What is voicemail?

What it actually is

Voicemail is the place where messages are saved from people who couldn't reach you. The caller hears a greeting — "You've reached Yosef's extension, please leave a message" — and after the beep, speaks. The message is saved on the PBX, waiting for you.

The idea is old: homes and offices used to have answering machines — a device with a tape that sat next to the phone. Voicemail does the same thing, only without the device. The messages aren't stored in the phone on the desk but on the PBX itself, so they aren't erased when the phone breaks, and you can reach them from anywhere.

Within the call flow, voicemail is usually the last stop: after the extension rang and wasn't answered, after the queue wait time has passed, or outside business hours. This is what ensures that a caller is never left empty-handed.

How it works

1. The call isn't answered — the extension rang until time ran out, was busy, or the route sent the call straight to the box.
2. The caller hears the greeting of the box — recorded by you, or a general greeting.
3. The caller leaves a message after the beep, and hangs up.
4. The message is saved on the PBX, and on many desk phones a light or an indicator of a new message appears.
5. The message is sent to email as an audio file, if you set an address.
6. You listen to the message — from the email, by dialing the box from the phone, or from the control panel.

Voicemail to email

This is the biggest change compared to the old answering machine. Instead of dialing the box, typing a password and listening to messages one after another, the message arrives in your email with an audio file attached. You open it, listen, and reply.

• Listen from anywhere — on a mobile phone, on a computer at home, on vacation.
• Forward with a click — a message meant for a colleague goes to him like any email.
• Keep — an important message, such as an order or a complaint, stays in the mailbox as a record.
• Several recipients — you can send the messages of one box to a shared address that several people read.

What's worth checking: that the emails don't land in the spam folder, and that someone is responsible for reading them. A voicemail box that goes to an address nobody opens is worse than a box with no email at all — because everyone is sure someone is handling it.

The greeting: the sentence everyone hears

The greeting is the message the caller hears before the beep. It's short, but it decides whether the caller stays to leave a message or hangs up. A good greeting says three things: whom they reached, what to leave, and when they'll be called back.

An example for a personal extension: "You've reached the extension of Yosef from the orders department. I'm not available right now. Please leave your name, a phone number and a subject, and I'll get back to you today."

An example for an after-hours box: "The office is currently closed. Business hours: Sunday through Thursday, nine to five. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you on the next business day."

When the situation changes — vacation, reserve duty, a change in hours — update the greeting. A greeting that promises "I'll call back today" while you are on a week-long vacation creates angry customers. More on wording and recording in Opening Message and Greeting.

Types of boxes

• A personal box — each extension has its own box, with a greeting in the voice of the extension's owner.
• A shared box — one box for a department or a small organization. The messages go to a shared address, and everyone responsible sees them. Suitable for "leave a message for the office."
• An after-hours box — a general box that all callers reach at night, as part of time-based routing.
• A box without an extension — a standalone box with no phone behind it: a menu option "To leave a message, press 9" leads straight to it.

Real-life examples

A small business. One shared box, "Leave a message for the office," whose messages arrive in the email of the owner and the secretary. Whoever is free first calls the customer back and marks in the email that it was handled.

A yeshiva with a dormitory. Each student has a personal voicemail box. Parents call, choose the son's box in the menu by number, and leave a message. The student hears it when he's free, without the office having to write messages on slips of paper and look for him in the beit midrash. Combined with a personal calling card, the student can also call home with the same account.

A nonprofit. An information line that works around the clock, ending with "To leave your details for a callback, press 1." The messages arrive in the email of the coordinator, who calls the callers back in the morning.

A service center. When the queue fills up or the wait time has passed, the caller can leave a message in the center's box. The messages go to the team leader's address, who distributes them to the agents.

Common mistakes and tips

• A full or neglected box — hundreds of messages that nobody has heard. Delete messages that were handled, and decide who is responsible.
• The default greeting — "The subscriber is not available" in a computerized voice. The caller isn't sure they reached the right place. Record a personal greeting.
• No box at all — the call rings until the caller gives up. Every extension and every branch in the route needs to end in a voicemail box or a destination where someone answers.
• Email that doesn't arrive — a wrong address, or a spam folder. After setting it up, leave yourself a test message.
• An outdated greeting — "I'll call back today" during a vacation.

A tip: in the greeting, ask callers to leave a phone number even if it is displayed. Many callers dial from one number and want to be called back at a different one.

A full workflow: from the email to "handled"

Voicemail to email solves the problem of access to messages, but not the problem of responsibility. So that a message doesn't fall between the chairs, it's worth setting a fixed, simple process that the whole team knows:

1. One address per box. A personal box sends to the email of the extension's owner. A department box sends to a shared address, not to the private address of whoever set it up.
2. A sorting rule in the mailbox. In most email programs you can set a rule: every message that arrives from the PBX moves to a "Voicemail" folder and gets a flag. That way they don't get lost among other emails, and they don't land in spam.
3. Whoever opens it, handles it. In a shared box, whoever opens the message first calls the caller back, and immediately replies to the email with "I'm on it," so the rest of the team knows.
4. Marking completion. After calling back, move the email to a "Handled" folder or mark it. A message that stays in the main folder is a message that is still waiting.
5. A time window. Decide how quickly you call back: by the end of the same business day is a reasonable goal for most organizations. State this goal in the greeting, so the caller knows what to expect.
6. The end of the week. One person goes through the folder on Thursday and makes sure no message is left open. A message left on Thursday afternoon is the first one to be called back on Sunday.

