Oh, um, hi. We were hoping to get your machine
Retailers
leap through do-not-call loophole with ‘voice marketing’
By Mya Frazier
When you answer the phone, a sing songy, girl-next-door voice
chirps, “Hi, it’s Katie from Macy’s and, um,
I wanted to make sure you were the first to know that our new
Inc. Spring fashion line has just arrived!”
Katie and compatriots Jenny and Jessica are scripted and tested
right down to the “ums” and “ohs” to tout
grand openings, sales and new merchandise for retailers. And surprisingly
given the fact that 45% of Americans are on the national do-not-call
list, these faux friends are gaining in popularity as sales tools
with retailers such as JCPenney to Kohl’s, Staples, Office
Depot and Albertson’s.
Such “voice marketing” exists due to the do-not-call loophole that allows contact with “existing business customers” such as credit card holders. And industry leader SmartReply claims its’ results beat direct mail, since calls cost an average of just 9¢.
“
The ROI is incredible, it’s definitely a good return for
us,” said Dianne Binford, VP-multichannel marketing for
Jones Apparel Group, which encompasses brands including Nine West,
Bandolino, Jones New York, Kasper and Anne Klein. The company
began testing voice marketing two years ago for its 130-store
Easy Spirit brand and has since run four campaigns, said Ms. Binford. “On
average, we’ve only had about three customers complain each
time. And when they called in and we explained the calls, they
ended up appreciating it.”
Calling customers is an old marking tool for retailers. Easy
Spirit always created lists of the top 100 customers at each store,
relying on managers and store employees to make calls, but measurement
was difficult and execution inconsistent.
Although the cost of Easy Spirit voice campaigns were a “drop
in the bucket” in terms of the brand’s overall budget,
Ms. Binford said, they reach a receptive audience. A heads up
about an Easy Spirit sale is, after all, coveted knowledge among
loyal customers since the brand remains disciplined about sales,
running only two a year.
Occasional Calls
The 570-store Limited Too has conducted six full-scale campaigns,
reaching an average of a million customers each time, with an
opt out rate of less than 2%, according to Carol Sweeney, director-data-base
marketing, who added that voice marketing is now a “significant” part
of her budget. “I’m a person who gets annoyed with
a call I don’t want, but customers really appreciate this,” she
said. “We are just very careful we are not calling every
week.”
Unlike other forms of mass advertising, voice marketing gives
retailers like Easy Spirit the ability to tailor messages based
on purchase data. In planning a campaign, Ms. Binford said she
starts with six scripts based on buying patterns, such as athletic,
dress or sandal purchases.
Irvine, Calif.-based SmartReply claims to have honed and tweaked
voice marketing down to a science since launching in 2001. Eric
Holmen, VP-professional services, claims SmartReply has discovered
some absolutes about consumer responses to voicemail.
For starters, you don’t want to reach a live person or “live
ear.” The best time to call? The afternoon on weekdays.
SmartReply also claims only two per 1,000 people will opt-out
of the calls. Testing has proved the average patience is only
about 19 seconds for a live call vs. 35 seconds for a voicemail
message.
But even 19 seconds is too much for privacy advocate Gary Ruskin
of Commercial Alert. “It’s really annoying and just
shows how advertisers have no respect for our time,” he
said, adding, “It’s pretty clear form the way that
Congress treated the telemarketing debacle that this is so unpopular
it won’t take much for new conduct to be banned.”
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