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Voicemail Transcripts: The Secret to Simplifying Your Customer Follow-Up

customer service rep on the phone with customer

Customer follow-up—it’s an essential part of great customer service, which is the lifeblood of your business. Responding to your customers quickly and effectively is one of the surest ways to boost customer engagement and keep your business on a good growth trajectory.
But what happens when you or your team can’t be available 24/7 for follow-ups? What if you don’t have the bandwidth to answer every call, even during business hours? 
Read on for our insights on how to use voicemail transcripts to better follow up with your customers.
<h2>What is Voicemail Transcription? </h2>
Voicemail transcription is basically exactly what it sounds like. This voice-to-text service takes a voicemail audio recording and transcribes it into written format. If a customer call is missed, your support team can have a written copy of their voicemail to read before conducting a follow-up.
There are many benefits to using voicemail transcription to support follow-up with customers such as increased convenience, accuracy, and efficiency.
<h2>Customer Follow-Up is Everything</h2>
Appropriate follow-up can make or break customer relationships. When a customer calls in and doesn’t get the help they need right away, they’re going to expect a follow-up call, and you want to make sure this is done in the best way possible. 
You’re most likely to receive positive<a href="https://www.podium.com/reviews/"> customer feedback</a> from those who receive a quick response from a team member who understands their needs and can provide a timely solution.  
Being responsive is a core part of great customer service, and making each customer feel valued should be a top priority for any business, but this also can eat up a lot of time. Having the right tools for customer follow-up can save you time and make it easier to get it right, gaining a competitive advantage over others in the market.<a href="https://www.podium.com/article/automate-your-marketing/"> </a>
<a href="https://www.podium.com/article/automate-your-marketing/">Automating</a> as many business tasks as possible can save you a big headache and get your team on the right track to follow up with customers quicker and better. 
Enter: Voicemail transcription. 
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-24626 size-large" src="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-1024x896.png" alt="man reading a voicemail transcript" width="640" height="560" srcset="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-1024x896.png 1024w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-300x263.png 300w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-768x672.png 768w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-571x500.png 571w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-360x315.png 360w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-160x140.png 160w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-350x306.png 350w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-100x88.png 100w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript-392x343.png 392w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/man-reading-a-voicemail-transcript.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" />
<h2>How Voicemail Transcripts Simplify Customer Follow-Up</h2>
<h3>Voicemail Transcripts Increase Productivity</h3>
Picture this: your team has been off all weekend and comes back to tens or hundreds of voicemail messages left by customers. Which customer should receive follow-up first? Not all voicemails are created equally, and it’s important to prioritize the most urgent customer needs.
But how do you know which is most urgent? We all know the pain of listening to a long voicemail, especially if it’s emotionally charged or chock full of detail.
Voicemail transcripts provide a visual overview so that your support team can get the gist of a message’s contents without having to spend an entire 2-3 minutes (or longer) to get the full idea. Your team can also use transcripts to determine which customers need a follow-up call, and which ones could be addressed through follow-up emails.
This makes follow-up so much easier because your team can target the highest-need customers first and in the right format, protecting your company name and keeping communication lines open. Don&#8217;t let time burdens lead to lost sales.
<h3>Context Makes You More Empathetic</h3>
Understanding why a customer is upset or why they called in can help you and your customer service team better address their needs and come to a solution more quickly. 
Nothing is worse than misunderstanding a customer’s concern or being blindsided by emotionally charged customer feedback. Recognizing what a customer is feeling and what they need is pivotal for good customer interactions. 
Your team members can jump into follow-up calls with a calm outlook and a prepared list of resources and solutions if they already know what the customer was calling about. 
Providing voicemail transcripts to your team lets them scan the issue, emotionally prepare, and bring their best self to the table (or someone else on board, if necessary.)
Having transcripts of customer phone calls also allows you to quickly determine which person would be best for conducting the follow-up. That team member can follow up more quickly and effectively after having skimmed a voicemail transcript instead of having to listen to the full audio recording.

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<h3>Voicemail Transcripts Are Easy to Access</h3>
Some days, it just isn’t convenient to listen to a voicemail. Maybe you’re stuck in a crowded office with no headphones, or you’re juggling customer support while on the go, or service keeps cutting out right as you get to the important part of a voicemail.
Reading through transcripts can be done in just about any environment, no matter who’s around or where you’re located. An added benefit is that you or your customer service team can provide a better customer experience by having the transcript handy for referencing while conducting a follow-up call. 
Being able to refer to your customer’s exact needs and topmost concerns while speaking to them live will increase their trust in your company and make it easier to find solutions more quickly. Talk about maximizing positive customer engagement. This can all be done by having a transcript printed out or on the screen right in front of you during follow-up.
<h3>Improved Recordkeeping </h3>
Voicemails are not easy to organize. Transcripts, on the other hand, are easy to label, organize, and file away from future reference. 
Documents generally take up significantly less storage space than audio recordings. By transcribing customers’ voicemails, you can maximize storage space and minimize costs. You can also cut down on staff costs because it will take most of your team members far less time to visually scan a transcription than dig up an old voicemail and give the entire thing a listen before making that follow-up call.
Keeping track of voicemail transcripts comes with the added bonus of helping your team better understand each person’s<a href="https://www.podium.com/ebooks/customer-journey/"> customer journey</a>. Knowing how many times someone has called in before and understanding the nature of those calls can better equip your team to anticipate a customer’s needs and prepare to meet them.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-24627 size-large" src="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-1024x896.png" alt="Woman on the phone with a customer" width="640" height="560" srcset="https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-1024x896.png 1024w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-300x263.png 300w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-768x672.png 768w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-571x500.png 571w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-360x315.png 360w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-160x140.png 160w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-350x306.png 350w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-100x88.png 100w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer-392x343.png 392w, https://cms.podium.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Woman-on-the-phone-with-a-customer.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" />
<h2>Follow-Up Is a Crucial Part of the Customer Experience</h2>
<a href="https://www.podium.com/article/good-customer-retention-rate/">Keeping customers</a> is easier (and cheaper) than sourcing new ones. Not to mention, it’s the best way to build a stellar reputation that attracts hordes of new customers, too. 
In order to encourage customers to remain loyal, you want to make sure they feel that their needs are prioritized by your business. Make your customers feel special by preparing your team with all the necessary information to address customer needs quickly and effectively during follow-up calls. 
By transcribing your customer’s voicemails, you can ensure greater customer satisfaction and increase your likelihood of making future sales.
<h2>Ready to Get Ahead of the Competition? </h2>
Deliver an exceptional customer service experience by keeping all of your messaging in one place. No matter which channel your customers are contacting you from, you can answer questions, deliver solutions, request reviews, and more, all from one inbox—and keep careful records of everything your customers are saying. If you’re looking for tools to help your business win, look no further. 
Get started with <a href="https://www.podium.com/phones/">Podium Phones</a> today.

Voicemail Transcripts: The Secret to Simplifying Your Customer Follow-Up

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