, compared to leads who did not receive any messages at all. We also looked at how many leads were actually left two voice messages, and there is significant room for improvement. According to the study, only 12 percent of prospects received two voicemails, and nearly half of the prospects never got a message. However, keep in mind that more is not always better. Our research found that leaving five or six voicemails is actually worse than not leaving any. 

When Should you Leave a Sales Voicemail?

If a prospective buyer doesn’t pick up the phone on your first call attempt, should you leave a voicemail, send an email, or try back again latter? Our research shows leaving a voicemail on the second call attempt, which we typically recommend happens within 60 minutes of the first call attempt, increases your odds of a call-back or future engagement with the prospect. A similar analysis found that leaving the second voicemail on the fourth call is optimal.

For more insights on the right mix and timing of email, phone, and voicemail communication to optimize your outbound sales efforts, download the full study “The Ultimate Guide to Inquiry Response.” 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ About the author: Alyssa Trenkamp is the director of marketing communications at Velocify and a 15 year veteran in the enterprise technology sector. Prior to Velocify, Alyssa spent nearly a decade as a marketing and public relations consultant for Microsoft. Alyssa holds a BA in Journalism from Western Washington University.    

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