Phone menu script builder: fill-in templates for your greeting, menu and voicemail

These are the words a caller hears when they ring your business, written as templates you can fill in by hand. Print this page, write over the [BRACKETED] blanks, and read the result aloud before you set it up. There are five scripts — greeting, menu, hold, closed hours and voicemail — then three complete versions for different kinds of business, a guide to timing, and a checklist for testing.

If you are still deciding what the menu’s options should be, start with our guide to setting up a phone menu, then come back for the words.

How to use the templates

• Fill in every blank. A blank left in is a blank the caller hears.
• Use plain words: say what the caller wants to do, not your department name.
• Read each script aloud with a timer. If it runs longer than the target, cut words, not pauses.
• Keep one copy on paper beside the phone, so whoever answers knows what the caller has just heard.

The five scripts

Greeting

Target: one sentence, about 3 seconds. Said before anything else.

Thanks for calling [BUSINESS NAME].

If you record calls, the announcement follows the greeting. See telling callers a call is recorded for wording.

This call is being recorded.

Menu

Target: three or four options, under 20 seconds in all. Put the most urgent or most common option on key 1, because many systems send a caller who presses nothing there. Option first, key last.

[TASK 1, e.g. If your system is not working today], press 1.
[TASK 2, e.g. To book a visit], press 2.
[TASK 3, e.g. For a question about a bill], press 3.
To speak to anyone, press [4 or 0].

Hold and waiting in line

Target: one or two sentences, about 5 seconds, said once. Then music.

Everyone is busy at the moment. Please hold, and the next available person will take your call.

If callers wait long enough to hear it again, a second line may say how to leave a message instead:

Thanks for waiting. To leave a message instead, [press KEY / stay on the line].

Closed hours

Target: four short sentences, under 15 seconds before any choice.

Thanks for calling [BUSINESS NAME].
We are closed at the moment.
We are open [OPENING TIME] to [CLOSING TIME], [FIRST DAY] to [LAST DAY].
[IF URGENT: If [URGENT REASON, e.g. water is leaking], press 1.]
To leave a message, [press 2 / stay on the line].

Voicemail prompt

Target: two sentences, about 6 seconds. Tell the caller what to leave, so the message can be returned in one call.

Please leave your name, your number and [WHAT YOU NEED, e.g. your address] after the tone.
We will call you back [WHEN, e.g. by noon the next business day].

Three worked versions

A trades business

Six people: an office of two, three technicians, one person on accounts. Open 8 AM to 6 PM, Monday to Friday.

GREETING
Thanks for calling Fernhallow Heating.

MENU
If your heating or cooling is not working today, press 1.
To book a service visit, press 2.
For a question about a bill, press 3.
To speak to anyone, press 4.

HOLD
Everyone is busy at the moment. Please hold, and the next available person will take your call.

CLOSED
Thanks for calling Fernhallow Heating.
We are closed at the moment.
We are open 8 AM to 6 PM, Monday to Friday.
If you have no heat or no cooling and it cannot wait, press 1.
To leave a message, press 2.

VOICEMAIL
Please leave your name, your number and your address after the tone.
We will call you back by 10 AM the next business day.

A clinic front desk

Five people: three at the front desk, an office manager who also handles billing, and the practitioner. Open 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday, and 9 AM to noon on Saturday.

GREETING
Thanks for calling Wrenmoor Dental.

MENU
To book an appointment as a new patient, press 1.
To change or cancel an appointment, press 2.
For a question about a bill or insurance, press 3.
For anything else, press 4.

HOLD
Everyone at the front desk is with a patient at the moment. Please hold, and the next person free will take your call.

CLOSED
Thanks for calling Wrenmoor Dental.
We are closed at the moment.
We are open 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday, and 9 AM to noon on Saturday.
If you are in severe pain, please call [YOUR LOCAL URGENT CARE NUMBER].
To leave a message, stay on the line.

VOICEMAIL
Please leave your name, your date of birth and your phone number after the tone.
We will call you back when we open.

A clinic should check with its own advisors what may be asked for on a voicemail, and where callers should be sent in an emergency. The urgent line above is a blank on purpose.

A small software company

Eight people: two in sales, three in support, three building the product. Support is open 9 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday.

GREETING
Thanks for calling Pebblequill.

MENU
If you use Pebblequill and need help, press 1.
To ask about plans or a demo, press 2.
For a question about your invoice, press 3.

HOLD
Everyone in support is helping a customer at the moment. Please hold, and the next person free will take your call.

CLOSED
Thanks for calling Pebblequill.
Our support team is away at the moment.
We are open 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern time, Monday to Friday.
To leave a message, stay on the line.

VOICEMAIL
Please leave your name, the email address on your account and a short description of the problem after the tone.
We will reply the next business morning.

This one has only three options and no “speak to anyone” key, because key 1 already reaches the people most callers want. A business with a clear first option can afford the shorter menu.

Timing guide

A calm, clear phone voice runs at about 150 words a minute, which is 2.5 words a second. Synthetic voices are often a little faster, and pauses between sentences add time, so treat these as rough figures and time the real thing.

Words	Seconds, roughly	What fits in it
5	2	A one-line greeting
10	4	One menu option
15	6	A one-sentence hold message
25	10	A three-option menu with short options
40	16	A four-option menu, or a full closed message
60	24	Too long for anything a caller hears before a choice

To time a script: count the words, divide by 2.5, and add about one second for each sentence break. The Fernhallow menu above is 32 words and four sentences: about 13 seconds of words and 4 of pauses, so roughly 17 seconds in all. That is near the upper end. If yours is longer, look for words that do no work: “please”, “our”, “now”, “currently”, “for assistance with”.

A few limits worth knowing:

• Greeting: 3 seconds. Every caller hears it, on every call.
• Menu: under 20 seconds for the whole thing, including pauses.
• Each option: under 5 seconds. If an option needs more, it is two options.
• Closed message: under 15 seconds before the caller can act.
• Voicemail prompt: under 8 seconds.

Checklist: test the menu by calling it

Print this part and check off each line from an ordinary phone, not one inside the office.

• Call in open hours. The greeting is one sentence and says the business name clearly.
• Press each key in turn. The right people ring every time.
• Press nothing. Note where the call ends up, and that it is somewhere you meant.
• Press a key that is not an option. The caller is told and offered the menu again.
• Call while everyone behind one option is busy. The hold message plays, then music, then a way to leave a message.
• Call outside open hours. The closed message gives the right hours and days.
• Press the urgent key out of hours. The on-call person rings, not the office.
• Leave a voicemail. Check it arrives where the team will see it first thing.
• Time the menu from the first ring to the last option. Under 20 seconds.
• Ask someone who does not work here to call and tell you what they heard.

Do this again whenever you change a word, a key or your hours.

Using these in ContactRoll

ContactRoll’s phone setups take these scripts as they are. A greeting or closed message is one line of up to 300 characters, followed by a menu of up to four keys, each ringing a call group or taking a message, and the words for each choice can be up to 100 characters. Each sentence is said on its own, with a one-second pause between sentences, and a caller who presses nothing hears the menu twice before going to key 1 — so key 1 should be the option you least want to miss. There is more on calling in ContactRoll, and on what happens when no one can answer in our guide to after-hours calls.