The principle is that the email becomes the task list for the voicemail messages. There is no need for a separate table, and everything stays in one place with the original audio file.

A full example: a yeshiva with 120 students

A yeshiva with a dormitory, 120 students, an office with one secretary. Until now, parents called the office, the secretary wrote a note, and someone looked for the student in the beit midrash. During seder (study session) you can't call students out, and the messages piled up. The move to personal voicemail boxes was built like this:

• Numbering. Each student gets a three-digit number, according to the yeshiva's roster. That number is the voicemail box number, and also the number of his personal calling card. Parents receive it in a letter at the start of the zman (term).
• The parents' route. They call the dormitory's number, hear "To leave a message for a student, press his number," press 047, and hear the greeting in the son's voice. They leave a message and hang up. There's no waiting, and no need for the secretary.
• The student's route. During the break he goes to the dormitory station, presses the code for voicemail, his number and his personal password, and listens. With the same account he also calls home.
• Setup. The secretary prepares an Excel file with a name and a number for each student, and from the file the boxes, cards and passwords are created all at once. The students record a short greeting themselves in the first week.
• Urgent messages. The dormitory's greeting also includes "For an urgent matter, press 0," which leads to the mashgiach on duty. That way parents don't leave an urgent message in a box that will only be opened in the evening.
• End of the zman. A student who left: the box is canceled and the number isn't given to anyone else until the start of next year, so that a parent who dials the old number doesn't reach a different student.

What changed in practice: the office stopped writing notes, the parents know the message reached its destination, and the student hears it at a time that suits him and the yeshiva's schedule.

A shared department box: two models

When several people are responsible for the same messages, there are two ways to build it, and each has a cost.

In most departments the first model is simpler and works well, as long as there is a "whoever opens it, handles it" rule and a short confirmation by email. The second model suits cases where the customer has a regular contact person, but then it's essential that the greeting of an agent on vacation refers to a colleague: "I'm on vacation until Tuesday. For an urgent matter, leave a message in the office's box, extension 100."

You can also combine them: one department box as the default, and personal boxes only for agents who manage accounts. And in any case, it's worth having the department box's messages also reach the team leader — not so that he handles them, but so he can see if anything stays open for more than a day.

More greeting wordings, by situation

A department: "You've reached the orders department. All our agents are busy right now. Please leave your name, a phone number, and an order number if you have one, and we'll get back to you within today's business hours." — The order number saves a clarification call.

Temporary absence: "Hello, this is David from the service department. I'm on reserve duty until the 23rd of Adar. For ongoing matters, contact Sarah at extension 102, or leave a message and I'll handle it when I'm back." — A return date and the name of a replacement, not just "unavailable."

After hours, with an urgent option: "The office is closed right now. For an urgent malfunction, press 1 and you'll be transferred to the person on duty. For any other matter, leave a message after the tone, and we'll get back to you on the next business day." — It separates urgent from routine, and doesn't wake the person on duty over a price question.

A donations line at night: "Thank you for calling. The call center is open from nine in the morning until ten at night. Please leave a name and a number, and we'll get back to you tomorrow morning. You can also donate on the website at any hour." — It gives an immediate alternative to someone who doesn't want to wait.

A dormitory student's box: "You've reached Yossi's box. Leave a message and I'll listen to it during the break." — Short, in the student's own voice, so the parents know they've reached the right place.

An extension that doesn't answer during another call: "I'm on another call right now. Leave a number, and I'll call you back as soon as I'm free." — Suitable for a box that is triggered in "busy" mode, and different from the "out of the office" greeting.

In all the wordings the same three components repeat: whom they reached, what to leave, and when they'll be called back. This order is not accidental: someone who gives up in the middle has at least heard that he reached the right place.

Retention, cleanup and privacy

Voicemail messages accumulate quickly. An active department box easily receives dozens of messages a week, and a box that isn't cleaned turns within months into a pile that nobody dares open. A few habits that prevent this:

• Delete after handling. Once you've called the caller back, the message on the PBX can be deleted. The copy in the email stays, if you need a record.
• What to keep. A message that contains an order, a complaint, an approval or a commitment is kept in the email, in the customer's or the case's folder. The rest is deleted.
• A weekly cleanup. Five minutes at the end of the week: go through the box, delete what was handled, and make sure no message was left unanswered.
• Limits. Many systems have a limit on the length of a single message and on the number of messages in a box. A full box doesn't accept new messages, and the caller hears that it isn't possible to leave a message. Another reason for regular cleanup.
• Password. Access to the box from the phone has a password. Don't leave the default, and don't use the extension number as the password.
• Privacy. A message from a parent, a customer or a donor is meant for the person it was left for. Don't pass it on without need, and don't play it on speaker in an open office. When you forward it to a colleague, delete the copy on your side.

And if an important message was deleted by mistake: the copy in the email is the backup. This is a good reason to turn on sending to email even in boxes whose owners prefer to listen from the phone.