Arabic IVR Greeting Scripts: Copy-Ready Saudi and MSA Templates
Copy-ready Arabic IVR greeting scripts in Saudi dialect and MSA: welcome, menu, after-hours, hold, Eid and voicemail, with durations and file formats.
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Below are copy-ready Arabic IVR greeting scripts for a Saudi business line: a main welcome, a menu, after-hours, hold, Eid and National Day, voicemail, callback, order status and appointment reminders. Each comes in a neutral Saudi dialect or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), with an English translation and an estimated duration.
The rules that make them work are simple: keep the greeting short, use one voice and one dialect on every prompt, and always offer a way to reach a person. After the scripts, you'll find how to turn them into audio files your phone system accepts.
How to write an Arabic IVR greeting
These rules apply to every script below:
- Keep the welcome short. The company name and one line of welcome are enough; callers want to get to their task.
- Four or five options at most. If you need more, move them into a submenu.
- Put the most common option first. Check your call logs. If most callers ask about orders, order tracking is option one.
- Say the purpose before the key. In Arabic, li-mutaba'at talabak idghat wahid ("to track your order, press one") works better than the reverse, because the caller hears the option before the number.
- Always offer a person. Lil-tahadduth ma'a muwazzaf ("to speak to an agent") in every menu, on the same key everywhere. Zero is the usual choice.
- Make numbers easy to hear. Write them out as words in the script, read phone numbers digit by digit, and read order numbers the same way every time.
- One voice, one dialect. Don't switch from a Najdi welcome to a different MSA voice in the menu.
Saudi dialect or MSA?
A neutral, "white" Saudi dialect, understood in every region without heavy local words, suits shops, restaurants, e-commerce and clinics. It sounds closer and warmer. MSA suits government bodies, banks, law firms, and any line where many callers are Arabs from outside the Kingdom.
Pick one and use it on every prompt. If many of your callers don't speak Arabic, put the English option in the welcome itself, before the menu. To hear how the Saudi voices differ, see our guide to Saudi Arabic text to speech.
Copy-ready Arabic IVR scripts
Square brackets mark the details you fill in. Durations are estimates at a calm phone pace of about two words a second; your recording may differ slightly. The Arabic edition of this guide adds MSA versions of the hold, Eid and appointment-reminder scripts.
1. Main welcome
Purpose: the first thing callers hear. It names the company and moves straight on to the menu.
Saudi dialect (about 5 seconds):
هلا وغلا، أهلًا فيك في [اسم الشركة]. يسعدنا اتصالك.
"Hello and welcome to [company name]. We're glad you called."
MSA (about 4 seconds):
مرحبًا بكم في [اسم الشركة]، شكرًا لاتصالكم.
"Welcome to [company name], thank you for calling."
For a bilingual line, add one English sentence right after the welcome: "For English, press nine."
2. Main menu
Purpose: route the caller to the right team. Menu wording is almost identical in dialect and MSA, so this one works for both.
Script (about 15 seconds):
لمتابعة طلب سابق اضغط واحد.
للطلبات الجديدة والعروض اضغط اثنين.
للدعم الفني اضغط ثلاثة.
للفواتير والمدفوعات اضغط أربعة.
وللتحدث مع موظف اضغط صفر.
لإعادة سماع القائمة اضغط نجمة.
"To track an existing order, press one. For new orders and offers, press two. For technical support, press three. For billing and payments, press four. To speak to an agent, press zero. To hear the menu again, press star."
Here's a short menu in a Gulf customer-service voice. It says: "Welcome to customer service. To track your order, press one, and to speak to an agent, press zero."
3. After-hours message
Purpose: tell callers your hours and give them another way to reach you, so they don't hang up without knowing when to call back.
Saudi dialect (about 20 seconds):
أهلًا فيك في [اسم الشركة]. اتصالك وصلنا خارج أوقات الدوام.
دوامنا من [الأحد] إلى [الخميس]، من الساعة [تسع الصبح] إلى [خمس العصر].
تقدر تترك رسالة بعد الصافرة، أو تراسلنا واتساب على [الرقم]، ونرد عليك أول ما نبدأ الدوام.
"Welcome to [company name]. You've reached us outside working hours. We're open [Sunday] to [Thursday], from [9 am] to [5 pm]. You can leave a message after the tone or WhatsApp us on [number], and we'll get back to you as soon as we open."
MSA (about 20 seconds):
شكرًا لاتصالكم بـ[اسم الشركة]. مكاتبنا مغلقة الآن.
ساعات العمل من [الأحد] إلى [الخميس]، من الساعة [التاسعة صباحًا] حتى [الخامسة مساءً].
