Voicemail message structure

Use a voicemail to make the next contact easier to recognize. Give the prospect a reason to care, enough context to place the call, and a clear way to respond. It should lead into the email that follows. The callback is welcome. The message's main job is to prime the email.¹ Gong's analysis of more than 300 million cold calls found that voicemails reduced the connect rate on future dials by 28% and raised the email reply rate from 2.73% to 5.87%.² Make the message easy to remember and act on.

Set the objective

Before recording, decide what the listener should understand. Build the message for the next touch and give every line a job.

Use voicemail as part of a contact strategy that mixes calls, emails, social selling, and other ways of reaching the target prospect.³ Keep the voicemail and email focused on the same reason for contact. The email should make the message recognizable, and the message should make the email worth opening.

Leave a message when you can name a relevant outcome and a clear next action. If you cannot name either, keep the call sequence moving without a voicemail.

Build the message

Give the listener relevance, context, a response path, and your identity, in that order. Keep each part short enough to survive a quick listen or a transcript.

Start with a relevant outcome that describes what could change if the prospect talks with you.⁴ Add context that makes the point relevant to the prospect or the prospect's business, and keep to a single value point.^{5, 6} A clear next step gives the listener a path to respond.⁷

Finish by saying who you are and where you're from.⁸ Cover why you called and how to reach you, then repeat the contact information.^{9, 10}

Use this skeleton:

Hi [prospect], I called because [relevant outcome]. [Context that makes it relevant]. Call me at [number]. I will follow up [plan]. This is [your name] from [your company]. [number].

Control length and readability

Short messages force the script to carry only what the listener can use. Edit aloud, then listen for the point where the reason, context, and response are clear.

Keep a voicemail around 15 seconds, with a sweet spot of 8 to 13 seconds.¹¹ Use 30 seconds or less as the ceiling, with a single value point and a clear callback path.⁶

Assume the recipient may read the voicemail as text, so make every line easy to scan.¹² A call screening prompt is separate from the voicemail, so prepare a separate line for that moment.¹³

Run the sequence

Set the cap before you dial and give each message a different job. The opening creates recognition; a later message can add context that did not fit cleanly at the start.

Rotate outbound numbers and cap voicemails at two per prospect to capture the email lift while spreading the connect-rate penalty.¹⁴ Use the short opening to establish context and ask for a callback, leaving out the full pitch.¹⁵ The second voicemail can carry context plus social proof and run 30 seconds.¹⁶

What not to do

Remove these mistakes from the script before recording:

• Do not open with your name.¹⁷
• Do not leave "touching base" or "checking in" voicemails, because they waste the prospect's time.¹⁸
• Do not let rushed speech, unusual company names, or jargon turn the transcription into a garbled message with a warning label.¹⁹
• Do not exceed two voicemails per prospect; at three or more, email reply rates fall to 2.2%, below the result from leaving no voicemail.²⁰

Plan and practice the script before using it.²¹