Do You Have An Auto Response Set Up?
Posted on | Posted in Care Home Marketing, Home Care Marketing, Live Chat, Blog
It’s amazing how many care sector companies we come across that don’t have a voicemail set up for their office lines. Having an auto-response can immediately enhance your care home or home care business’s customer service. If you don’t yet have one set up, we recommend you to set this up ASAP. Believe it or not, this small step can greatly improve the ROI on your care home marketing or home care marketing.
Lead Capture Magnet
We stress the importance of having voicemail because, ultimately, it acts as another method of capturing leads. Without a voicemail, a missed call is a missed opportunity.
To create an opportunity, in your voicemail greeting, you should ask the caller to:
- Leave a brief message outlining why they were reaching out
- A contact phone number that the caller can be reached
- An expectation of when the caller should receive a follow up from your office
“Thanks for calling our Care Home. Please leave your name, number, and a brief description of how we can help you. We will aim to follow up with you within two business hours. Our office is open from Monday-Friday from 9 am – 5 pm”
Good Customer Service
One of our pet peeves is when companies allow their phones to just keep ringing; especially when the users have tried to call you out of hours. To potential customers, the fact that you haven’t picked up may not signify that you are closed; it may suggest you are ignoring their call and they’ll infer you have poor customer service.
However, if you have a voicemail in place, you can also establish an ‘out of hours’ response to tell the customer that your office is currently closed. Make sure you set the ‘out of hours’ voicemail up to kick in straight away, rather than ringing five times and then telling the customer that your office is closed. You can also use this opportunity to let current customers know the ‘out of hours’ emergency contact number, if applicable.
Email Auto Response
The same premise of a voicemail can be used for email in the form of an email autoresponder. For shared e-mail addresses (e.g. info@yourbusiness.co.uk), we recommend having an automated response to all emails. This lets the customer know their communication was received and allows you to set up an expectation of when the person should hear back from your office.
“Thanks for your e-mail. We’ll aim to get back to you within 2 business hours. Our office is open from Monday-Friday 9am-6pm BST. We look forward to speaking with you, soon.“
We have a care industry best practice of replying to all enquiries within one hour, within the availability of your office’s operational hours. After this time period, the likelihood of conversion drops as the potential customer continues their search. Don’t lose out on this opportunity!
For a one-on-one with one of our digital strategy specialists, book in your no-strings-attached call now.