TN105 Recording a voicemail message

First published on this website in February 2018 and last updated in January 2024

Synopsis

If you record voicemail messages on your phones or set up ‘out-of-office’ responses for your email, it is important to get them to do their job well, both in what they say and how they put this across. Many churches and Christian leaders could make significant improvements by following some straightforward principles.

These notes give practical advice in:

• The basics of recording a good voicemail message
• The content (personal, positive, sensible, short, simple, truthful)
• The style (natural, welcoming, varied, clear, professional)
• Setting up an out-of-office email

The basics given are:

• record a personal message
• consider a time-specific message
• keep any system simple
• select a low number of rings
• listen to the message
• beware compromising security.

Follow these guidelines for voicemail and out-of-office replies that are effective.

These notes were updated in January 2024 with minor amendments to the layout and text.