How to Get the Most Out of a Voice Message Broadcasting System + Use Case Examples
While many businesses are focusing on email and other online marketing strategies, the telephone still remains one of the most personal ways to connect with others internally and externally. If you’re concerned that making mass telephone calls or sending bulk voicemails will consume too much time while increasing your phone bill, it’s time to explore the benefits of using a voice message broadcasting system.
Text messaging is an option now, but it limits you short messages, to people who have smartphones, and use them regularly. That may seem like everyone these days, but there are still many who aren’t attached to their mobile devices or identify text messaging as a preferred method of communication.
Voice messages and calls also provide a deeper personal connection that is harder to dismiss. One experiment published in 2020 found that most people felt more connected to an old friend when calling on the phone rather than emailing.
If you want to explore the option of using a broadcasting system to make bulk phone calls or complete voicemail drops, we have some insights on getting the most from your chosen system. It all starts with understanding how this technology works and how you might apply it to your unique company.
What Is a Voice Message Broadcasting System?
Any service or product designed to send a pre-recorded message to a list of telephone numbers may qualify as a voice message broadcasting system. The goal is quite simple: send one message to a select group of phone numbers simultaneously.
To make 10 telephone calls at one time without a voice broadcasting system, you would need 10 live agents to dial and complete the calls simultaneously, or have one agent spend up to an hour making the calls. You would pay the agents for their time plus the cost of overhead like seating, computers, and the phone bill. The slight differences in voice tone and timing would be difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate.
Now, imagine those same 10 phone calls going out through a professional broadcasting system. You pre-record a message in one voice (using yours or a voice-to-text computerized voice), upload a list of phone numbers, and decide whether you want to make the calls right now or later. When it’s call time, the computer sends that one consistent message to all 10 phone numbers at one time without running up your phone bill. You don’t even have to pay employees to dial and speak.
You can imagine the savings you would enjoy across hundreds or even thousands of outbound phone calls. The speed and efficiency in messaging are among the biggest benefits of using a voice broadcasting system for business.
Voice Broadcasting vs. Voicemail Drops
These are two terms that you may hear a lot when discussing options for mass or bulk outbound phone calls. Voice broadcasting refers to sending voice messages to groups of any size. Those messages may communicate with people who answer their phones, or the system may leave a voicemail message for those who don’t answer. It’s a general term with a broader range of potential applications.
Voicemail drops are specific to voicemail messages. The goal is to leave messages for a group of people simultaneously. You could also arrange to send just one person a pre-recorded message, but most businesses get the most value when sending bulk messages or automating frequently repeated messages.
Related: What are Automated Voicemail Drops?
How to Use a Voice Broadcasting System
The first step to getting the most from a voice broadcasting service is understanding what the systems do, and you’ve made it through that step. It’s now time to look at potential use cases for a broadcasting service. In general, if you need to reach more than one person at the same time to deliver the same message, a broadcasting system is the most efficient option.
To get more specific, we will provide active examples of how some businesses use broadcasting systems every day. Some of these illustrations may apply more to internal or external operations, while others apply to both.
Emergency Notifications
A major snowstorm just hit central Ohio unexpectedly, and the governor has issued a level three snow emergency. Roadways are closed, and Susie needs to tell her 200 employees to work from home rather than traveling to the office.
She could send out a company-wide email, but many of her employees are unlikely to check their email before driving to work. She expects a flood of calls into the office or text messages to her manager’s personal phone as employees ask if they should report to work or stay home.
What Susie does is relax in the warmth of her bed while logging into her cloud-based voice broadcasting system. She records a quick message informing employees what to do and sends it to every employee’s cell phone. She may also update the company’s main line answering machine for those who still call in.
The messaging system gets all 200 messages delivered simultaneously while Susie stretches, yawns, and wonders if she has time for a quick snooze before making the two-minute commute to her kitchen table.
Updates and Reminders
Dave is responsible for coaching and leading a growing team of new sales team members for a large organization. His salespeople are all inexperienced, so he incorporates a lot of training and coaching into their weekly schedules. There are mandatory coaching sessions, team meetings, one-on-one reviews, and optional skill development sessions.
To ensure all team members are aware of events and sessions for each week, Dave relies on a voice broadcasting system. He knows that some research has proven text and voice reminder messages to stimulate action effectively, so he decides to use both.
Every Sunday night, he sends out a text message reminding all team members to check the team calendar for weekly events and highlights. He also sends voice notifications and reminders for all group training and coaching sessions.
Finally, Dave pre-records a personalized reminder message for each team member for one-on-one sessions. He sends those reminders to members the week before the session, prompting them to email him with any concerns or thoughts that they would like to discuss in their session.
Surveys and Polls
When her manager asks who would like to organize the company’s annual picnic and no hands rise, Regina volunteers. She’s the newest member added to the team, and thought it would give her a reason to talk to and connect with her new colleagues.
