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  • Is Voicemail the New Spam?

    I read a post recently on Techcrunch that prompted the question in the above title. Most of the comments on the Techcrunch site were very anti-voicemail. It seems, particularly in tech circles, that email, IM and Twitter are the preferred method of contact.

    So, what about small business. Is leaving sales or service related voicemails a waste of time or worse – something akin to spam?

    I must admit that my own use of voicemail has dwindled significantly over the past few years. The use of text messaging, mobile phones with visual voicemail and email that comes to the phone has put me out of the habit of responding to and leaving voice messages.

    However, there are certainly prospects and occasions when it is a necessary tool. Having said that I do believe you must be more strategic in your messaging. As silly as that might sound a messages that goes something like, “call me when you get a chance” or “just checking to see if you got my email” are really a form of spam.

    For voicemail to be effective in terms of marketing you must use it to share some form of vital information or pass on specific details that may or may not involve a reply or further action from the recipient. Anything less and you may just be adding to information overload we all suffer from.

    The use of services such as Jott or Spinvox that can turn voicemail into email messages is definitely on the rise and may be the best way to bridge your use of voice messages to a more suitable format.

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    Posted by: John Jantsch on Jul 07, 08 | 5:05 am
    Category: Jott, Small Business, Tools I Use | Tags: , ,

    Comments
    • John,

      I think we need to treat voice mail the way we do any marketing method. We need to understand our market and how they want to receive information. If they would prefer email we need to be in touch that way. Others still prefer phone and voice mail. We just need to make sure we're using a variety of methods and track what works.

      Andrea
    • I find it interesting when I come across voicemail greetings that say:

      "Don't leave a voicemail, send me an email"

      If they SpinVox, I'd be able to do that without ending the call!
    • I dislike it when companies call me about advertising on my blog. It tells me that they want to do business on THEIR terms, not mine.

      I'm a blogger. Use email.
    • Leaving unsolicited voicemails seems like spam to me...in fact, it's right up there with the "no call" list - the only reason you left a voicemail message is that no one actually answered the phone. I think the days of cold sales call via phone are dead, and cold email "calls" are spam, so we're left with opt-in lead lists...people who want to be advertised to. Now, how do you find people who want to be advertised to? Previous customers, referrals from previous and current customers, people who somehow get your number, email, reply to a blog or website...maybe the answer is to get your business out "there" in enough ways that people will come to you so that you, in turn, can go to them. Is this the picture?
    • How's the accuracy of the voice to text conversion? Anyone has used it before?
    • @Hendry - our users report a 97% accuracy rate.

      /SpinVox

      :)
    • I think there's a gray area when it comes to existing contacts/clients, but when it's completely unsolicited and coming from someone you have no connection with, then it's gotta be called spam.
    • tricky question. For me it is spam, but that is because here in Spain, I get bombarded with it daily.

      Dean
    • I must say I find it quite disturbing to receive unsolicited voicemails, but I find voicemails from existing clients a bit much too sometimes - I much prefer email as a written documentation of our discussion.
    • I would say now that 90% of my voicemails are spam. People trying to call me and sell me something. Sucks.
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