How To Transcribe Voicemail To Text For Businesses

When you’re trying to increase workplace efficiency or manage customer service, every second counts. That’s why voicemail transcription is a great technology to incorporate into your business. It reduces the time spent listening to customer messages without hurting your ability to provide excellent customer support.

How does it accomplish this? Through voicemail-to-text service—it transcribes audio voicemail messages of any length into easy-to-read written text within moments of receiving the call. That way, instead of having team members wasting time listening to long-winded voicemail messages in their entirety, they can scan the voicemail transcription to quickly understand the most important details of the message. It’s a win-win for businesses and customers—your team gets to be more productive while addressing customer questions or concerns promptly.

Benefits of Voicemail Transcription

Incorporating voicemail transcription (also called visual voicemail) into your daily customer support operations offers companies many benefits, including:

Improved Customer Experience

It’s easy to miss information from a voicemail message when a caller talks quickly or if a listener’s mind wanders when a message is on the longer side. Visual voicemail transcription eliminates this problem, letting your customer service representatives more easily identify problems. Plus, with less time spent listening to messages, your team can use more of its work hours addressing customer issues that improve customer experience.

Streamlined Workflows

Your customer service and sales teams can improve the efficiency of their workflows by using voicemail transcription tools. With them, your team can quickly set up custom greetings. They’ll also waste less time transcribing messages themselves or listening to recorded messages over and over whenever they need to refer back to a previous interaction. Transcription services and voicemail apps do this for you, keeping a written record of all customer communications.

Increased Productivity

It’s faster to read through a voicemail transcript than it is to listen to an entire audio message, meaning your customer support team will automatically save time and effort just by using this method. They can quickly spot key information and gauge its level of importance—so you can prioritize the most critical issues first. Plus,

Multilingual Support

Whether you run a small, local business or a global organization, it’s essential to have the ability to understand all customer messages—no matter what language is used. Many voicemail transcription tools offer multilingual support, automatically translating Spanish, French, or other languages into English. That way, instead of losing leads or customers because of a language barrier, your business can offer support and win over more prospects.

Analyze Customer Feedback

Since transcribing voicemails creates a text-based document of customer communications, it’s also beneficial for evaluating customer feedback. It can help you analyze how well your team is providing support, determine if customers feel satisfied or have their problems resolved, and identify areas where your team could improve—all critical aspects if you’re looking to continually improve your customer support.

6 Automated Voicemail Transcription Tools

Now that you understand the benefits voicemail transcription offers, exploring the tools and features that can automate this process for you is key to finding the right solution for your business.

Nextiva

This cloud-based virtual phone system handles many types of communication (phone calls, emails, live chat, etc.) and includes voicemail transcription—all managed on a single platform. Nextiva also integrates with many customer relationship management (CRM) systems, such as HubSpot and Salesforce. To access Nextiva’s transcription features, you’ll need to pay $32.95/month for their Enterprise Plan.

RingCentral

With RingCentral’s Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service, your business can select how you want to receive voicemail messages. Options include desktop and mobile apps or delivering through email. You’ll receive both a copy of the audio message and a full transcription. Voicemail transcription is available with every plan, and pricing starts at $20/user/month.

Zoom Phone

Built on the same framework as its popular video meeting service, Zoom Phone also offers cloud-based VoIP calling. Users can send and receive calls, set up voicemail greetings, and view voicemail transcriptions through their app. However, voicemail transcription is only available with the Enterprise Plan, and you’ll need to contact sales for a quote.

Freshdesk Contact Center

Freshdesk Contact Center (previously known as Freshcaller) automatically transcribes messages using artificial intelligence (AI). This transcription tool offers call forwarding and call-based metrics for analytics purposes—and it has a handy mobile app. While there is a free plan, it doesn’t offer transcription services, so you’ll need to upgrade to at least the Growth Plan, which costs $15/agent/month when billed annually.

Grasshopper

Grasshopper’s voicemail transcription service is available at all plan levels, emailing transcriptions straight into your inbox. However, this transcription tool is designed for small businesses and startups, so mid- to large-sized companies may need to look elsewhere. Pricing starts at $14/month with annual payments.

Google Voice

Google Voice is a great voicemail transcription option if you’re already using other Google workspace tools (like Google Calendar and Meet). Its AI-powered transcription services automatically transform audio messages into text. Plus, it’s easy to use. Pricing starts at $10/month.

5 Mobile Apps to Transcribe Voicemails

If you want an easy way to transcribe voicemails and don’t want to deal with setting up additional software, then a mobile app may be your best choice.

YouMail

This third-party platform helps you manage voicemails through the cloud. Its premium plans also offer smart caller ID to help block spam calls and a virtual receptionist. YouMail works with every cellular provider in North America, and paid plans start at $11.99/month.

AT&T Visual Voicemail

AT&T Visual Voicemail does just that—letting you view and manage voicemail transcriptions. This voicemail app is free, but it only works if your entire team uses the AT&T network.

InstaVoice

Instavoice automatically transcribes voicemails and uploads them into the cloud database, where you can organize and manage messages as you desire (including through email or the app). This app is free, works with all carriers in the US, offers unlimited cloud storage, and can link multiple numbers into one account.

HulloMail

With HulloMail’s app, voicemails are transcribed instantly, and you can easily share them with colleagues. The app also features call blocking to reduce spam calls and personalized voicemail greetings. Pricing ranges from $0.99 to $49.99 per feature, but HulloMail does offer a 14-day free trial.

Voxist

This visual voicemail app offers voice-to-text transcription for many languages, so it’s a great option for companies looking to improve their multilingual support. Voxist has a free plan, but it’s limited to ten transcriptions per month for one number. Its Premium Plan starts at $4.99/month with 30 transcriptions each month.

Podium for VoIP

If you’re looking for a better way to manage voicemails and customer communications, consider Podium’s Phone Service. Our VoIP system is designed to connect with your customers faster, improving customer satisfaction and boosting your productivity.

With Podium, missed calls and other customer communications are automatically transcribed and routed to one inbox—saving your team time and helping achieve better outcomes. Watch a demo today to learn more.