Costs of Voice Broadcasting

One of the most important considerations in doing business is on costs. Every business owner will always look into this aspect. This article provides introduction to the costs of voice broadcasting and how it can it an advantage to your business.

Pay Per Minute

In terms of costs, this is a very unpredictable method and is not advisable unless you can go around the problems that it can cause.
Here are some problem areas:

- What increments will be used to time each call?
- Number of digits to manipulate the billed cost.
- Provision for the rounding up of each call cost. This can be a problem area if not established between you and the voice broadcast vendor.
- Will the call time include dial and ringing time or just when the call is answered?
Unless the variables stated above are cleared then there is no point resorting to this type of payment determination scheme with your voice broadcast provider.

Pay Per Live Transfer

An amount or fee is charged to you by the broadcast vendor for every call that is transferred to you as a result of the client pressing “1” in response to the recorded message. It does not matter if the call is transferred immediately or if response will be a bit delayed. The length of time with the client is not also a variable. This cost is the most practical and is the one resorted to by most business owners.

The disadvantage of this pay per transfer method is it cannot be utilized for the delivery of messages to an answering machine. This voice broadcast method is only for messages delivered to a live number only.

Pay Per Delivery

Like the Pay Per Transfer cost, a set amount is charged for each message delivered. This can work both for live answered calls and answer machine delivered voice broadcasts. If you plan to have an answering machine too especially during after office hours then this is the plan for you.

The downside of this payment method is that some voice broadcast vendors charge on a “per dial” or “per connect”. You should watch out for this in your terms of service. You should not pay for calls that do not result in actual delivery of messages.

It is best to keep the agreement simple with your voice broadcast vendor and charge you for every delivered message.

The best way to assess which one is most economical for your need is to do a test campaign. Always ask for a report, a simple one, from the voice broadcast provider so you can check and do calculations yourself. Do not fall for complicated statistical reports that you do not really need. Let the voice broadcast provider submit one that you can understand immediately. Also see to it that the provider agrees that you can change your payment option or plan without any penalty or lock in period.

Ways To Determine If Voice Broadcasting Is Profitable

The mindset of many marketers when doing a voice broadcasting campaign is the expectation that majority of calls will become good prospects. This may over-optimistic, as in reality only a minority of leads are quality ones. However, with a well thought approach and an established business metrics, voice broadcasting can be profitable, particularly because of the low cost to generate such leads.

Let us look at some business metrics. Successful campaigns for messages delivered to live-answered phone calls, where the caller presses 1 to reach the company, is only a 15%-25% “long call rate.” Long call rate is a call where both parties stay on the line for 1 ½ minutes. Not all long calls result in good leads. It has been noted that only ½ of long calls turn to be good leads.

An established business metric should be studied before making a voice broadcast campaign. Going back to the example above, if an effective long call would cost $25, and only 50% are good leads and only 25% get to sales conversion then the cost of a sale is $200. If profit for such sale is $350 then the business owner is going to have an effective voice broadcasting campaign.

Companies wanting to do voice broadcasting should consider the mode of the campaign. Most industries have a response rate for live delivery between 0.6% to 1.0%. This means that for every 1000 calls only 10 would result in a live lead.

For a voicemail campaign, the numbers will be much lower. This type of campaign requires a good message that will make the recipient interested to note callback number or the website URL. Live messages are more efficient because what the recipient has to do is press “1” and talk to a live person. Though answer voicemail campaigns are harder to track, it is estimated that 25-33% is the call back ratio for this type of campaign.

For voice broadcasting to be used as a lead generation system, the message is crucial as well as the call list. But before anything else, basic business metrics should be studied first during the planning phase of the campaign.

Voice Broadcasting Options

If you are looking at voice broadcasting as a lead generation method then you should consider whether you should broadcast to live answered phones, answering machines or a mix of both. There are different ideas on which one is better.

Those who are already using voice broadcasting most often use only one type of option especially if the method works for their particular market. A careful broadcaster should consider the delivery method and choose the one effective and cost efficient. One delivery method may cost less for a specific market or message. You just have to know the basic difference between the two options in order to determine which one will work better.

Live broadcasts are real-time or immediate experiences. Response to the client is instant once the client presses “1” in response to the message and connection to a live customer service personnel will be made. When you broadcast using “live only” option, you enjoy the fact that the broadcast campaign starts once the phones begin ringing.

A disadvantage of live broadcasts is that for the prospective client it will be easy to press “1” and be connected to a live person and this can be a convenient way to get across complains or ask to be included in the “DNC” list.

“Answer machine only” message delivery on the other hand will not have the “press 1” invitation but instead will give a phone number to call or a URL address to visit or maybe both messages. With the “answer machine only” method, response will be less than in “live only.” This is due to the actions needed for the prospect to do before completion. There is going to be effort on the prospect’s part and sometimes this does not happen.

However, negative calls may be decreased with the “answer machine only” method. The quality of leads resulting from this method is also higher. Only those genuinely interested with the product or service will make the call or visit the website.

Whatever voice broadcasting option you will choose it is recommended that you “test the waters” first. Test both method and determine which is one is providing you the best return on investment.

What Voice Broadcasting Is All About

Savvy marketers are always using innovative means to get their message across to targeted audience. Although the telephone has been used for decades by salespeople and businesses to solicit business, an improvement in this type of method has been introduced recently and this is through Voice Broadcasting. This method has already proven its effectiveness as a marketing tool.

Voice Broadcasting utilizes computerized and automated software to transmit pre-recorded telephonic messages to a large number people through individual phone numbers. This strategy has been in existence since the 1990s. Today the software used is more sophisticated and can handle delivery of messages to answering machines or through voice mails.

There are voice broadcasting companies that can handle this kind of system. The software being used now can make available customized reports which can be viewed and analyzed by the marketer. With analysis and observation, marketers can avoid costs for calls to people that are not really interested on the product.

Voice Broadcasting is also a cost effective marketing tool. Costs for a single call can be 2 cents. Because this method is inexpensive, Voice Broadcasting is becoming popular not only with businesses but with charity organizations and political campaigns. There is also a function that will allow the customer to talk to a live customer representative by pressing a certain number or symbol on the keypad. Because of this facility, calls going through are interested parties.

Voice Broadcasting can help a company’s revenue by easily and inexpensively promoting products and services to a target market and should be considered by all marketers who use the telephone in their marketing strategy.