Voice Over Services Voice talent Allison Smith offers a variety of voice over services, including voicing, engineering and producing a huge number of voice applications you hear everyday – IVR voice recordings (Verizon, Cingular, Sprint, Vonage, Bell Canada and UnifiedBX), commercials (radio, TV, and internet), in-store announcements, surveys, call center prompts, documentary voice over narration, kiosk self-serve prompts, telephone voice prompts, talking toys, animation voice over recordings – virtually any voice application you can think of – Allison has done it… and can do it for your company.
Allison’s Experience Allison is an experienced, professional female voice over talent who has worked with a vast international clientele. Here is a portion of Allison Smith’s expansive clientele listing.
Allison’s Experience Allison is an experienced, professional female voice over talent who has worked with a vast international clientele. Here is a portion of Allison Smith’s expansive clientele listing.
- Allison’s IVR prompts can currently be heard on platforms for Vonage, Sprint, Verizon, Bell Canada, Hawaiian Telcom, and the fastest-growing telephony platform in the world: the Asterisk Open-Source PBX including the UnifiedBX
- The “Allison Voice” is the top-selling Text To Speech utility for Cepstral – one of the world’s top Speech Utility Engineers
- Some of Allison’s Independent clients include: EBay, Electrolux, Sony, H & R Block, ADT Security Systems, Yellowbook, Whirlpool, Ghirardelli, McAfee, KitchenAid, SAP, Victoria’s Secret, Marriott Hotels, Halliburton and Toyota, among many others
- Allison Smith is the new voice of State Farm Insurance’s national IVR, and the IVR and on-hold system for the Kennedy Space Center
- Has voiced product monograph information for Pfizer and Merck Pharmaceutical’s Customer Information Lines, as well as automated patient follow-up calls
- Currently voicing automated store location address system and store updates for all 900+ PetSmart Stores
- Selected as the new IVR voice for Rexall Drug Stores, voicing all internal, outward-facing, and store-finder prompts, as well as an extensive prescription drug outbound dialing reminder system
- Allison has voiced prompts for Apple Support/Rebate line, NutraSweet/Equal Customer Service Line, Pittsburgh-Corning Consumer Line, Bayer Call Center, HSBC Tokyo, Diesel Jeans Store locator, On-Board phone systems for Royal Caribbean Cruises, Carnival, Holland America Cruise Lines, Oceanphone Calling Card System and Silver Seas Cruises.
- Allison is also a much-sought after speaker on the issue of IVR prompts and ways to improve them
IVR Messaging 101: How to Write a Perfect IVR Message Script
If you are looking to compose your own IVR messaging script for an upcoming project, it’s important that you are familiar with the basics and learn some of the most effective IVR script messages used in the business world. This way, both you and your voice talent will have the smoothest experience possible when you start your next project! Here, I have put together a list of five IVR message examples and IVR greeting types in order to help inspire you to start producing the best IVR message script!
Here Are Some Basic IVR Message Examples
An IVR Message Script for Greeting
Try to keep your greeting message simple and straightforward while keeping the menu options open enough to assist a wide array of callers. Something like:
Thank you for calling ‘My Rock Star IVR Company.’If you know the extension of the person you would like to reach, you may dial it at any time.
Hold For An Available Agents IVR Message Example
Once a caller identifies what department or party they wish to reach, it’s important to incorporate a brief segment of the IVR message script to ensure that their party is being reached, and to hold patiently.
Please hold while you are connected to the next available agent.
If the caller’s connection is delayed for any reason, this usually prompts an IVR message informing the caller of the delay and asking the caller to wait momentarily:
All of our agents are currently busy at this time. Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order it was received.
Wait Time Exceeded IVR Message Prompt
If the caller simply cannot be connected within a reasonable wait time due to an inordinate amount of callers or technical problem holding up the queue, an apologetic IVR prompt might be necessary asking the caller to leave a message which will be returned at the earliest:
We apologize but we are currently experiencing high call volume. Please leave a message after the tone, and one of our customer support representatives will return your call as soon as possible.
Or
All of our customer service agents are still busy. Please hang up and try your call again or reach out to us at our website (website name) or via email at (email address).
Voicemail IVR Message Example
When a caller cannot be connected to the party of their choosing and opts to leave a voicemail message, you can simply inform them of who they are leaving a message to, and that they should prepare to leave their message after the tone.
You have reached the voicemail of ‘My Rock Star IVR Company.’ Please leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will return your call as soon as possible.
After Work Hours IVR Messaging Example
If a caller reaches out during a company’s off-hours, they need to be informed of their options in connecting to their chosen party as soon as possible.
