I once blogged about the different types of voicemail message. But every voicemail message is essentially the same thing: a chunk of information conveyed in a way that might be convenient or fun for the person communicating that information, but substantially less convenient for the person receiving it. In that sense, they’re a lot like videocasts.
Let’s think about the reasons why someone might not answer their mobile phone.
When I see that I’ve got a voicemail, my heart sinks. I will put off listening to a voicemail in a way I would never, ever do with a text message or an email. Because listening to it is a chore in a way that reading a text never is. And that’s because most voicemails fall into a few specific categories.