Voicemail

Leave a voicemail when it has a job in the next touch. In cold outreach, that job is usually to make the follow-up email expected and easier to open, so judge the voicemail by the response it helps create. Across more than 300 million cold calls, Gong Labs found that voicemails cut later connect rates by 28 percent and more than doubled email reply rates.¹ Use them selectively: keep the message short, connect it to a specific email, and stop after the permitted sequence.

Decide the job

For an unanswered cold call, use a voicemail when you can connect it to a relevant email. Callers are advised to leave one or two voicemails in a sequence to drive responses by email.² The main reason to leave one is its effect on email reply rates.³ Voicemail can become a stronger tactic after some level of engagement.⁴ Another stated purpose is to obtain a callback and start a conversation.⁵

For a fresh unanswered call, use the email reply as the operating measure. A callback can still happen, but point the prospect to the channel where the useful detail sits.

Build the message

Short messages give the prospect enough context to recognize the follow-up without forcing them to process a pitch in the voicemail. Write the message before you dial, then check that every line points toward the email.

Leave at most two voicemails, keep each recording under twenty seconds, and use them to get the email opened rather than generate callbacks.⁶ A broader rule sets the ceiling at under thirty seconds.⁷ Lead with context, introduce yourself, and direct the prospect to the email.⁸ Include who you are and a relevant reason for the call.⁹ State your number twice and leave out the pitch.¹⁰

A usable shape is: Hi [First Name], this is [Your Name]. I called because [relevant reason]. I am sending you an email with [what it contains]. Reply there if relevant, or call [number], [number]..^{9, 10}

Keep the reason specific enough to make the email recognizable.

Send the email as the handoff

Treat the recording and the email as one touch with two formats. The voicemail makes the email expected, while the email carries the detail.¹¹ Use the same message in both touches.¹²

Send the email in the window you stated. A follow-up email can use "voicemail" as its subject and contain a line or two.¹³

Set the follow-up limit

Decide where the voicemail sequence ends before the first recording, so it does not take more attention than the email response can justify.

Keep the sequence to at most two voicemails, make the second the last, say so, and measure success through email replies.¹⁴ If the prospect does not respond after that limit, close the voicemail portion of the sequence and use the result to adjust the message or targeting.

What not to do

• Do not add a third voicemail to the sequence. Once three or more are used, email results can fall below leaving none.¹⁵
• Put the detail in the email. The voicemail makes that email expected.¹¹
• Do not leave the timing vague. State when the email will arrive and what it contains.¹⁶
• Do not let the email look disconnected from the call. Reference the voicemail in the first line.¹⁷