يمكنكم ترك رسالة بعد سماع الصافرة، أو زيارة موقعنا [عنوان الموقع]، وسنعاود الاتصال بكم في أقرب وقت.
"Thank you for calling [company name]. Our offices are now closed. Our hours are [Sunday] to [Thursday], [9 am] to [5 pm]. Please leave a message after the tone or visit [website], and we'll call you back as soon as possible."
Split shift, Saudi dialect (about 11 seconds):
دوامنا من [السبت] إلى [الخميس]، الفترة الصباحية من [تسع الصبح] إلى [وحدة الظهر]، والمسائية من [أربع العصر] إلى [عشر الليل].
"We're open [Saturday] to [Thursday], mornings from [9] to [1 pm] and evenings from [4] to [10 pm]."
4. Hold and queue message
Purpose: reassure callers in the queue between music segments, and point them to a faster route if there is one.
Saudi dialect (about 12 seconds):
شكرًا لانتظارك. كل موظفينا مشغولين الحين، وبنرد عليك بأسرع وقت.
وإذا تبي توفّر وقتك، تقدر تتابع طلبك من موقعنا [عنوان الموقع].
"Thanks for waiting. All our team are busy right now, and we'll answer as soon as we can. To save time, you can track your order on [website]."
Record two or three versions and rotate them, so callers don't hear the same line every thirty seconds.
5. Eid, National Day and Ramadan
Purpose: tell callers about the closure and when you reopen. These are templates: fill in the dates each year.
Eid, Saudi dialect (about 17 seconds):
كل عام وأنتم بخير، ومن العايدين. بمناسبة عيد [الفطر] المبارك، مكاتبنا في إجازة من [يوم وتاريخ] إلى [يوم وتاريخ]، ونرجع لخدمتكم يوم [يوم وتاريخ].
للطلبات العاجلة راسلنا على [الرقم أو الموقع].
"Eid Mubarak. For Eid [al-Fitr], our offices are closed from [day and date] to [day and date], and we'll be back on [day and date]. For urgent requests, message us on [number or website]." Swap الفطر (al-Fitr) for الأضحى (al-Adha) as needed.
National Day (about 11 seconds):
بمناسبة اليوم الوطني السعودي، كل عام والوطن بخير. فروعنا في إجازة يوم [يوم وتاريخ]، ونرجع لخدمتكم يوم [يوم وتاريخ].
"Happy Saudi National Day. Our branches are closed on [day and date], and we'll be back on [day and date]."
Ramadan hours (about 10 seconds):
رمضان كريم. دوامنا في شهر رمضان من الساعة [عشر الصبح] إلى [ثلاث العصر]، ومن [تسع الليل] إلى [وحدة بالليل].
"Ramadan Kareem. During Ramadan we're open from [10 am] to [3 pm], and from [9 pm] to [1 am]."
National Day falls on 23 September every year; for 2026 the Ministry of Human Resources announced it as an official holiday for the private sector. The two Eids follow the Hijri calendar, and holiday dates are announced close to the time. Prepare the template early, fill in the dates once they're announced, and set a reminder to take the message down afterwards.
6. Voicemail
Purpose: when no one answers, the caller leaves enough for you to call back.
MSA (about 13 seconds):
لقد وصلتم إلى البريد الصوتي لـ[القسم] في [اسم الشركة]. يُرجى ترك الاسم ورقم الجوال وسبب الاتصال بعد سماع الصافرة، وسنتواصل معكم خلال [يوم عمل واحد].
"You've reached the voicemail of [department] at [company name]. Please leave your name, mobile number and reason for calling after the tone, and we'll get back to you within [one working day]."
7. Callback confirmation
Purpose: when a caller chooses a callback instead of waiting, confirm it's booked and say when to expect the call.
Saudi dialect (about 14 seconds):
تم تسجيل طلبك. بيتصل عليك واحد من موظفينا على نفس الرقم اللي اتصلت منه خلال [ساعتين] تقريبًا.
وإذا تبي نتصل على رقم ثاني، اضغط واحد.
"Your request is booked. One of our team will call you on the number you're calling from within about [two hours]. To be called on a different number, press one."
Only promise a time your team can keep. Two hours delivered beats fifteen minutes missed.
8. Order status for e-commerce
Purpose: answer the question every online store hears most, wein talabi? ("where's my order?"), without an agent.
Saudi dialect (about 15 seconds):
مرحبا فيك. طلبك رقم [رقم الطلب] [حالة الطلب]، والتوصيل المتوقع [اليوم] بين الساعة [من] و[إلى].
لسماع الرسالة مرة ثانية اضغط واحد، وللتحدث مع موظف اضغط صفر.
