How do I set up a voice message for a missed call?

What are Missed Call Alerts and Voice Messages?

Missed call alerts and voice messages are features offered by phone carriers and third-party apps that notify you when someone tries to call but you miss the call. The caller is then given the option to leave a voice message that you can listen to later.

When you miss a phone call, the caller hears your voicemail greeting prompting them to leave a message. The voice message is recorded and stored for you to listen to later. You will receive a missed call alert containing information about the missed call such as the caller’s number and time they called.

Missed call alerts allow you to see who tried to reach you even if they didn’t leave a voicemail. The alerts are displayed on your phone’s call log or in a third-party app. Voice messages allow callers to leave more detailed messages if they need your urgent attention or want to provide key information.

Together, missed call alerts and voice messages ensure you don’t miss important communications when you can’t answer your phone. You can conveniently retrieve messages and return calls after reviewing missed call alerts.

Why Set Up Missed Call Voice Messages?

Setting up voice messages for missed calls can provide several benefits:

It lets callers know you missed their call and didn’t just ignore them. Leaving a voice message gives them confirmation you received their call attempt. This prevents the caller from feeling neglected if they don’t get an immediate response.

Voice messages allow you to provide context on why you missed the call. You can customize the greeting to explain you are unavailable at the moment and when you plan to return the call. This sets proper expectations so the caller doesn’t feel like you are purposefully not answering.

Missed call voice messages enable you to return calls on your own schedule when it’s most convenient for you. Since the caller will get your message explaining when you will call back, they won’t worry if you don’t immediately ring them back. This gives you flexibility in managing incoming calls.

Overall, setting up customized voice greetings for missed calls is considerate to callers and gives you control over managing call returns effectively.

How Missed Call Alerts and Voice Messages Work

Missed call alerts and voice messages utilize your phone’s voicemail system to notify you of any calls you miss and allow callers to leave a message attached to the missed call.

Here is how it works:

When someone calls your phone and you do not answer, the phone will ring for a set number of times before forwarding the call to voicemail.
Once forwarded, the caller will hear your voicemail greeting prompting them to leave a message.

If the caller records a voice message, it gets attached to a notification of the missed call that is sent to your phone.

So while you did not answer the call, you can easily listen to any voice messages left by accessing the missed call alert. This allows you to conveniently retrieve messages left for your missed calls without needing to manually check your voicemail box.

Activating Missed Call Alerts and Voice Messages

Activating missed call alerts and voice messages allows you to receive a notification whenever someone calls you but doesn’t leave a voicemail. Here are some key steps for getting this feature up and running.

First, ensure this capability is enabled on your smartphone. On Android devices, open your Settings app and go to Apps & Notifications > Notifications. Toggle on the option for “Missed call notifications” [1]. On iPhones, open Settings, tap Phone, and toggle on “Missed Calls” under the Calls section.

Next, contact your mobile carrier to confirm they provide missed call alerts as part of your plan. Most major carriers offer this, but it’s good to double check. You may also need to enable voicemail capabilities.

Finally, decide if you want to receive notifications from anyone, even non-contacts. On Androids, you can enable or disable this under Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > Special app access > Call and SMS control. On iPhones, adjust this under Settings > Phone > Calls From.

Once complete, you should start seeing missed call alerts whenever calls go unanswered. You can tap these notifications to call back immediately.

Recording a Custom Voicemail Greeting

Your voicemail greeting is often the first impression callers get of you. A warm, friendly, and professional greeting can create a positive experience for callers even when you’re unavailable to answer. According to career advice experts, an effective voicemail greeting should:

Introduce yourself and/or your company
Indicate you are currently unavailable
Prompt the caller to leave a detailed message

Promise you’ll get back to them
Thank them for calling

For example: “Hi, this is [your name] with [company]. I’m sorry I missed your call, but I’m unavailable at the moment. Please leave your name, number, and a detailed message about why you called. I’ll return your call as soon as possible. Thanks for calling!”

