What is Voicemail Transcription & How Does It Work?

Voicemail transcription uses speech recognition and utilizes datasets to understand different accents, speech patterns, and dialects to improve accuracy. It also uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand the meaning of the words spoken, the context of the conversation, and the sentiment.

Besides, the transcribed voicemails can be delivered in various ways, such as through email and text messages. It makes voicemail transcriptions convenient to access voicemails without having to listen to each one of them and respond to the caller more appropriately.
 

To forward voicemail to texts, first enable the voicemail-to-text feature. Then, record your voice and send it to the recipient. The voicemail will be automatically translated into text and delivered to the receiver.

iPhone

iPhone provides voicemail services in the phone app. Once you enable this feature on your iPhone app, a voicemail icon appears, indicating the number of unheard messages. There, you can see a list of messages and choose which one to play or delete. However, transcription to text is limited to iPhones with iOS 10 and above and depends on the quality of your voice recording.

Note: Voicemail on iPhone is only available in certain countries and regions and depends on your carrier service.

Android

Android devices also offer a voicemail feature. To use it, you need to enable it by going to the Phone app>Settings>Voicemail. Several Android phone companies, such as Samsung, also provide their own voicemail app known as “Visual Voicemail” that transcribes voicemail into text.

Using voicemail on iPhone and Android limits your voicemail usage to cell phones. However, there’s an alternative way to make your voicemail feature device-friendly: using virtual phone systems.

Virtual Phone Systems

Virtual phone systems are cloud-based phone systems that allow you to make and receive calls through the Internet. Most of these systems use speech recognition, natural language processing, or AI-driven automated transcription to transcribe voicemails into text accurately, regardless of accents and complex languages.

A business can get hundreds of voicemails daily, and transcribing each one of them is almost impossible. Therefore, you should consider switching to a business phone system with the voicemail transcription feature to transcribe your voicemails in bulk.

Calilio is a cloud-based business phone system that offers AI-powered voicemail transcription that converts voicemail messages into text with 99% accuracy. It can accurately transcribe all your voicemails regardless of the language spoken, be it Chinese, German, or English. Hence, if your business is spread across borders and has clients communicating in various languages, Calilio can be a big help.
 

Besides, the AI makes documenting and storing calls easier since it allows you to download a PDF report of the transcribed voicemail, highlighting the reason for the conclusion and a call summary. Calilio is quite affordable, typically starting from $12 onwards per user per month. It lets you access your call transcripts, voicemails, calls, and SMS, all in a single unified callbox. 

RingCentral provides voicemail transcription with various communication tools, including video conferencing and team messaging. Its transcription feature allows all RingEX subscribers to receive voicemail messages as text, which can be accessed through their app or email. Nevertheless, you must adhere to HIPAA compliance to receive RingCentral voicemail transcriptions.
 

The drawback of RingCentral voicemail is that if you upload a voicemail that exceeds 1 minute in duration, only the first minute will be transcribed. RingCentral pricing starts at $20 per month and increases depending on the selected plan and features.   

Freshcaller is a cloud-based contact center communication system that uses an advanced AI engine called Freddy Copilot to convert voicemails into text. As soon as the call between you and your client ends, it generates transcriptions automatically and places them within the conversation interface.

Additionally, Freshcaller allows you to summarize the transcribed voicemail by simply clicking the ‘summarize’ button, which remains a private note in the conversation history.  The system delivers several call metrics to businesses to keep track of important information and features like voicemail greetings and routing, which ease agent workload. The pricing for Freshcaller starts from $15; however, it also offers users a free and enterprise plan.

Many businesses use voicemail to screen incoming calls, prioritize them, and ensure that they always receive important business information. However, in a giant business organization where many agents work together, keeping up with numerous voicemails and taking notes can be tough. Therefore, Voicemail transcriptions are important for efficient business communication.

Voicemail transcription makes managing messages easy for any organization by saving time, increasing decision-making speed, organizing messages, and enhancing accessibility. 

Voicemail transcription allows you to jump directly to the main motive of the call and skip the introductory or other irrelevant parts. It makes finding important information easier than listening to audio recordings; thus, it saves time and enhances efficiency.

Unlike voicemails, transcriptions are easier to organize, store, and retrieve; hence, utilizing voicemail transcriptions ensures that important information is always accessible when needed.

With quick access to transcribed messages, businesses can find better solutions to customer queries and respond faster, which can positively influence customer service and increase satisfaction.

Voicemail transcription converts audio messages into readable text, saves time, and allows users to quickly find important information without listening to lengthy voicemails.

On top of that, voicemail transcriptions also increase the number of clients worldwide since it improves accessibility for individuals with hearing impairments. When businesses improve their accessibility, they open their service to a bigger range of customers increasing  customer pool and decreasing the chances of legal penalty. Sign up for Calilio and manage your business calls with a robust voicemail transcription service.

If you want to convert a voicemail to text, you can use a voicemail transcription app such as Transkriptor or Otter.ai. For iPhone users, the feature is inbuilt. Likewise, if you are a business owner searching for automatic transcription with almost 100% accuracy, you can opt for a cloud phone system like Calilio for AI-powered voicemail transcription.

A voicemail can be transcribed using mobile applications made for transcription purposes where you will have to upload voicemails manually. However, cloud phone systems offer instant automatic voicemail transcription that has no limit for duration or uploads.

You can receive voicemails as text messages and email if you utilize VoIP communication services like Calilio, that automatically transcribes the voicemail you receive and send to you as a text or email message.