I recently Googled “Should you leave voicemails when cold calling?”
Half of the posts said yes. Half of the posts said no.
Unfortunately, none of them cited a single reliable data point.
So we partnered with Gong to analyze 300M+ cold calls to answer the question:
Should you leave a voicemail when cold calling (and if so, how?).
It’s time to settle this debate once and for all.
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(PS: We originally published this article on Gong Labs to celebrate the book release of Cold Calling Sucks (And That's Why It Works) You can buy the book here.)
Should you leave voicemails at all?
To answer this question, we’ll first examine the case against voicemails, which admittedly is quite strong:
- Prospects never call back
- Voicemails take too much time.
- Voicemails reduce your future connect rate
That last one especially hurts. Gong data shows that voicemails reduce your connect rate by 28% on all future dials (5.17% after VMs, 7.18% with voicemails):
You’re probably thinking, “Alright, case closed.”
But one key counterpoint revealed across 300M calls is why we still leave voicemails...
Gong data shows that voicemails double your email reply rate from 2.73% to 5.87%:
In addition to this data-backed case to boost your reply rates, you get to an answer faster and you can still maintain your connect rate by rotating your phone numbers.
But the concerns have some merits, which will inform our voicemail strategy.
Our Strategy: Double Tap Voicemails
Our approach to voicemails includes key components that help us counter the arguments against leaving them:
- Lead with context. Use something about them to pique their interest, then leave the pitch for the email. The moment you sell in the voicemail, they’ll delete it.
- Direct back to the email. Never ask them to call you back. Direct every ounce of attention to one thing: look for our email.
- Keep voicemails really, really short. No one listens to a 2-minute voicemail, and it’s a waste of your time to leave anything longer than 30 seconds.
Lastly, we’ll only leave two voicemails in what we call “Double Tap Voicemails.”
Why two? Gong data shows email reply rates double when you leave one or two voicemails, but that’s where the data tells us to stop.
Here’s what those two voicemails should sound like.
Voicemail #1: 15 Seconds, Context Only
Your first voicemail will be 15 seconds long and context-only. Lead with the most important piece of context you have, then save the entire pitch for the email.
Here’s what that sounds like (scan the QR to hear the tone):
Voicemail #2: 30 Seconds, Context + Social Proof
If the context-only approach doesn’t work the first time, we’ll use social proof for voicemail 2 to provide just a bit more context.
But again, leave the pitch for the email.
See the changes to voicemail 1 highlighted below (scan QR again to hear the tone):
That's a wrap folks! If you liked this, there are a whopping 15+ data-backed cold calling tips and 30+ talk tracks throughout the actual book.
Today is the last day you can get the digital copy for only $1.
Get yours here
