80% of business communications happens over the phone. With this in mind, wouldn’t you want your small business phone system to be able to reliably handle your communications? As a consumer, there’s nothing worse than not being able to reach the right person when they’re needed. From the business owner’s perspective, missing an opportunity to grow probably won’t sit well, either.
It’s no surprise that too many missed calls can have a negative impact on your business’s bottom line. Of course, you can’t be expected to be able to take every single call that comes your way; that’s where voicemail to email service can help.
What is Voicemail to Email Service?
Voicemail by itself can be unreliable. If your voicemail inbox is full it can’t accept new messages, and sifting through to find only the messages that need your attention right away can be time consuming and inefficient. Voicemail to email is a simple service that can relieve some of those frustrations. With the right business phone system in place, this unassuming feature can improve your response rate to customer’s requests and uphold your reputation as a reliable business.
You won’t have to worry about important voicemails taking up space in your device because all of your voicemail messages are sent right to your email as an MP3 file that can be deleted, played back or forwarded to relevant parties. You can even label these emails to keep track of which ones you’ve responded to and prioritize them by degree of urgency.
Most small businesses may not have a full staff that can dedicate their time to answering inbound calls. Being able to access your customer’s requests on any device not only organizes your record keeping to increase efficiency, it also helps ensure compliance by allowing you to keep the file logged instead of worrying about it being deleted as time passes. These MP3 files can be easily saved and shared to make communication and collaboration seamless.
Voicemail to email service is great for small businesses relying on their mobile phone. Since these businesses may not have multiple extensions set up, you can use voicemail to email to stay on top of your messages and get back to the people who need you most. If you’re using a desk phone and happen to miss a call while you’re away, you can still access your voicemail through your email and respond in a timely manner. With this service as part of your communications strategy, it’s going to be hard to miss an important message!
Complementary Small Business Phone System Features
Voicemail to email is a simple service that can really boost your efficiency. If you’re sure how you can optimize your communications strategy with a small business phone system, here are a few features that can complement your voicemail to email service.
Custom Recorded Greeting
Sometimes, people call with simple questions that they may have overlooked on your site. A recorded greeting can be an effective way to answer common questions people call about, like hours of operation or how to request a quote for your services. Use this professional greeting to take your marketing efforts to the next level by including current promotions and sales, too!
Auto Attendant
Automated attendant is an essential small business phone system feature that increases productivity. This service uses your custom greetings and prompt menu to direct callers to the correct department or extension. You won’t need to hire a receptionist; you can manage your call flow by implementing an automated attendant to help guide your callers to their preferred contact.
Call Forwarding
Having access to multiple devices when a call comes in means there’s a better chance of the phone call being answered. With call forwarding, you can have an inbound call directed to your desk phone, then to your home office phone, and finally your mobile phone before being directed to a voicemail box. Having more than one option available makes you more accessible to those who need you, further establishing a sense of reliability.
Ring Groups
There is less chance of calls going to voicemail if a call goes directly to the intended person. Think about it. If the phone rings to each employee every time a call comes in, eventually your employees will be deaf to the phones so when an employee needs to be reached directly, they might just think it’s a general call and will most likely continue working on their tasks. Ring groups allow you to specify which extensions ring based on pre-set conditions on your small business phone system.
As we’ve seen, voicemail to email can work for businesses in several ways, especially small businesses with minimal staff that can’t handle large call volume. There are small business phone systems available, like FastPBX, that can take your business communications to the next step with all the features mentioned at a price that won’t break your budget.