iAutoAlert best practices for receiving messages

Q.   What are the best practices for receiving a successful message when iAutoAlert calls and an answering machine or voicemail picks up?

A.    Answering machines and voicemail should have a short, simple greeting message with no long pauses followed by a tone. Humans answering the phone call in person should say “Hello.”

iAutoAlert uses a computer detection algorithm to determine whether a Human or Machine answered the call.  There are times when the system thinks a Human answered when it was a machine and there are other times when the system things a Machine answered when it is a Human.

Some services add lengthy automated recordings after the greeting message such as “please press X to do X…”  This can cause delays that in turn can keep messages from being left properly on the answering machine or in voicemail.

An answering machine or voicemail greeting message can include transitional pauses. If these pauses are too long, the iAutoAlert system will think a Human has answered and the iAutoAlert message will start right away and will usually finish “before the tone” and no message gets left. 

When answering the phone in person it is recommended you say “hello.”  This will help iAutoAlert determine that a Human has answered and will start the message right away.