Browse all 18 templates
Spoken durations are estimates at 150 words per minute and exclude pauses. Option counts show the choices in the flow; the main greeting page includes separate two-, four- and seven-choice versions. Every destination example ends at one or more phones rung in turn, or at voicemail. A few templates show general-practice techniques, such as submenus, ring groups that ring together or after-hours forwarding, that Auto Attendant does not offer; each of those pages says how to set up the closest version with Auto Attendant.
| Template | Use it when | Script duration | Options |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main business greeting | For the first greeting on your business number during normal opening hours. Choose the shortest menu that gives callers a useful route. | 14–18 sec | 2, 4 or 7 |
| After-hours greeting | For weekday evenings or other scheduled hours when the business is closed and callers should know when to expect a response. | 16 sec | 0 |
| Weekend greeting | When weekend availability differs from weekday evenings and the weekend caller needs a distinct expectation. | 16 sec | 0 |
| Holiday closure | For a planned public holiday or company closure with a known reopening date. | 15 sec | 0 |
| Urgent after-hours line for trades | For a trade business that accepts genuinely urgent after-hours work and has a person on call. | 23 sec | 2 |
| Temporary closure | For an unexpected closure such as severe weather, a power outage or an inaccessible premises. | 21 sec | 2 |
| Lunch-hour greeting | When the office closes for a predictable lunch break and nobody is assigned to answer during that period. | 15 sec | 0 |
| Seasonal peak greeting | For a temporary busy period when calls concern a small number of common topics and a short recorded message can set expectations. | 19 sec | 3 |
| Moved or new number announcement | As a temporary message while callers adjust to a move or a newly advertised business number. | 11–13 sec | 2 |
| General voicemail greeting | As the fallback when the team cannot answer, or when the caller deliberately chooses to leave a message. | 15 sec | 0 |
| Role mailbox greeting | For a shared role such as billing, bookings or service, where callers can leave a message for whoever owns that work. | 17 sec | 0 |
| Service versus sales submenu | When one top-level choice needs a useful split, while callers with other needs should not have to hear that detail. | 6–9 sec | 4 |
| Bilingual English and Spanish menu | When callers need a clear language choice before hearing the rest of the menu. | 6–11 sec | 2 |
| Sequential on-call escalation | When one person owns the call first and a named role or backup should get the call if the first person does not answer. | 16 sec | 2 |
| Overflow when nobody answers | As a clear final step when the team’s mobiles ring but nobody picks up. | 17 sec | 0 |
| Appointment-based business | For a business where many callers want to book, change an appointment or ask a general question. | 18 sec | 3 |
| Field crew dispatch | For a team working away from a desk, where dispatch or active-job calls should ring the crew and routine enquiries should be separated. | 16 sec | 3 |
| One-person office | For a small office where one person answers most calls but needs a simple fallback while busy or away. | 15 sec | 2 |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
A few rules make menus easier to use
- Say what the option does before its number. “For an appointment, press 1” lets callers hear the purpose before deciding.
- Put the common reason first. That gives more callers a short path and makes the menu feel organised around their needs.
- Repeat the choices once. A caller who missed the first item can still choose without starting over.
- Keep the top level to about four options where practical. Callers have to listen and remember the list. A submenu keeps detail available without reading it to everyone.
- Use a real fallback. Every ringing route should lead to someone or to voicemail, and the greeting should not promise a response the team cannot deliver.
These are design suggestions, not product limits. An Auto Attendant menu holds up to seven options. For the broader routing guide, see how to design a call route.
Standards and rules behind the templates
The templates are wording and routing, not legal text, but a few public standards and rules sit under them.
- The keypad. Menu keys are DTMF tones, whose keypad features are set out in ITU-T Recommendation Q.23.1 When a call crosses an IP network the digits can be carried as telephony events under the IETF's RFC 4733.2 That is why a template names only keys the keypad has, and why every flow also needs a default for a caller who presses nothing.
- Urgent and after-hours wording. In the United States, multi-line telephone systems must let a user dial 911 directly, without a prefix.3 The urgent and closure templates route to your own people. Do not edit them to suggest they replace 911.
- Accessibility. The ADA requires businesses open to the public to communicate effectively with people who have disabilities.4 Keep a route to a person, leave a pause after the options, and avoid menus that move on after a few seconds of silence.
- Recording a message. Federal wiretap law prohibits interception of communications but has an exception where one party consents,5 and the rules on recording differ by state. If you ever add recording of live calls elsewhere, say so in the greeting and check your state's rule first.
This is general information, not legal advice. The sources are listed at the end of the page.
Put a template on your own number
Sign up with your email, pick a number, type the wording into the menu, choose the phone each option rings, and publish it.
Articles on this topic
Sources
Every regulatory and pricing claim on this page links to the primary source it came from. Figures were checked on the date shown at the top of the page; rules and prices change, so verify before relying on one.
- ITU-T Recommendation Q.23, Technical features of push-button telephone sets (the DTMF keypad standard). Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-Q.23 - IETF RFC 4733, RTP Payload for DTMF Digits, Telephony Tones, and Telephony Signals. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc4733 - 47 CFR § 9.16, Multi-line telephone systems: direct 911 dialing, notification, and dispatchable location. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/9.16 - ADA.gov, ADA Requirements: Effective Communication. Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.ada.gov/resources/effective-communication/ - 18 U.S.C. § 2511, Interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications prohibited (one-party consent exception). Retrieved 14 Oct 2026
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2511