Is Voicemail On Its Last Breath?
The feature is largely ignored and not utilized, why keep it around?
We’re going way back to the Watergate scandal, Marvin Gaye, Pink Floyd, original Star Wars release, the birth of Tom Brady, and Daddy Yankee. Amongst all of this, and much more, voicemail was developed and starting to be deployed in the late 1970s.
Consider the connectivity we have today: text, chats, social media inboxes, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, Facebook Portal, your vehicle’s integration, smartwatches, smart glasses, smart mirrors, smart TVs, and more. With all of these access points, the use of voicemails and retrievals of said messages is a dying practice.
The latest study I found is six years old (2014). Before I speak of it, that should tell you how interested people are in voicemail. Continuing with the point, this study stated that 80% of callers do not leave a message. A 2013 survey by eVoice, a provider of virtual phone services, found that only 33% of people listen to voice mail from business contacts. Only 18% listen to voice mails from numbers they don’t know. I can confidently deduce that these numbers have dropped dramatically in the last six to seven years as the previously mentioned technologies emerged and prevailed.
Lastly, to me, it is so undesired that new technologies have emerged transcribing your voicemails so you can access them as if they were text, as portrayed in the image below. So, then, the question, why even have it?
The data is hard to find and left me with more questions than answers. Maybe you can help me figure them out.
What are the operating costs of supplying voicemail?
Can there be possible fee reductions for consumers and their plans?
How much carbon is being emitted by the allocated computing and storage of voicemails?
How much energy is being consumed by supplying the feature?
Who will be impacted by its elimination, and how can they be helped to adopt newer methods of communication?
Specific to my experiences running a commercial team, I see that voicemails do not work. We’ve had to pivot to other methods to engage with potential clients properly. Sorry, I can’t disclose those methods - the competition may be reading this…
Further, with internal clients, the same issues arise. If you want to stay engaged or access them for routine tasks and touchpoints, voicemail is unnecessary. So long voicemail, say hi to my beeper.
Have you adjusted your voicemail use already or considered it? Please comment and let me know.