"Welcome. Your order number [order number] is [status], and delivery is expected [day] between [time] and [time]. To hear this again, press one; to speak to an agent, press zero."
For [حالة الطلب], use a short fixed phrase: قيد التجهيز (being prepared), خرج للتوصيل (out for delivery), وصل (arrived) or تم تسليمه (delivered). Here is a short order update in a Gulf voice. It says: "Welcome. Your order number 452 has arrived, and delivery will be tomorrow between 4 and 6 in the afternoon."
This message changes with every order, so it can't be one pre-recorded file. You need a system that generates the audio at call time through an API, or separate recordings of the fixed parts and the numbers, joined together.
9. Appointment reminder for clinics
Purpose: an automated call before the visit, with options to confirm or change.
Saudi dialect (about 18 seconds):
مرحبا، معك [اسم العيادة]. نذكّرك بموعدك يوم [اليوم] [التاريخ] الساعة [الوقت]، مع [اسم الطبيب].
لتأكيد الموعد اضغط واحد، ولتغييره أو إلغائه اضغط اثنين.
نتمنى حضورك قبل الموعد بعشر دقايق.
"Hello, this is [clinic name]. A reminder of your appointment on [day, date] at [time] with [doctor's name]. To confirm, press one; to change or cancel, press two. Please arrive ten minutes early."
Someone other than the patient may answer, so leave out the specialty, the type of test and any health detail. The clinic name and the time are enough.
How to produce IVR prompts with text to speech
Once the scripts are ready, turning them into files takes minutes. These steps work with most tools:
- Choose one voice for every prompt. Try the welcome in two or three voices, then use your pick on every file.
- Generate each prompt as its own file. The phone system plays each file in its slot: the welcome, the menu and the hold message are separate.
- Name files in Latin letters. For example welcome.wav, menu-main.wav and after-hours.wav. Some systems won't accept anything else; 3CX, for one, requires Latin-character file names.
- Check names and numbers. Your company name, district and WhatsApp number are what get mispronounced most. Vocalize tricky names as shown in our tashkeel guide.
- Listen on a phone speaker. Telephone audio is narrower than headphones, so what sounds clear in your earbuds can blur on the line.
- Download the best quality, then convert. Keep the original and convert a copy to what your system needs.
On Samar, using the audio in a phone system is covered by the Business and Enterprise licences. You get studio-quality WAV files and a pronunciation dictionary that keeps your brand and product names right, and for changing prompts such as order status, the API can generate them straight from your system.
What audio format does a phone system need?
Many PBX and IVR systems expect mono WAV at 8 kHz, the classic telephone sample rate used with the G.711 codec. 3CX, for example, asks for mono WAV at 8 kHz and 16-bit for IVR and queue prompts. Other systems want G.711 itself, as µ-law or A-law. Check with your provider before converting.
To convert, follow the free Audacity steps in that 3CX guide, or use ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -i welcome.mp3 -ar 8000 -ac 1 -c:a pcm_s16le welcome.wav
ffmpeg -i welcome.mp3 -ar 8000 -ac 1 -c:a pcm_mulaw welcome-ulaw.wav
The first line gives you 16-bit WAV, the second µ-law. For A-law, replace pcm_mulaw with pcm_alaw. After uploading, call the number from your mobile and listen to every path yourself.
If you're weighing a voice actor for these prompts instead, compare costs first in our guide to voice over cost in Saudi Arabia.
The short version
A good greeting is short: the company name, then a menu of four or five options with the most common first and an agent always on offer. Pick neutral Saudi dialect or MSA and stick to it, write numbers as words, and update hours and holiday prompts before the date, not after. Generate each prompt as a separate file, convert it to the format your system needs, and call the line yourself to hear what your customers hear.
Paste your welcome line into Samar's free demo and hear how it sounds before you record the whole set.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best IVR greeting message?
A short one: the company name and one line of welcome, then straight to the menu. In Saudi dialect: هلا وغلا، أهلًا فيك في [اسم الشركة]. يسعدنا اتصالك. (Hello and welcome to [company name]. We're glad you called.) It runs about 5 seconds.
How long should an IVR greeting be?
Keep the welcome to about 4 to 6 seconds and the main menu to about 15 seconds for four or five options. If the menu runs longer, move some options into a submenu.
How do you say press 1 in Arabic?
اضغط واحد (idghat wahid). In a menu, say the purpose first: لمتابعة طلبك اضغط واحد (li-mutaba'at talabak idghat wahid), meaning to track your order, press one.
Can I record IVR prompts myself?
Yes, if you record somewhere quiet at a steady pace and convert the file to the format your phone system needs. The harder part is keeping the same voice when prompts change later, which is where a text-to-speech tool or a regular voice actor helps.