Unfortunately, busy schedules and an already stressful environment prevent her from asking questions about the picnic. When she does manage to corner a colleague and ask for their input, they simply ask her to shoot them a message for a later response. Few respond to her email.
Concerned that she doesn’t know enough about the company culture and her teammates to organize a great picnic, she turns to the company’s phone broadcasting system. Regina brainstorms five themes and sends out a fun telephone poll, asking each employee to vote for their favorite.
She gets far more responses than she did to her email because participation requires the mere push of a button rather than a typed-out response.
Human Resources
Hassan is in charge of a busy human resources department for a large company. Employee turnover is a big problem for a few departments, so they run job ads, conduct interviews, and move new hires through their virtual onboarding process.
That requires a lot of phone calls to convey basic information to job applicants and new hires, so Hassan recently signed up for a voice message broadcasting system. He asked his team members to pre-record a series of messages, allowing them to quickly send messages to individuals or groups rather than scheduling blocks of time dedicated just to outbound calls.
Some of the messages that Hassan set up include:
· Welcome message for candidates offered a job
· Interview request message, instructing applicants to schedule an appointment online
· Next step messages designed to guide new hires through the onboarding process
· Open position updates for job seekers signed up to receive notification of future openings, which are sent whenever a new position hits the company website’s career page
· Reminder messages for applicants who fail to schedule their interview within a certain number of days
Contractor Communication & Scheduling
Davita is in charge of managing independent contractors for all construction jobs offered through her temp employment agency. That involves keeping tabs on a sizable directory of local contractors and assembling skilled teams for temporary projects as they come available.
She utilizes a phone broadcasting system to send out monthly inquiries to every contractor in her database. This message prompts them to update their profile on the agency’s website so that she’s aware of their current availability, skills, and preferred assignments.
When she has a new team to assemble, she can contact those who have updated information on file first. That weeds out a lot of contractors who will not reply to her messages due to lack of availability.
Davita also uses the phone messaging service to send out notifications of new projects. For high-pay projects that are highly competitive, she has a pre-recorded message that notifies contractors they have or have not been selected for the team.
Political Broadcasts
Tim is passionate about politics, so he started a grassroots campaign from his garage. The movement takes off quickly, and he builds an extensive database of volunteers interested in helping with outreach. He is quickly overwhelmed with the amount of time it takes to organize events with so many volunteers to contact with critical information.
If you guessed Tim turning to a voice broadcasting system to solve the problem, you’re right. He created a list of phone numbers for all volunteers and started updating the list in the broadcasting system’s cloud-based system weekly. Instead of using volunteers to call volunteers, he started releasing voicemail drops whenever he had new events or other details to share.
He got the idea of using an automated voice broadcasting system from the candidates he supports. They all have similar systems for reaching thousands of voters in little time.
Data Collection and Feedback
Katie is a middle school teacher and has grown frustrated with students who fail to turn in assignments until the last week of a grading period. It overwhelms her with piles of assignments to grade at the last minute. She has found that mentioning the problem to parents in conferences has helped, but she doesn’t get to conference with all parents.
She requests access to the school’s automated broadcasting system to solve the problem. Katie creates a short message reminding students and parents that assignments are due at the end of each week. She finds that sending the message to all parents every Sunday afternoon increases on-time assignment submission.
Related: What are the Best Automated Calling Systems for Schools?
Market Research
Genevieve is the co-founder of a startup venture and needs to discover critical information about her target market. Each team member has been standing in front of grocery stores and local parks, asking passersby to answer questions. Participation is low, the process is time-consuming, and it’s challenging to find people who fit the company’s target demographics.
She has a sizable following on social media, which has resulted in a list of email addresses and telephone numbers for people who have shown an interest in the company. She decides to utilize a voice broadcasting system to send out a survey. It delivers the information she needs in much less time while freeing all members of her small team to focus on more critical elements of establishing and growing a new business.
Selecting the Right Voice Broadcasting System
The above examples of how some businesses may use a voice message broadcasting system are just some instances. Companies and organizations across industries use this technology to reach people internally and externally with greater efficiency.
If you want to do the same, it’s crucial to select the right system for your needs. You won’t get the most out of the system if it doesn’t offer the features you need.
· Cloud-based system
· Copper/PRI landlines for delivery versus Voice over IP lines (VoIP)
· Quick and easy setup
· Free message design and testing pre-broadcast
· Multiple options for message recording/submission
· Text to speech capability
· Call scheduling option
· Instant call delivery option
· Unlimited message group size
· Interactive message capability
· Demo availability before signup
· Accurate, reliable quotes for serviceVoiceShot is a leading voice message broadcasting system that offers all of these features and more. Contact us today to schedule a demo or discuss how you can get the most out of our voice broadcasting services.