Thank you for calling ‘My Rock Star IVR Company.’ We are currently closed and are unavailable to take your call. Please leave a message after the tone, or call back Monday through Friday between 9am and 5pm Eastern Standard Time. Feel free to reach us online as well at (website, email etc) Thank you.
Now that we have provided some IVR message examples to cover the basics, you are ready to grab a top voiceover artist and deliver a great production for your clients! Of course, for more tips and tricks on how to compose and successfully manage your next IVR messaging project, get in touch with Allison Smith today!
If you are looking to compose your own IVR messaging script for an upcoming project, it’s important that you are familiar with the basics and learn some of the most effective IVR script messages used in the business world. This way, both you and your voice talent will have the smoothest experience possible when you start your next project! Here, I have put together a list of five IVR message examples and IVR greeting types in order to help inspire you to start producing the best IVR message script!
Here Are Some Basic IVR Message Examples
An IVR Message Script for Greeting
Try to keep your greeting message simple and straightforward while keeping the menu options open enough to assist a wide array of callers. Something like:
Thank you for calling ‘My Rock Star IVR Company.’If you know the extension of the person you would like to reach, you may dial it at any time.
- For Sales, press 1.
- For Accounting, press 2.
- To reach a live customer service representative, press 0.
Hold For An Available Agents IVR Message Example
Once a caller identifies what department or party they wish to reach, it’s important to incorporate a brief segment of the IVR message script to ensure that their party is being reached, and to hold patiently.
Please hold while you are connected to the next available agent.
If the caller’s connection is delayed for any reason, this usually prompts an IVR message informing the caller of the delay and asking the caller to wait momentarily:
All of our agents are currently busy at this time. Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order it was received.
Wait Time Exceeded IVR Message Prompt
If the caller simply cannot be connected within a reasonable wait time due to an inordinate amount of callers or technical problem holding up the queue, an apologetic IVR prompt might be necessary asking the caller to leave a message which will be returned at the earliest:
We apologize but we are currently experiencing high call volume. Please leave a message after the tone, and one of our customer support representatives will return your call as soon as possible.
Or
All of our customer service agents are still busy. Please hang up and try your call again or reach out to us at our website (website name) or via email at (email address).
Voicemail IVR Message Example
When a caller cannot be connected to the party of their choosing and opts to leave a voicemail message, you can simply inform them of who they are leaving a message to, and that they should prepare to leave their message after the tone.
You have reached the voicemail of ‘My Rock Star IVR Company.’ Please leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will return your call as soon as possible.
After Work Hours IVR Messaging Example
If a caller reaches out during a company’s off-hours, they need to be informed of their options in connecting to their chosen party as soon as possible.
Thank you for calling ‘My Rock Star IVR Company.’ We are currently closed and are unavailable to take your call. Please leave a message after the tone, or call back Monday through Friday between 9am and 5pm Eastern Standard Time. Feel free to reach us online as well at (website, email etc) Thank you.
Now that we have provided some IVR message examples to cover the basics, you are ready to grab a top voiceover artist and deliver a great production for your clients! Of course, for more tips and tricks on how to compose and successfully manage your next IVR messaging project, get in touch with Allison Smith today!
Top 10 IVR Mistakes
Allison has a few years under her belt voicing telephony platforms, and she can tell you that there are some universal mistakes that she sees on a consistent basis that deviate from IVR best practices — and most make sense if you simply think back to the last frustrating IVR you found yourself trying to navigate. So here they are — her top 10 IVR mistakes in no particular order:
1. You Try To Make Your Company Sound Bigger
I have voiced intro messages which sometimes exceed 15-20 options — and most of them just re-route back to a single point of contact. You press accounts receivable, payable, tech support — it all ends up at the same friendly CEO/accountant/chief bottle washer. I’m a one-person company, too — so I understand the necessity in wearing numerous hats. Just be aware that too many options point to an obvious attempt to sound bigger.
2. Your Most Critical Information is Buried at the Bottom
I recently voiced a system for a heart clinic with — see above — 12 different options to choose from, and the very last option said: “If this is a medical emergency, please hang up, and dial 911.” I’d put that first and foremost. If you were having crushing chest pains and happened to dial your cardiologist’s office instead of 911, wouldn’t you want to be set straight — sooner than later? That goes for customers who are having technical support issues with the internet service you provide/support — let’s give those people with an emergent need a gateway to get to a person — fast.
