Everlytic launches SA’s first voice broadcasting software

Everlytic, Vox Telecom’s digital communication and automation business, has just launched a ground-breaking feature: voice broadcasting. 

It is the first and currently the only SA company to offer voice broadcasting as part of an integrated digital communication platform. The system lets businesses manage all their digital messaging (email, SMS and voice broadcasting) from a single customer view to simplify, personalise and automate their marketing efforts.

What is voice broadcasting?

Voice broadcasting, often referred to as robocalling, is a bulk communication tool that lets businesses 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, MD of Everlytic, 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.”

Because Everlytic owns the core intellectual property and is a subsidiary of Vox Telecoms, it plans to provide the best voice product at the best price in SA. 

Top features include:

• Upload your own audio file or use Everlytic’s text-to-speech tool (using 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 or illiterate, or who don’t have mobile phones.

Everlytic also plans to include voice broadcasting in its marketing automation feature workflows. This will allow marketers to be more strategic about their communications by using the best-performing channels to send messages at optimal 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 program the system to trigger a personalised voice call. If the customer doesn’t answer that call, the marketer can schedule the platform to phone back later or send an SMS with a 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 (for example your package will be delivered at 8am tomorrow);
• emergency broadcasts;
• fraud alerts;
• staff alerts;
• travel notifications (such as flight delays);
• product launches;
• system downtime alerts;
• payment reminders;
• event reminders;
• political campaigns (this can be effective when managed correctly).

“We realise we have an educational role to play in the market,” says Engelbrecht. 

“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.”

Campaigns executed in minutes

Voice broadcasting is quick and affordable to implement, and it allows 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 SA, local case studies are rare. However, the rest of the world’s head-start with this dynamic communication tool is abundant with success stories:

• 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 more than 80 campaigns to 7,000-plus recipients boosted high email open rates and saw a 5%–10% increase in 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 one-on-one relationships across communication channels not only possible but also 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.

This article was paid for by Everlytic