Why do cell phones only ring 4 times before voicemail picks up? I’m sure that I can’t be the only one in the world who misses a decent number of calls because I don’t have a chance to pick up. It doesn’t matter where I am… If I’m outside, it might be a ring or 2 before I even realize my phones ringing, and by the time I stop what I’m doing and retrieve it from my pocket, “Missed Call.” If I’m inside, especially at home, if I hear the phone ring, it takes me at least a few rings to remember where the hell I left it. And I’d imagine women have it even worse, with it typically buttoned up inside a purse.
I’ve actually tried calling my phone provider to see if I can adjust the number of rings, and interestingly enough, I learned that Verizon used to do this, but now it’s a standard 4 rings for everyone. I’ve also found that VOIP and home lines typically offer minimal customization of rings, and the max allowed I’ve ever seen is 6 rings.
I’m looking for something like 8 rings! Furthermore, I even think 6 or 8 rings should be the standard, not a measly 4. I have two excellent reasons for this.
First, like I mentioned before, it’s sometimes difficult to answer the phone within 4 rings, especially if your cell phone vibrates for the first ring (which is exceedingly convenient if you’re in a meeting and forget to turn it to silent). If you’re at home, no more running around the house, up and down stairs, and checking your bags for your phone. Just take your leisurely time to answer the phone.
The second reason this is a great idea is to provide an automatic filter on voicemail. If someone only has to wait 4 rings to leave you a message, than they’re probably going to let it ring and leave a message regardless of the importance of the call. However, if they have to wait 8 rings, they may now think twice about leaving a message. If they choose not to leave a message, then the way I see it is that it clearly wasn’t that important to begin with (or they’ll text or email me, etc).
At the end of the day, leave it up to the consumer to customize. There’s an idea that can help lots of businesses.
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You're making a huge assumption that anyone would hang out for eight rings. If the standard is four, which is now what people are used to, you're thinking people would hang on for twice that?
ReplyDeleteHave you read "Nudge" at all? :-)
I wouldn't call it an assumption as much as a filter. Worst case scenario, someone hangs up, and it probably wasn't that important to begin with. That aside, many times phones ring around 6-8 times from the caller's side, but only 3.5 times from the receiver's side.
ReplyDeletePeople used to hate having zeros in their phone number since it would be more difficult to dial from a rotary phone (you'd have to make a full circle with your finger). Seems silly today. In 5-10 years from now, we'll look back and think, "they had to answer the phone in less than 4 rings??"