For a Flemish audience, voices like Gitta or Kristien work particularly well. Gitta has an approachable, warm presence. Kristien's language skills make her an excellent choice if your menu needs to be multilingual later. She speaks Flemish, French, English, German, and Spanish.
Tip: Always listen to specific telephony demos. Do not use general advertising recordings. A voice in a phone menu sounds very different from one in a radio advert.
Step 3: Allow enough breathing room in the recording
As a voice director in the studio, I often see this: a voice actor reads short menu texts too quickly out of habit. However, the right pace is crucial for a successful phone menu.
Studio Director's Tip: Ask the voice actor to pause briefly just before and after each number. When you record phrases like 'For questions about your invoice... press 1' with enough pause, callers have time to process the option. This prevents callers pressing the wrong buttons and getting misdirected calls.
Step 4: Plan for next year's updates now
A common mistake is recording a menu without considering future changes. In six months, an opening hour might change, or a new service might be added. If a colleague then quickly records an extra option using a phone handset, your customer hears a messy mix of different voices and sound qualities.
Tip: Choose a professional voice actor who remains available long-term. Keep the original script. When an update is needed, your phone system's feel stays consistent.
Step 5: Test the result through your customer's eyes
After assembling and setting up the audio files, your guide isn't finished. Call your own system yourself at different times of the day.- Call during peak hours to hear how the waiting time and background music sound.
- Intentionally select the wrong options to check if error messages are friendly and clear.
- Check that the volume of all individual menu options is consistent throughout.
Tip: Also have someone outside your company test the line. They will notice hesitations you might overlook.