A practical guide for ops & front-office teams
Most auto attendant menus get written once, in a hurry, and then never touched again. Below are ready-to-use auto attendant script examples, current for 2026, you can adapt in an afternoon — grouped by the kind of business you run.
In this piece
Start here
Auto attendant script examples by industry
Operate & maintain
In this piece
Your auto attendant answers more calls than anyone on your team, and it never has an off day — as long as the script behind it is right. Most menus get written once, in a hurry, and never touched again. Below are ready-to-use scripts you can adapt in an afternoon, grouped by the kind of business you run.
Jump straight to yours, or start with the short setup section if you're building a menu from scratch.
Six rules that hold across every industry.
A greeting tells the caller they've reached you. An auto attendant does that and routes them — so the script is doing two jobs at once, and the second one is where most menus fall apart. Think of the menu like signage in a building: the goal is the shortest path to the right door, not a complete directory of every room.
The caller needs to know they reached the right place before anything else happens.
Past that, callers forget the early choices by the time you finish the list.
"Press 2 for billing" beats "press 2 for accounts receivable."
Someone will call who doesn't fit any of your buckets. Give them a way out.
A quick "connecting you now" reassures the caller the button worked.
Sub-menus are fine when a department needs routing; three levels deep is where people hang up.
Ready to sound more professional?
Order a polished menu recording from a RealVoice voice talent, or generate one instantly with Phonzai →
Calm read, obvious routing — keep clinical and scheduling paths separate.
Callers are often anxious or unwell, so the read should be calm and the routing should be obvious. Lead with the emergency instruction, then the everyday paths.
01 · Main greeting
"Thank you for calling [Practice Name]. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and dial 911. For appointments, press 1. For prescription refills, press 2. For billing and insurance, press 3. For all other questions, press 0 to reach our front desk."
02 · Sub-menu
"For a new patient appointment, press 1. To reschedule or cancel an existing appointment, press 2. To reach our nurse line, press 3. To return to the main menu, press star."
03 · After hours
"Thank you for calling [Practice Name]. Our office is currently closed. Our regular hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If this is a medical emergency, please hang up and dial 911. To leave a message for our scheduling team, press 1, and we'll return your call the next business day."
Discretion and a clear sense of being handled. Route by matter type or attorney — not both.
Law-firm callers expect discretion and a clear sense they're being handled. Offer a direct-dial shortcut up front for the callers who already know who they need.
01 · Main greeting
"Thank you for calling [Firm Name], attorneys at law. If you know your party's extension, you may dial it at any time. For a new consultation, press 1. For an existing matter, press 2. For billing, press 3. To speak with a receptionist, press 0."
02 · Sub-menu
"For family law, press 1. For estate planning, press 2. For business and corporate matters, press 3. To leave a message for your attorney's assistant, press 4."
03 · After hours
"Thank you for calling [Firm Name]. Our office is closed. Our hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you are an existing client with an urgent matter, press 1. Otherwise, please leave your name, number, and a brief description of your matter, and we will return your call on the next business day."
Banks & credit unions — front-load the high-traffic account actions.
Members and customers call about specific account actions, so make the high-traffic paths — balances, cards, branches — the first thing they hear. Closures and outages matter more here than almost anywhere, so keep the temporary-message section below close at hand.
01 · Main greeting
"Thank you for calling [Bank/Credit Union Name]. For online and mobile banking help, press 1. To report a lost or stolen card, press 2. For branch hours and locations, press 3. For loans and new accounts, press 4. To speak with a member representative, press 0."
02 · Sub-menu
"For auto loans, press 1. For mortgages and home equity, press 2. To open a new checking or savings account, press 3. To return to the main menu, press star."
03 · After hours
"Thank you for calling [Bank/Credit Union Name]. Our branches and call center are currently closed. To report a lost or stolen card 24 hours a day, press 1. For online and mobile banking, visit [website]. Our representatives are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon."
Hours, stock, or a department — keep it fast and route store-level calls cleanly.
Retail callers usually want one of three things: hours, stock, or a specific department. Keep it fast and route store-level calls cleanly.
01 · Main greeting
"Thank you for calling [Store Name]. For store hours and location, press 1. To check product availability, press 2. For an existing order or return, press 3. For all other questions, press 0."
02 · Sub-menu
"For an online order, press 1. For an in-store purchase or return, press 2. To speak with customer service, press 3."
03 · After hours
"Thank you for calling [Store Name]. We're currently closed. Our hours are [hours]. You can shop, track orders, and start a return any time at [website]. To leave a message for our customer service team, press 1."
Separate existing clients from prospects so neither waits behind the other.
Agencies, consultancies, and B2B firms field a mix of client calls, vendor calls, and new business. Separate existing clients from prospects so neither waits behind the other.
01 · Main greeting
"Thank you for calling [Company Name]. If you're an existing client, press 1. For new business inquiries, press 2. For accounting and invoices, press 3. To reach the front desk, press 0."
02 · Sub-menu
"For account management, press 1. For technical or project support, press 2. To leave a message for your account lead, press 3."
03 · After hours
"Thank you for calling [Company Name]. Our office is closed. Our hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please leave your name, number, and a brief message, and the right person will get back to you on the next business day. For anything urgent, email [email]."
