Sign Up
My account
My account
Sign Up

Seasonal telephone greetings: examples and tips for adapting your message throughout the year

Seasonal telephone greetings: examples and tips for adapting your message throughout the year

Examples of professional seasonal telephone reception services
An answering machine wishing people a happy holiday in March. A summer greeting that’s still active in September. A generic telephone greeting during your sales period. These situations are more common than you might think, and they all send the same message to your callers: this company doesn’t pay attention to detail.

Conversely, a professional telephone reception service which corresponds exactly to the current period, creates an impression of professionalism and immediacy. Callers perceive the company as organised, attentive and dynamic. This guide sets out scripts for each season, the periods when updates are mandatory, and best practices for managing your telephone greeting schedule without having to spend time on it every week.

Why a seasonal telephone helpline changes customer relations

A telephone greeting is often the first point of contact between your business and a caller. A standard message says: «We’re here.» A seasonal message says: «We’re here for you, we’re listening, and we’re thinking of you.»

This distinction is not insignificant. In sectors where trust is built from the very first point of contact, a telephone greeting that reflects the current situation reinforces the company’s credibility. A caller who hears «The whole team wishes you a very happy festive season and will be back on [specific date]» immediately realises that the company is well-organised and respects people’s time.

Conversely, an out-of-date message causes immediate frustration. If the caller hears a reference to a past period, their first thought is that your voicemail is not being monitored, and by extension that their messages won’t be either.

The four main periods that require a specific telephone service

Not all businesses have the same seasonal cycles, but there are four periods that occur regularly and require the telephone greeting to be updated.

The summer holidays (July and August). This is the longest and most significant phase. Callers come across your professional answering machine for several weeks. A telephone helpline that specifies the exact dates of closure and reopening, and offers an alternative for urgent enquiries, keeps potential customers on board, whereas a generic message would drive them away to a competitor.

The festive season (Christmas and New Year). The end-of-year closure leads to a surge in calls before the break and a busy return to work in January. A telephone greeting that announces the closure dates from 20 December onwards, warmly wishes customers a happy festive season and specifies the date of return to work turns an absence into a positive act of communication.

Long weekends and public holidays. A Whitsun Monday or a long weekend around 8 May without a specific message leaves callers in the dark. These short closures are often overlooked in call centre management, but they cause exactly the same kind of frustration as a long closure.

Peak trading periods. Sales, Black Friday, product launches, the start of the new school year in September: these occasions call for a telephone greeting that grabs callers’ attention and directs them to the relevant information for the time being. This is not a closing message, but a pre-unhooked or an active welcome message that capitalises on the timing of sales.

Ready-to-use scripts by season

Summer holidays with a return date:
«Hello, you’ve reached [Company]. Our entire team will be on holiday from [date] to [date]. We’ll be back in the office on [return date]. Please leave your name and number, and we’ll get back to you on our first day back.»
(Duration: 18 seconds)



Summer holidays with an emergency channel:
«Hello, you’ve reached [Company]. Our team is on holiday until [date]. For urgent enquiries, please email us at [email] or contact [First name] on [number]. For all other enquiries, please leave a message and we will call you back as soon as we return.»
(Duration: 22 seconds)



End-of-year celebrations:
«Hello, you’ve reached [Company]. Our whole team wishes you a very happy festive season. We’ll be closed from [date] to [date] and will be back on [date]. Please leave your number and we’ll call you back as soon as we’re back.»
(Duration: 17 seconds)



Long weekend or public holiday:
«Hello, you’ve reached [Company]. Our offices are closed today. We’ll be back on [date] from [time]. Please leave a message and we’ll call you back when we reopen.»
(Duration: 13 seconds)



Peak sales periods (sales, back-to-school):
«Hello, you’ve reached [Company]. All our advisers are currently busy. It’s the [sales / back-to-school] period and we’re receiving an exceptionally high volume of calls. Please leave your number and we’ll call you back later today.»
(Duration: 20 seconds)

Tailor the hold music to the season

A seasonal telephone greeting is not just about the text. The music that accompanies your telephone on-hold message plays just as big a part as the words in shaping the impression left on the caller. Slightly festive music for the end-of-year celebrations, a more upbeat tune for the start of the new school year in September, a more relaxed atmosphere for the summer: these details are picked up by the caller, even subconsciously.

Please note, however, that the use of commercial music in a professional context is governed by the SACEM and SCPA regulations. Any music played on a telephone hold line or as background music for a welcome message requires the relevant rights. Royalty-free music avoids this restriction and is available in sufficient variety to create the desired atmosphere at any time of year.

The most common mistakes made by seasonal telephone receptionists

Forgetting to set up the standard message after the holidays. This is the number one mistake. The company resumes business, but the holiday answering service remains active for several days, or even weeks. A caller who still hears «We are on holiday until 26 August» on 5 September will assume that the line is not being monitored. Always make a note in your diary of the date to update the message when you activate the seasonal message.

Sentences that are too long and obscure the key information. «The whole team joins me in wishing you a very happy festive season and sending you our best wishes for the New Year…» causes the return date to be lost in the background noise. The caller needs to know when to ring back. The two peaks in voicemail abandonment occur at 30 and 60 seconds. If the return date isn’t heard within the first 20 seconds, it often won’t be heard at all.

The lack of a specific date. «We’ll be back after the holidays» isn’t specific enough. «We’ll be back on Monday 6 January at 9am» is. Being specific reassures the caller and reduces the number of unnecessary follow-up calls whilst you’re away.

No alternative has been proposed for emergencies. Depending on your sector, some callers cannot wait several weeks. Failing to provide an alternative contact method in your holiday telephone service means losing these customers for good. An email, an on-call number or a voicemail A dedicated service enables us to stay in touch regarding matters that cannot wait.

How to draw up an annual telephone reception schedule

Managing seasonal telephone enquiries is straightforward, provided you plan ahead. Here is the most effective approach to ensure you’re never caught off guard.

At the start of the year, make a list of all the periods that will require a specific message: summer holidays, known long weekends, annual closures and sales periods. For each one, note two dates in your diary: the date the seasonal message goes live and the date the standard message is reinstated.

Prepare your scripts in advance, outside of busy periods. A script written calmly in May for the August holidays will always be better than one rushed together the day before you set off.

The various types of messages to include in your annual calendar cover all your telephone contact points: the’professional telephone reception service main, the answering machine message For calls outside office hours, the pre-unhooked and if your company has one, the IVR menu which can also be adapted to suit different periods.

With Voconix, you can create and store several messages, which you can activate at any time via your browser. You can prepare your summer out-of-office message in April, activate it on the day you set off, and schedule it to be deactivated. No technical intervention is required, and there’s no need to make an emergency call to your installer on a Friday evening just as you’re setting off on holiday.

Seasonal telephone reception as a brand-building tool

Beyond simply providing practical information, a well-structured seasonal telephone greeting is a form of communication in its own right. It shows that your business is dynamic, aware of the calendar and committed to maintaining contact with its customers even outside normal working hours.

The consistency between the voice, the music and the message’s content reinforces this impression. These details help to build a consistent and memorable sound identity, just as your visual identity or the tone of your written communications do.

Voconix offers 25 voices in 5 languages, with a catalogue of over 10,000 royalty-free tracks to help you choose the right background music for every time of year. The voice and music are mixed automatically. The result is a studio-quality telephone greeting, requiring no equipment and available in under two minutes.