Making store announcements
When staff make announcements over a microphone, the wording shifts every time and at busy moments they get skipped altogether. Prepare your regular announcements as audio files and one button plays the same quality every time. This guide gives example wording and the settings that carry over a shop PA.
How shop announcements differ from phone greetings
A shop announcement is heard in a space already full of music, conversation and checkout noise. Customers are not listening on purpose, so the basics are to catch attention in the first few words and say anything important twice. Keep sentences shorter than a phone greeting, and the pace a little slower.
Example wording
(The Korean examples below are written as they should be spoken.)
Settings that carry over a PA
| Setting | Suggested | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Voice | SunHi (female) or InJoon (male) | Clear, and the tone shoppers expect |
| Tone | News or Crisp | Diction stays distinct in a noisy room |
| Effect | Sharp | Lifts the vocal range so it cuts through music |
| Echo | Do not use | A large shop already reverberates; adding more smears it |
| Background music | None | It gets lost under the shop's own music |
| File type | mp3 | Plays directly on almost any PA unit or app |
Check before you play it
- Listen on the actual speakers. Computer speakers and ceiling speakers sound different. Play it once in the shop and adjust speed and volume.
- Add the chime separately. If you want a "ding-dong" in front, use the chime function on your PA unit or add it in an editor.
- Space out repeats. Leave at least a few minutes between plays of the same announcement. Too often and customers tune it out.
If you get many foreign customers
It is worth preparing the same content in English. The "multilingual" voices in the list (Ava, Andrew and others) read English naturally. Make separate Korean and English files and play them back to back, or put both into one file with Script mode.
Think about music rights too
Playing music in a shop can attract public-performance fees depending on your sector and floor area. Voice Factory's background music (calm music, rain, waves) is generated on the server, so no separate music rights apply to it — but for shop background music in general it is safest to check with the relevant body.
Planning the day's announcements
Announcements work best when they are short and well timed. Splitting them into files that follow the shape of the day makes them easy to play on a PA unit or a phone alarm app.
| Time | Announcement | Tips |
|---|---|---|
| Just after opening | Welcome, today's picks | Bright tone (Clear, Lively), under 20 seconds |
| Peak hours | Checkout guidance, basket returns | Short, every 30–60 minutes |
| Promotion window | Flash sale starting and ending | Three times: before, at the start, 10 minutes before the end |
| 30 minutes to close | Advance notice of closing | Calm tone, same announcement twice |
| Closing | Closing and thanks | A little background music softens it |
Repeating one announcement all day wears out customers and staff alike. Write two or three versions and alternate them — it sounds far more natural.
Paste an example in, set the News tone and the Sharp effect, and make it now.
Make an announcement