Everlytic launches South Africa's first voice broadcasting software

What is voice broadcasting?

Voice broadcasting, often referred to as Robocalling, is a bulk communication tool that enables businesses to send a recorded message to subscribers as a direct phone call; much like sending an SMS blast to a database, but with sound.

JD Engelbrecht, Everlytic’s Managing Director, says, “We decided to launch Voice to expand the variety of touchpoints we facilitate between our clients and their customers. We believe the medium is misunderstood and poorly applied and see its potential beyond its current applications.”

Key features of the voice solution

Because Everlytic owns the core IP and is a subsidiary of Vox Telecoms, the business plans to provide the best voice solution at the best price in South Africa. Other top features:

• Upload your own audio file or use Everlytic’s text-to-speech tool (uses Google’s deep learning technology) to build personalised voice messages from customer data.
  
• Automate your voice broadcasts.
  
• Track and analyse performance with rich reporting.
  
• One sophisticated platform for all digital communications, including email and SMS.
  
• Convey context and emotion using sound.
  
• Connect with people who are visually impaired, illiterate, or who don’t have mobile phones.

Everlytic also plans to include voice in its marketing automation feature, workflows. This will enable marketers to be more strategic about their communications; using the best-performing channels to send messages at optimum times.

For example: one can start by sending an email. If the customer hasn’t opened the message within a set period, the marketer can programme the system to trigger a personalised voice call. If the customer doesn’t answer that call, they can either schedule the platform to phone back later or send an SMS with link to a dedicated campaign landing page.

Call bridging to initiate two-way communication is also coming soon.

Voice broadcasting use cases

Automated voice broadcasting is commonly used for broad-based communication and promotion. Some less common yet powerful applications of the automated voice broadcasting format are:

• Appointment reminders
  
• Delivery reminders (e.g.: your package will be delivered at 8am tomorrow)
  
• Emergency broadcasts
  
• Fraud alerts
  
• Staff alerts
  
• Travel notifications (e.g.: flight delays)
  
• Product launches
  
• System downtime alerts
  
• Payment reminders
  
• Event reminders
  
• Political campaigns (again, this can be effective when managed correctly)

“We realise we have an educational role to play in the market. After all, many of us have had less-than-ideal experiences with receiving unsolicited automated voice messages in the past. It’s important to look beyond these personal biases and identify valuable use cases that could benefit our customers and businesses when implemented appropriately,” says Engelbrecht.

Campaigns executed in minutes

Voice broadcasting is quick and affordable to implement, and it enables companies to contact all their subscribers in minutes. To demonstrate, here’s a GIF of the launch process:

Voice broadcasting successes

As a relatively new and under-recognised technology in South Africa, local case studies are rare. However, the rest of the world’s head start with this dynamic communication tool is abundant with success stories. Some top results include:

• A utilities company reduced bad debt by 40% when using voice broadcasting for payment collections.
  
• An insurance agency experienced a growth spurt of 220% after using voice broadcasting to process policy renewals.
  
• A community college sending 80+ campaigns to 7,000+ recipients boosted email open rates and saw a 5-10% increase on payment rates.

Engelbrecht adds, “We all want to have personal relationships with our customers. But scaling this is a challenge. Combining your data with Everlytic’s unified communication platform makes 1:1 relationships across various communication channels not only possible – but infinitely scalable. That’s powerful.”

Click here for more information about voice broadcasting or visit the Everlytic blog for more information on case studies, use cases, tips, and benefits.