RINGLESS VOICEMAIL DROPS:
Ringless Voicemail Drops or simply “Ringless Voicemail” is a fairly new technology that allows a company to send a pre-recorded voicemails directly to a large group of customers cell phones at once, without their phones actually ringing. Think of it as an “eblast”, but with voicemails as opposed to emails.
This is an effective and relatively inexpensive way for a company to get a message or special offer out to a large customer base all at once. It can be used many different ways and for a wide spectrum of offers depending on the industry.
In the automotive industry we use it to tell customers to keep an eye on their mailbox for the offer we sent them, before a Direct Mail Campaign – OR – we send it during the Direct Marketing campaign – OR – as a follow up after a Direct Mail Campaign.
THE PROCESS:
- Record a voicemail message or offer to match your objective.
You can choose to record your voicemail drop message yourself – or we can do it for you. We have incredible voice talent on-hand! We have found that the more candid and “non-scripted” it sounds, the better it will work. Speak naturally and from the heart about your offer. Don’t worry about those “ums”, stammers, coughs or tripping over your words. That’s REAL and it’s how people naturally talk. You can hear a successful Ringless Voicemail here. - Creating the list of people to send to.
We will upload the list of phone numbers into our system. Usually this is from our clients database. Our system filters out the cell phone numbers from the landlines and only keeps the cell phone numbers. We can even filter out anyone who is on the “Do Not Call List” which has become a big deal in a number of cities and states. - Decide the timeframe and volume of Ringless Voicemail Drops.
You can choose when your Voicemails will be sent. They can begin at a certain time on a certain day and keep going until all numbers have been sent a voicemail, or it can send for just an hour or two on certain days. You decide. At Mail Ninjas, we also set the number of voicemails that will send out per minute to suit the needs of our clients based on the volume of call-backs their staff can handle. We learned this one from experience. When we did the very first Ringless Voicemail Drop for a client, we sent so many voicemails out all at once that within a few minutes our clients dealership phone was blowing up with call backs. We had to turn it down so they could catch up! We slowed it down to a manageable level and they were pleased with the number of appointments & sales they were able to make from the Ringless Voicemails even before their Direct Marketing Campaign reached their customers physical mailboxes. - Track and resend.
We keep a close eye on the results of your Ringless Voicemail Campaign for you. We know how many were sent out and how many still remain. Sometimes the system can’t get a voicemail through for a various reasons. A person being in a bad service area or getting a busy signal are two examples. We track the ones that didn’t go through and can resend your voicemails back out to just those people to make sure we maximize the effectiveness of your Ringless Voicemail Campaign.
THE RESULT:
Imagine glancing at your phone and you see “missed call” but didn’t even hear your phone ring. Then you see a new voicemail pop up. It creates a lot of curiosity and you will most likely check that voicemail right away to see what you missed. At a time in history when people are getting alerts and notifications on their phones left and right, this key-point is really what sets Ringless Voicemails apart. When a persons phone suddenly shows a “missed call” and a “new voicemail” it gets checked immediately – and people interested in your offer will call you right away. Get ready for your phones to ring. It’s like an instant flow of leads by flipping a switch.
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY:
Every rose has its thorn, and no marketing effort is without the possible downsides, so we’ve outlined some things you may experience below. None of them are “deal-breakers” in our opinion, as many of them can be covered easily with the proper preparation.
Different mobile carriers have different settings on when Ringless Voicemails get delivered. This means that some people may see “missed call” before the actual voicemail gets delivered. This might cause them to quickly call the number back to see who called them and why.
So, you’ll need to be ready with a script that is specific to the voicemail offer for your staff to use.
Because of different carriers and carrier settings some people may get a double missed call before the Voicemail hits or their phone may actually ring for a spilt-second and then stop.
A good script in the hands of all people who man the phones can take care of all of this.
Your phones WILL ring. As with any other marketing campaign there will be interested people you can make appointments with or do business with, as well as people that just want to tell you they don’t like the color of your building. Or, that you forgot to replace their windshield wipers, or extra French fries the last time they were in. This is just the nature of advertising. It happens. Acknowledge. Move on.
But, your phones WILL ring.
Ringless Voicemail Drops work. When we hit “send”, your phones will ring. We try to ensure the Drops go out in short bursts so that you don’t get too many calls at once. You will need to to connect with us if it’s too many so that we can or slow it down or even pause it so you can catch up.
Legality
Ringless Voicemail is legal. However, some states seem to be “cracking down” on it. Because of this, some people think it’s illegal in certain states. This is not true. As with any other forms of marketing, there are guidelines that have to be followed. With Ringless Voicemail Drops, the phone numbers need to be run through the National Do Not Call List. When done properly there is no legal issue with sending the Ringless Voicemails to the rest of the numbers on the list from your own database.
Interested in using Ringless Voicemail Drops? Connect with us today.