3. You Give Lengthy Directions to Your Office/Facility
If you must provide an option with driving directions — and I’m not entirely convinced that it’s a good or necessary thing, especially with the prevalence of GPS systems — keep them as short, succinct, and as pertinent as possible. (“Turn left. You’ll see a war memorial on your left, and a Piggly Wiggly on the right..” is probably too much detail to give.)
4. You Over-Estimate People’s Attention Spans
They’re shorter than you think. All previous points I’ve made so far point towards this basic fact: keep it short. Front-load it with the most crucial info at the top — announcers and voice-over professionals have known for years that secret to a good demo is to put your best stuff at the beginning — front-load it the most impressive stuff. And don’t inundate people with more information than they need — especially at the all-important point of entry.
5. You Want Me to Voice It at a Slow Pace
I suppose this is open to interpretation, and can be more of a judgement call than anything else — if I’m voicing a pharmaceutical information line geared at seniors, I’ve been asked to take a more meticulous, exacting pace — taking into consideration hearing issues and reaction time. Fair enough. For practically any other industry — particularly those dealing with high-tech, industry-forward aspects — especially if there’s a high chance of repeat callers — let’s fly through your phone options at a fairly energetic pace. People’s time is valuable; and their frustration levels can be exacerbated by a plodding, leisurely pace.
6. You Haven’t Told Me How to Pronounce Your Staff’s Names
I’m pretty good at pronouncing place names (even those unfamiliar to me), and I’m pretty intuitive and a great guesser, but nowhere is there a greater chance of mis-pronouncing than with proper names — and it’s surprising how little direction I get with that. If you’re having someone voice a phone tree with *any* names where you think there might be multiple pronunciations or there’s a name that is often botched, please provide a pronunciation guide.
7. You Go Overboard With Niceties
There isn’t a person who has been on hold in the last twenty years who hasn’t been thanked profusely for their patience, told that their business is appreciated, or that our time is valuable. We hear it so often, if fact, that it frequently comes across as disingenuous. I try my hardest to sound as sincere and earnest as possible when voicing such platitudes; I implore the writers of IVR and on-hold systems to re-think the over-peppering of scripts with too many niceties. People get it. They know you’re busy giving someone else the same legendary service that you look forward to giving them — just keep the glad-handling to a minimum.
8. Your Company Name is Impossible to Pronounce
I ran into an interesting dilemma after I chose the name for my company — The IVRvoice.com: when looking at the web address or e-mail address: www.theivrvoice.com , for example, scores of people have said: “Oh! It’s…..THEIR VOICE.com.” Umm, not exactly. It really has to be carefully dissected if you hope to have someone type it in correctly — and people need to understand the acronym IVR — for it to make sense. That’s visual. I encounter *many* firms who have an unusual company name, which I have frequently gotten wrong until I was educated about the correct way to pronounce it. If I — a professional voice — gets it wrong, how often does the general public mis-pronounce it? Think very carefully when naming your company about how the name *sounds* — and what the margin of error would be for mis-pronouncing it.
9. You Impart Too Much Company Information in the Opening Greeting
Save all but a brief company description for your on-hold component — in your opening message, saying the briefest of blurbs about what the company does is sufficient. I voiced an opening message that talked about the company’s history, how long they’ve been in business, the products they offer, and why they’re better than their competitors. All that would be great to play while someone’s on hold — not before any department options have been given.
10. You Haven’t Read Your Copy Out Loud
Many glitches in awkward wording don’t make themselves evident when you’re simply scanning them visually — it’s really important to read your IVR script out loud to catch any odd phrasing and redundancies.
Allison has a few years under her belt voicing telephony platforms, and she can tell you that there are some universal mistakes that she sees on a consistent basis that deviate from IVR best practices — and most make sense if you simply think back to the last frustrating IVR you found yourself trying to navigate. So here they are — her top 10 IVR mistakes in no particular order:
1. You Try To Make Your Company Sound Bigger
I have voiced intro messages which sometimes exceed 15-20 options — and most of them just re-route back to a single point of contact. You press accounts receivable, payable, tech support — it all ends up at the same friendly CEO/accountant/chief bottle washer. I’m a one-person company, too — so I understand the necessity in wearing numerous hats. Just be aware that too many options point to an obvious attempt to sound bigger.
2. Your Most Critical Information is Buried at the Bottom
I recently voiced a system for a heart clinic with — see above — 12 different options to choose from, and the very last option said: “If this is a medical emergency, please hang up, and dial 911.” I’d put that first and foremost. If you were having crushing chest pains and happened to dial your cardiologist’s office instead of 911, wouldn’t you want to be set straight — sooner than later? That goes for customers who are having technical support issues with the internet service you provide/support — let’s give those people with an emergent need a gateway to get to a person — fast.
