Does the advent of audio messaging mean the
end for the outbound telemarketing team?

Following recent moves to transfer inbound call centre activity abroad and the well-publicised impact of this on UK workers and customers, technology could be about to deliver a similar blow to outbound call centre operations.

It’s now possible to transmit the same outbound audio message to thousands of customers and prospects per minute across the UK and internationally, and to then connect those wishing to buy or inquire to an inbound call centre via a freephone service.

Offering marketers an additional channel for campaigns – as well as a way to respond to unexpected events and communicate with affected customers within minutes - the technology lends itself to a wide range of applications and could yield significant savings for businesses.

The mechanics of audio messaging

Audio messaging has few barriers to entry for the marketer, and requires just a PC, speakers, a microphone, a recording device, a data file of telephone numbers and, of course, a human voice.

The message created is sent as a standard PC sound file (.wav), transmitted via a supplier’s automated calling equipment. This reaches the landline or mobile phone of a customer or prospect and plays to them as an audio message.

The selection of a voice to record a message is highly significant, with regional accents, tone, pitch and gender all worthy of some thought depending on the target market for a message.

The message can aim to reinforce branding, to impart specific information, or to direct recipients to “press 0 to transfer to an inbound operator” to make a purchase or inquiry, a process known as a hot-key transfer.

When TV and radio campaigns feature product endorsement by celebrities, audio messaging gives marketers another direct-to-consumer channel through which to reinforce their promotional message and yield an immediate return via the inbound call centre.  

Pop stars and footballers have used the technology to promote their new album, ticket sales for concerts and matches, supporters’ club membership, or Australia as a tourist destination (in the case of Kylie’s voice). Even a certain well-known resident of Washington DC embraced the medium to feature in his own audio messages during campaigning for the last US Presidential elections.

So how would this sound in practice? The phone rings, and an existing customer picks it up.

“Hello, it’s Sarah Thomson from House of Retail. As you’ve used your store card in our High Street outlet recently, we’d like to invite you back to the store for a VIP evening on Thursday 23^rd September when there’s 25% off all purchases plus a complimentary glass of wine. Bring your store card with you on the 23^nd or press 5 on your phone now for a ticket. Thanks for your time”.

Where marketers prefer to create their own messages, recording quality can affect the net response rate, so some investment in audio equipment may be needed. Alternatively, suppliers do allow marketers to create their own message via a touchtone phone.

The target phone numbers need to be supplied as a straightforward comma separated file with a header row and a specific name for each field. As ever, phone numbers should be presented as for dialling, including the preceding zeros but with no brackets or outside line access code. Clients with poor data consistency wishing to use audio messaging should discuss remedial work with their supplier.

Prior to transmission, the data file is uploaded to a secure website, where the choice of message and data file can be confirmed and the transmission scheduled for the preferred time and date. In this way, the volume of outbound transmissions can be controlled and adjusted to regulate the flow of inbound traffic to a call centre.

Given the prevalence of business voicemail and domestic answer phones, there is the option to leave an alternative message when encountering an answerphone or to retry at another time.

Following transmission, marketers receive detailed reports of calls completed, messages left on voicemail (if required), call length, onward call routing volumes, and the reasons for incomplete calls.

If presented with a compelling reason to buy, recipients of a phone call are already more likely to respond, due simply to the fact that they have a telephone in their hand.

What’s new is that the customer here is listening to an audio message transmitted for less than the cost of a postage stamp, rather than an expensive outbound call. The mailings usually sent to announce similar offers appear immediately redundant, saving expenditure on paper, print, fulfilment and postage.

From the customer’s perspective, audio messaging is still new and unexpected. People who don’t like leaving voice messages when they make a call are unlikely to embrace the medium, though arguably this also applies to any outbound telemarketing, for which charges are considerably higher.

For data protection purposes, the regulator endorses its use for communication with existing customers and regards the medium as a form of transmission more akin to e-mail than telemarketing. Small adjustments to the script or the origin of the transmission ensure that the medium can be used to uplift response from unsolicited direct mail campaigns.

Despite this, thought should be given to best practice before embarking upon use of the medium and it is strongly recommended that contact numbers for prospective customers be screened against the TPS register before any new business campaign. Similarly, any recipients who terminate an inbound call with indecent haste can be identified via the post transmission reports and ought to be excluded from further contact. Best practice would be to obtain consent in advance.

The real challenge is in B2B marketing where direct dial telephone numbers are needed to reach target contacts, since audio messages at switchboard level are unlikely to have the desired effect.

Like the phone, audio messaging can be deployed in any number of ways, and lifestyle attributes or business demographics can form the basis for each campaign, as with any other below-the-line activity.

Existing heavy users of direct mail, outbound telemarketing, television and radio, with their experience of direct-to-consumer campaigns, are likely to have the greatest range of applications for the technology.

In Financial Services, audio messaging allows businesses to advise consumers of the latest headline mortgage discounts, credit card offers and discounted loan rates, whilst the direct response functionality allows the consumer to divert to an inbound call centre for more information. 

Customers using telephone or on-line banking can also be informed of updates to their account or changes to terms and conditions, whilst providers of debit and credit cards might wish to convert customers to an online service, notify them of payment due dates via audio message and reduce their mail and fulfilment costs as a result. 

In Retail, customers can be advised of in-store promotions, new store openings, or of product recalls. In mail order, customers can be advised of additions to a range of collectibles, or reductions in the cost of children’s clothing, whilst B2B mail order providers can issue reminders to reorder stock based on previous buying patterns. Once again, audio messaging might be regarded as an alternative to the costly hard copy invoice issued once per month, allowing call recipients to connect to the call centre for payment.

In the leisure and exhibitions industries, audio messaging can be used to promote tourist attractions and events, and to remedy unexpected shortfalls in ticket sales. The technology also offers B2B event organisers a medium through which to remind pre-registered ticket holders if they don’t visit on the first day of a trade show.

In the travel industry, customers can be encouraged to register for details of last minute holidays to destinations of their choice and then informed by audio message about what’s available, once again with a direct link to the inbound call centre for additional information and booking.

In the publishing sector, readers whose paid subscription is about to lapse can be reminded to settle their invoice or to “simply press 0 to renew your subscription via the inbound call centre”. 

Utility companies can use audio messaging to advise customers whose service may be disrupted for any reason, or to advise customers of other suppliers about the benefits of their own range of services.

Businesses can also use audio messaging as one of their own internal communications channels, an application which is particularly suitable for multi-site or multinational businesses and could offer significant savings on  overall expenditure by reducing the need for travel.

Aside from its ease of use for both marketer and the individual receiving a call, its low cost per delivered message is one of audio messaging’s great benefits for business.

With the proviso that audio messaging is used appropriately to offer information and genuine benefits to the consumer, allied to a effective segmentation and prompt reaction to a customer’s wishes, audio messaging looks set to find its place within the marketing mix.    

Audio messaging applications and benefits at a glance:

About the Author

Andrew Guy
Managing Director
Data in Media
www.datainmedia.co.uk