What is Visual Voicemail vs. Voicemail Transcription

With the launch of Google Voice there has been a lot of talk about what is visual voicemail, voicemail transcription, voice-to-text, voicemail-to-email, etc. There are so many different terms, and it can be confusing! Today, we’ll look at visual voicemail and voicemail transcription to understand their advantages and differences.

What is Voicemail Transcription?

Voicemail transcription converts your voicemails to text so you can quickly scan and read your messages on your phone or computer. Gone are the days of tediously listening to voicemails on repeat to catch all the essential details in your business calls. Now, you can rely on voicemail transcription to capture important information in a text format that you can easily read.

Here at Grasshopper, we offer a ‘Read Your Voicemail‘ feature. When customers subscribe to this feature, they are emailed a transcription (and an MP3) of their voicemail immediately after receiving it. 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.

What is Visual Voicemail?

Visual voicemail is a technology that allows users to access and manage voicemails using a visual interface. With a list or grid that outlines a list of received voicemails, users can choose which ones to listen to instead of going through them in a predetermined order.

Usually, visual voicemail apps offer options to delete, save, or forward voicemails and provide basic information about each in their visual interface.

But why should you try visual voicemail transcription when traditional voicemail has proved its effectiveness for decades?

5 Key Benefits of Visual Voicemail vs. Traditional Voicemail

Many companies and sales teams still rely on voicemail for business communications. However, listening to voicemail messages one by one takes a lot of time and can sometimes make it difficult to get the information you need. Here are the five benefits of visual voicemail compared with traditional voicemail that businesses should consider:

Time saved

Accessing traditional voicemail recordings can sometimes feel like a hassle, as there are many steps to go through just to listen to one message. On the other hand, visual voicemail shows you a list of messages with all the details you need about the call, which makes managing voicemails easier and faster. A visual voicemail transcription also allows you to read the contents of your messages without listening to them.

Access to messages

If you’re in a meeting or somewhere noisy, dialing your traditional voicemail to retrieve your messages may not be possible. It’s not always convenient to listen through all your voicemail messages, especially if you’re an entrepreneur who’s always on the go.

With visual voicemail and voicemail transcription, you can easily access a text version of your voicemails and read them anywhere, anytime. You can also take a quick screenshot to save important information or simply browse through the transcripts of your voicemails.

Identifying irrelevant calls

You may be having a busy day and suddenly receive a notification that you have a new voicemail. You take your time to open and listen through it, only to find it’s just a pocket dial! With traditional voicemail, the only way to identify irrelevant calls is by actually listening to every message. What if it’s just two minutes of white noise? That can be frustrating.

But with visual voicemail apps, you don’t have to listen to each voicemail to know whether a message is relevant enough to warrant your attention. You may still get junk calls, but the transcript of messages will help you identify which voicemail needs immediate action and which can be ignored.

Searching and filtering messages

Have you ever replayed all your voicemails because you forgot to note important information and can’t remember which message that is? Traditional voicemails don’t show a preview of your messages, so you have no choice but to play all of them repeatedly just to get that tiny bit of information you missed.

On the other hand, visual voicemail makes searching through messages easier with its inbox-like interface. It shows a text format of all the necessary information, such as phone numbers or caller names, and a transcription of their voicemail. You won’t miss important info anymore!

Sharing information

When you forward traditional voicemails to your team, you would still need to provide some context to prevent confusion. It takes double the effort for your team to read through your instructions and listen to the voicemail simultaneously.

But with a visual voicemail transcription, you can share the entire message or pick out the important details to save your team members some time. This allows your team to act faster and spend more time resolving issues or doing high-value work.

How to Use Visual Voicemail with Grasshopper

Grasshopper’s visual voicemail transcription service helps you read your messages on your computer, iPhone, or Android device when you can’t listen to the recording. You can enable voicemail transcription in your Grasshopper account in 7 easy steps:

1. Sign in at https://nuui.us.grasshopper.com
2. Go to Settings and select Features
3. From Read Your Voicemail, select Add “Read Your Voicemail”
4. Check the box confirming the monthly fee and then select Confirm & Add “Read Your Voicemail”
5. Now, you can add email addresses to receive voicemail transcriptions. Go to Extensions and then select Edit next to an extension
6. From “Where do you want messages sent to?” select Add email address.
7. Enter your preferred email address and then select Add.

That’s it! With Grasshopper, you can stay connected even when you can’t listen. Register for a free trial to transcribe your voicemails today!