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GH in the news- @Grasshopper
- Interested in getting an 855 number? We're taking reservations now - http://bit.ly/ailETt
- RT @chrisgeyer: excited i get to talk with more of our @grasshopper customers today as well
- RT @melilitts: I use @grasshopper as the main means of communication within my business, since our team is spread all over the US!
read your voicemail Archive
Friday Flix: Want to Read Your Voicemail?
Blog readers and customers know that in the past year we launched the Read Your Voicemail feature on our virtual phone system. More and more people are using the feature, which transcribes your voicemail and emails it to you. You can now even get it at signup, including a 30 day free trial!
If you haven’t checked it out, head over the features page, watch the video below or check out the following blog posts: Benefits of Voice Mail Transcription & Voice Mail When You Need It. Happy Friday!
Benefits of Voice Mail Transcription
This past year here at Grasshopper we added Read Your Voicemail to the long list of features used on our virtual phone system. The feature has been met with a great response and we continue to have more and more people use it every day.
If you are still wondering if having your voice mail transcribed is worthwhile, let us answer that for you below. Here are four great benefits of voice mail transcription:
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No calling, listening, re-listening
A friend calls you and leaves a message. Do you immediately listen to the message or do you just call them back? I can’t tell you how many people I know that call back and say, “Got your call but didn’t listen to the message.” Sometimes you simply don’t want to call and listen to the sweet voice mail lady telling you to press 1.
With business calls you can’t just ignore your voice mail like you can your personal line but that doesn’t mean you sometimes don’t want to. With voice mail transcription, you don’t have to call your voice mail and you don’t have to open the MP3 file (for our Grasshopper customers). You open your email, read your voice mail and decide what action you want to take next. Easy enough.
Visual Voicemail vs. Voicemail Transcription
With the launch of Google Voice there has been a lot of talk about visual voicemail, voicemail transcription, voice to text, voicemail to email, etc. There are so many different terms it can be confusing!
Here at Grasshopper we offer a feature to our customers called ‘Read Your Voicemail‘. When a customer subscribes to this feature, they are emailed a transcription (and an MP3) of their voicemail immediately after receiving it (we offer human transcription at no extra charge for better accuracy). They can then read the voicemail on their computer or Smartphone.
However, one of the questions we often get is, ‘Do you offer visual voicemail?’ The answer to that is, it depends.
Here is how others describe ‘visual voicemail’:
Verizon
“Visual Voice Mail allows customers to see a list of all of their voice mail messages with important information, such as date and time of receipt, as well as message duration, in order to prioritize and efficiently manage their voice mail messages directly from their phones.”
Voice Mail When You Need It
You are in the zone, ideas are flowing, work is getting done and the phone rings. You don’t want to miss an important call but you also don’t want to interrupt your work flow. With the Grasshopper virtual phone system you can see who is calling and send the caller to voice mail without worrying you are going to miss important information.
Why? Because with Grasshopper you will immediately be emailed the MP3 and the voice mail transcription (if you subscribe to the “Read Your Voicemail” feature). Voice mail is a great asset for your business and we have included some of the best ways to get the most out of it below.
Voice mail when you need it:
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Out of the office?
The great thing about having Grasshopper is that you can choose when you want calls to be forwarded or when you want them to be sent to voice mail. When you are out of the office, you can have calls forwarded to your cell or home phone. Don’t want to get calls after 8 pm? Set up an after-hours greeting and send calls directly to voice mail.
Sign Up Now: Unlimited Voice to Text Free Trial Ends Today!
Free Trial Ends Today!
Just a reminder, the Grasshopper Unlimited Voice to Text 60-day free trial ends today for most of our customers.
- Do you love having your voice mail transcribed?
- Did you enjoy not having to listen to your voice mail?
- Will you miss it?
If you answered yes to these questions, head over to your account and sign up today.
The Unlimited Voice to Text feature is just $10 a month and each voice mail transcription is done digitally to ensure your privacy and a quick turnaround. The option of human transcription is just a click away (at no extra cost!) and allows for improved accuracy in your transcription.
Read more about Voice to Text:
- Voice to Text Reviews & Reminder
- View Your Voice Mails with Unlimited Voice to Text
- Unlimited Voice to Text Feature w/ FAQs
*The Unlimited Voice to Text feature is now referred to as “Read Your Voicemail”
*As of 4/28/2010 there will be no free trial upon signup
Unlimited Voice to Text: Free Trial Over Monday, Sign up Now!
At the beginning of October we announced the launch of the new Unlimited Voice to Text feature and the feedback has been great:
“This is probably the *best* innovation in voice mail I’ve seen in years. The automated transcription is amazingly accurate, so much that I didn’t realize the first couple of times that it was real. Just assumed it was boilerplate text for marketing the new feature.”
“Great Voice to text feature!! Thanks for bringing it in house. I’ve already signed up to the service.”
@elizabethpw: my voicemail system now emails me voice-to-text transcriptions of each voicemail. THAT IS AWESOME!
@ducttape: Grasshopper phone service just added VMs to text something I’ve wanted for a while – Nice!
As a reminder to everyone, the 60 day free trial is over December 7th (that’s Monday!), for those customers who were signed up prior to October 9th.
Five Favorites: Features of the Grasshopper Virtual Phone System
With over 25 great features in the Grasshopper virtual phone system it was hard to narrow it down to just five. But believe it not, based on feedback we have received from Grasshopper users over the years, we were able to do so.
Here are five features that our customers love and take Grasshopper above and beyond:
1. Call Forwarding
Stay connected. That is one of the mottos here and it is one of the main reasons our customers use Grasshopper. Have calls forwarded to any number in the world. Your cell phone, home phone, office phone, the pay phone down the street (we don’t necessarily recommend that but hey, it can be done). The call forwarding feature is easy to use and helps you stay connected to your small business.
With Transcription, Voice Mail Has Never Been More Entertaining
There’s no doubt that voice mail transcription has improved the strained relationship we all have with voice mail. My guess is the cool factor for voice mail wore off about 2 days after it was invented.
Since it’s easier to scan text than to call in and listen, the appeal of voice mail transcription is pretty obvious. One thing people may overlook though, is how much enjoyment you can get reading messages that the transcription program wasn’t able to process well.
In fact, just for fun, here’s what that first paragraph looks like when transcribed from voicemail:
“There’s no doubt that voicemail transcription has improved this trained relationship we all have with voicemail my guess is the Cool factor for voicemail more off about 2 days after was invented since it’s easier to scan texted to call in and listen the appeal a voicemail transcription seems is pretty obvious 1 thing people may over looked just how much enjoyed that you can get the messages at the transcription program wasn’t able to process well.”
NEW Grasshopper Feature! Unlimited Voice to Text: View Your Voicemails
Meetings. Conferences. Cars. What do they all have in common? They are all places you can’t always answer your phone.
As an entrepreneur running your small business there is a lot of traveling, meetings and times you simply can’t take a phone call or listen to a voicemail.
That’s why Grasshopper is excited to announce our NEW feature – Unlimited Voice to Text.
The Voice to Text feature will do just what it sounds like; take your voicemail and transcribe it into an email, giving you the ability to view your voicemail. You can read the transcription of your voicemail on your phone or your computer without having to listen to it.