3. You Give Lengthy Directions to Your Office/Facility
If you must provide an option with driving directions — and I’m not entirely convinced that it’s a good or necessary thing, especially with the prevalence of GPS systems — keep them as short, succinct, and as pertinent as possible. (“Turn left. You’ll see a war memorial on your left, and a Piggly Wiggly on the right..” is probably too much detail to give.)
4. You Over-Estimate People’s Attention Spans
They’re shorter than you think. All previous points I’ve made so far point towards this basic fact: keep it short. Front-load it with the most crucial info at the top — announcers and voice-over professionals have known for years that secret to a good demo is to put your best stuff at the beginning — front-load it the most impressive stuff. And don’t inundate people with more information than they need — especially at the all-important point of entry.
5. You Want Me to Voice It at a Slow Pace
I suppose this is open to interpretation, and can be more of a judgement call than anything else — if I’m voicing a pharmaceutical information line geared at seniors, I’ve been asked to take a more meticulous, exacting pace — taking into consideration hearing issues and reaction time. Fair enough. For practically any other industry — particularly those dealing with high-tech, industry-forward aspects — especially if there’s a high chance of repeat callers — let’s fly through your phone options at a fairly energetic pace. People’s time is valuable; and their frustration levels can be exacerbated by a plodding, leisurely pace.
6. You Haven’t Told Me How to Pronounce Your Staff’s Names
I’m pretty good at pronouncing place names (even those unfamiliar to me), and I’m pretty intuitive and a great guesser, but nowhere is there a greater chance of mis-pronouncing than with proper names — and it’s surprising how little direction I get with that. If you’re having someone voice a phone tree with *any* names where you think there might be multiple pronunciations or there’s a name that is often botched, please provide a pronunciation guide.
7. You Go Overboard With Niceties
There isn’t a person who has been on hold in the last twenty years who hasn’t been thanked profusely for their patience, told that their business is appreciated, or that our time is valuable. We hear it so often, if fact, that it frequently comes across as disingenuous. I try my hardest to sound as sincere and earnest as possible when voicing such platitudes; I implore the writers of IVR and on-hold systems to re-think the over-peppering of scripts with too many niceties. People get it. They know you’re busy giving someone else the same legendary service that you look forward to giving them — just keep the glad-handling to a minimum.
8. Your Company Name is Impossible to Pronounce
I ran into an interesting dilemma after I chose the name for my company — The IVRvoice.com: when looking at the web address or e-mail address: www.theivrvoice.com , for example, scores of people have said: “Oh! It’s…..THEIR VOICE.com.” Umm, not exactly. It really has to be carefully dissected if you hope to have someone type it in correctly — and people need to understand the acronym IVR — for it to make sense. That’s visual. I encounter *many* firms who have an unusual company name, which I have frequently gotten wrong until I was educated about the correct way to pronounce it. If I — a professional voice — gets it wrong, how often does the general public mis-pronounce it? Think very carefully when naming your company about how the name *sounds* — and what the margin of error would be for mis-pronouncing it.
9. You Impart Too Much Company Information in the Opening Greeting
Save all but a brief company description for your on-hold component — in your opening message, saying the briefest of blurbs about what the company does is sufficient. I voiced an opening message that talked about the company’s history, how long they’ve been in business, the products they offer, and why they’re better than their competitors. All that would be great to play while someone’s on hold — not before any department options have been given.
10. You Haven’t Read Your Copy Out Loud
Many glitches in awkward wording don’t make themselves evident when you’re simply scanning them visually — it’s really important to read your IVR script out loud to catch any odd phrasing and redundancies.
Get a custom recorded "Business Hours" and "Non Business Hours" greeting similar to below for only $250
Thank you for calling_______. For ________, press1. For______, press2. If you need________, press 3, and for________, press 4. For all other matters, please press “)” to speak to a live operator. Thanks again for calling_______, and have a great day!”
And
You’re reached_____. Unfortunately you are calling outside our business hours of____AM to ____PM. Leave a message, and we will return your call the following business day, or send us an e-mail at__________.com. Thanks for calling, we look forward to talking with you soon!
Thank you for calling_______. For ________, press1. For______, press2. If you need________, press 3, and for________, press 4. For all other matters, please press “)” to speak to a live operator. Thanks again for calling_______, and have a great day!”
And
You’re reached_____. Unfortunately you are calling outside our business hours of____AM to ____PM. Leave a message, and we will return your call the following business day, or send us an e-mail at__________.com. Thanks for calling, we look forward to talking with you soon!