What your callers hear

Useful when you’re deciding what to turn on, or working out what a customer meant when they described what happened.

To the caller

Your voicemail greeting

When: they’ve reached voicemail — you were closed, didn’t accept a screened call, or didn’t answer. Voicemail is on.

The default:

“[Your store] is unable to take your call right now. Please leave a message after the beep.”

Spoken by a synthesised voice, then a beep. Callers can leave a message of up to two minutes.

You control this. Record your own greeting, turn on Play my custom greeting, and it replaces the default entirely.

The closed message

When: you’re closed — outside your business hours, or on a holiday — and voicemail is off.

“We’re sorry, we’re currently closed. Please call back during our business hours.”

Then the call ends. No message is taken.

You control this only by turning voicemail back on. The wording is fixed.

If you’re open but don’t take the call and voicemail is off, the call simply ends — there’s no message.

The recording announcement

When: you’re open and recording is on. The caller hears it as soon as the call is put through, before your phone starts ringing. You don’t hear it.

“This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes.”

You control this only by turning recording off — the two go together. It’s what makes recording the call lawful, so it can’t be disabled separately.

Your line is paused

When: this period’s overage has reached your spending cap, or your store isn’t on a plan.

“[Your store] is unable to take your call right now. Please leave a message after the beep. Please try again later.”

Then the call ends. Despite the wording, no message is taken, and your phone doesn’t ring.

You control this by raising your spending cap, or choosing a plan.

Not in service

When: the number isn’t attached to a Callify store any more — for example, it was released after Callify was uninstalled.

“Sorry, this number is no longer in service.”

If customers report this while you’re still using Callify, get in touch.

To you

The screening announcement

When: a call is forwarded to you and call screening is on. Only you hear this — the caller hears ordinary ringing.

“Call for [your store], your Shopify store, from [the caller’s number]. Press any key to accept, or hang up to send it to voicemail.”

Press a key within about 10 seconds and you’re connected. Press nothing and the caller goes to your store’s voicemail.

You control this with the Ask me to accept calls switch in Settings → Calls.

Recording your greeting

When: you pressed Record by phone in Settings → Voicemail → Greeting, and Callify called you.

“Record your voicemail greeting after the tone. Press the pound key when you are finished.”

You speak, press #, and hear:

“Here is your new greeting.” … “Your greeting has been saved. Goodbye.”

If nothing was recorded:

“No greeting was recorded. Goodbye.”

If the recording couldn’t be saved:

“Sorry, your greeting could not be saved. Please try again from the Shopify admin.”

A greeting you record is kept as soon as you hang up, but callers only hear it once Play my custom greeting is on.

Your test call

When: you pressed Make test call in the Setup Guide on your home page.

“Hello from Callify! This is a test call from [your store]’s new phone number, and it is working. Enjoy Callify!”

The full sequence

A customer calls during your open hours, with screening and recording both on:

Who hears it	What
Caller	“This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes.”
Caller	Ringing
You	“Call for Northside Coffee, your Shopify store, from (555) 123-4567. Press any key to accept…”
—	You press a key
Both	Connected

And the same call when you don’t press a key:

Who hears it	What
Caller	The recording announcement
Caller	Ringing
You	The screening announcement
—	Ten seconds pass
Caller	Your voicemail greeting, then a beep
Caller	Leaves a message

The caller has no idea any of the screening happened — from their side it rang, then went to voicemail.