Front-load reservations, hours, and location so callers rarely need a person.
Most calls are reservations, hours, or location — and during service, no one is free to pick up. Front-load the answers so callers rarely need a person.
01 · Main greeting
"Thank you for calling [Restaurant Name]. For today's hours, press 1. To make or change a reservation, press 2. For private events and catering, press 3. For directions, press 4. To speak with the host stand, press 0."
02 · Sub-menu
"For private dining and large parties, press 1. For off-site catering, press 2. To leave a message for our events team, press 3."
03 · After hours
"Thank you for calling [Restaurant Name]. We're currently closed. Our hours are [hours]. You can book a table any time at [website or reservation line]. For private events and catering, please leave a message and our team will follow up tomorrow."
Build the library before you need it — then know where each insert belongs.
This is the part most businesses don't plan for: the announcement you wish you'd had ready when a storm closes a location, a system goes down, or call volume spikes. The fix is to build a small library of pre-approved inserts before you need them, so you're not writing under pressure mid-event. Keep ready-to-go scripts for weather closures, system outages, unusually high call volume, holiday hours, and temporary changes like renovations. Once the wording is approved, the only real question left is when and where in the phone system each insert belongs.
For holiday closures, adjusted hours, or a renovation, start telling callers a week or two ahead through your on-hold rotation — earlier for anything major. In the Mixer app, duplicate an existing message and drop the announcement in.
Use a standalone voice-only announcement that plays before your regular on-hold messaging begins — in the gap between a caller's menu selection and the first hold music. The break from your usual audio tells callers something important is being said.
For unplanned events that affect everyone — an unexpected closure, a service disruption — put the announcement directly in your main IVR greeting, before the menu options play, so it reaches every caller first.
01 · Weather
"Thank you for calling [Company Name]. Due to severe weather, our offices are closed today, [date]. Online and phone services remain available. We expect to reopen [date/time]. For our regular menu, please stay on the line."
02 · Outage
"A quick note before we connect you: we're aware of an issue affecting [service] and our team is working on it now. You can still reach us for everything else, and we'll share updates at [website]. Thank you for your patience."
03 · High volume
"We're experiencing higher-than-usual call volume right now, so wait times may be longer than normal. If you'd prefer not to wait, many requests can be handled at [website]. Thank you for holding — a representative will be with you as soon as possible."
Ready to upgrade your auto attendant?
Have your emergency and seasonal inserts recorded by a RealVoice talent, or spin them up in minutes with Phonzai →
If callers keep pressing 0 or hanging up, start here.
Most menu problems trace back to the same handful of errors. Work down the list and fix the ones you recognize.
Seven choices and callers forget the first three. Trim to four or five, and push the rest into a sub-menu.
"Press 1 for general inquiries" sends everyone to the same place. Name the actual destination instead.
Someone always needs a path you didn't anticipate. Always offer "press 0."
A holiday message playing in March tells callers you're not paying attention. Refresh on a schedule.
A voice competing with music is hard to follow. Save the hold music for after the menu selection.
Silence makes callers wonder if the button worked. A quick "connecting you now" settles it.
Every layer loses people. Stay one level deep wherever you can.
Switching tone — or voices — between prompts confuses callers and undercuts the brand. Keep one voice throughout.
A simple, accurate menu will always outperform a clever, confusing one.
— Field NoteYou don't have to guess — your phone system reports it.
You don't have to guess whether the menu is doing its job — your phone system reports it. Review these quarterly; small fixes compound into a noticeably smoother caller experience.
The share of calls that reach the right department on the first try. Below 85% usually means confusing labels.
Callers who hang up before reaching a person. A high rate points to a path that's too long or too unclear.
Time before transfer. Longer suggests callers are confused or looping through options.
Lots of wrong selections ending at the operator means your option labels need work.
It means your after-hours options aren't answering what callers actually need.
A good script still needs a clean recording and a sane update process.
The ones ops teams ask us most.
How long should the main greeting be?
Aim for 20 to 30 seconds. If it runs longer, you have too many options — move some to a sub-menu or to the operator.
Human voice or AI?
Both beat a robotic free TTS voice that comes built into your phone provider. RealVoice is the move when you want a studio session and human nuance on a flagship menu. Phonzai is the best choice when you want speed, consistency across many recordings, and the ability to update on demand. Two ways to give youe phone system a professional touch.
How often should I update it?
Audit quarterly, refresh seasonal content as hours change, and re-check accuracy after any internal reorganization.
Start with your industry's template and build from there.
Your auto attendant is your business's voice when no one can pick up, so it's worth more than a one-time setup. Start with the template for your industry, keep a small library of temporary and emergency messages ready before you need them, and put each announcement where it actually reaches callers. A simple, accurate menu will always outperform a clever, confusing one.
For the wording your menu plays — greetings, hold messages, and more — see our 100+ Phone Greeting Script Examples and the Ultimate Guide to On-Hold Messages. And if you're moving menus between systems, here's how to update IVR messages without re-recording.
Ready to get recorded?
Get your full auto attendant recorded with RealVoice human talent, or create instantly with Phonzai AI Voices →