A voice response system and method are described herein which after learning that a caller has unsuccessfully attempted to contact a called party functions to: (1) obtain presence information about one or more real-time activities of the called party; (2) use the presence information to create a customized voice message; and (3) play the customized voice message to the caller. In the preferred embodiment, a presence system collects the presence information which identifies the real-time activities of the called party and forwards at least a portion of the collected presence information to the voice response system. |