Keep your greeting concise and friendly while covering the key details callers need. Update your greeting regularly so it sounds current. An outdated or overly long greeting can frustrate callers.

Most mobile devices and phone services make it easy to record and manage custom voicemail greetings directly from your phone or account dashboard. Refer to your carrier or device documentation for specific instructions on setting up and updating your personal greeting.

Listening to Missed Call Voice Messages

After receiving a missed call alert with an attached voice message, the next step is to listen to the audio recording. Open your phone app to view the list of missed calls. Tap the desired missed call to open the call details.

The voice message will be displayed below the call information. Tap the play icon to listen to the audio recording. When you have finished listening to a message, tap the delete icon to remove it. This will clean out old messages so your missed calls list does not become overloaded.

To delete all message for a particular call, tap and hold the missed call and select the option to “Delete call & messages.” Your phone app may also display options for replying to the voice message or converting it to text using voice transcription features. Use these options for responding conveniently to the missed caller.

Keep your missed call and voice message settings up to date to always be able to view call alerts and messages right on your phone’s home screen.

Replying to Missed Call Messages

There are a few options for responding to someone who left you a missed call voice message:

Call back the number that left the message. This allows you to directly speak with the person and address why they called.
If you have their phone number, you can reply via text message. According to Krispcall, let them know you received their call, apologize for missing it, and ask if you can call them back later.

Leave a voice message in return. Call back and let them know you are returning their call after getting their voice message. Apologize for missing them and let them know when you are available to connect directly.

When replying, make sure to indicate who you are, reference that you are getting back to them regarding a missed call and voice message, and politely share when and how you can continue the conversation. Being proactive shows you respect their time and are making an effort to address why they contacted you.

Using Voice Transcriptions

One useful feature available with missed call alerts and voice messages is the ability to transcribe any audio recordings to text. This allows you to easily read the messages instead of having to listen to every voice message. Services like Rev provide transcription capabilities, using the latest AI voice recognition technology to convert the audio message to searchable, readable text.

The main benefits of transcribing voice messages to text include:

Read messages much quicker than listening to a recording
Search the text to easily find relevant information

Copy, paste and share the text transcript with others
Save and organize audio messages as text documents

When receiving a new voice message, the text transcript can be available instantly. You simply preview the transcript in the messaging app or feature enabling missed call alerts. From there, reading through missed call messages becomes just as easy as reading an SMS or email. So if you prefer reading over listening or want to efficiently handle many incoming messages, be sure to enable voice-to-text transcripts. This gives you the flexibility of viewing audio recordings as searchable text.

Managing Missed Call Alerts

You can customize how often you receive missed call alerts and what notifications you get. This allows you to control the frequency to best meet your needs.

On Android, go to your device’s Settings > Notifications > select your Phone app. From here, you can customize options for missed call notifications including:

Choose between popup, banner, or list notifications

Set the frequency such as every time you miss a call or every 15 or 30 minutes
Turn the notifications on/off

You can also manage your notification settings directly in your Phone app. Go to the missed call log and access its notification settings.

To archive old missed call logs you don’t need anymore, open up your call log, press and hold on any entry, then tap “Delete”. You can delete individual entries or mark multiple entries and delete them all at once.

Troubleshooting Issues

If you find you are not receiving missed call alerts and voice messages as expected, here are some troubleshooting steps to try:

First, check with your carrier that your missed call alerts and voicemail features are active on your account. There may be an issue on the network side preventing delivery of these messages.

Make sure your phone software is updated to the latest version. As software updates bring fixes and optimizations, keeping your phone’s OS up to date can help resolve bugs or glitches like missing voice messages.

Test receiving missed call alerts and voicemail with different contacts. If alerts and messages only fail with certain people, it could be an issue with their phone service settings. The problem may originate on their end.

[Insert additional troubleshooting suggestions as needed.]