Call Loop is a service that allows organizations to integrate SMS and voice messaging into their email marketing campaigns. A Call Loop service makes it possible to automatically add contacts from an email campaign to a call list, so it’s easy to send automated SMS and voice messages to all contacts. Call Loop can be extremely useful when paired with other services such as the ringless voicemail offered by Stratics Networks.
Ringless voicemail works by delivering a prerecorded message to a contact’s voicemail account without actually using their phone number. Ringless voicemail software is used to place the message directly onto the contact’s voicemail server, so the traditional call process is avoided altogether. Ringless voicemail has clear benefits for organizations, since they won’t have to have their agents performing traditional telemarketing duties, and recipients of ringless voicemails often find them less annoying than unsolicited calls. Of course, Call Loop and ringless voicemail don’t have to be used solely for marketing campaigns; they can also be useful for sending personalized messages to subscribers or for a variety of other purposes.
Pairing with agents
While Call Loop and associated services can be used to fully automate your call process, it isn’t necessary, or always best, to do so. There are some contacts where these services simply aren’t the best solution on their own, but agents can still take advantage of their benefits. An agent could make calls to important contacts, and whenever they run into a voicemail, they can use voicemail drop functionality to leave their message with a single click instead of having to recite a script for each call. This still saves a great deal of time and effort, and it’s even possible to record multiple messages for different contexts, so they always sound natural.
Legality
Most functions that can be paired with Call Loop are perfectly legal, although ringless voicemail can be a bit of a gray matter. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 was created for the purpose of restricting the use of automated dialing systems and “robocalls” for telemarketing. It requires organizations to abide by standards of practice when using these technologies, and it protects consumers with the national DNC registry. This list applies to all telemarketers with the exception of a few nonprofit organizations. This act only applies explicitly to phone calls, however, and makes no mention of dropped voicemails that bypass the calling process.
There have been multiple state level court hearings regarding ringless voicemails. In 2018, Florida actually became the first state to outright ban ringless voicemails, and they updated their definitions of telephone solicitation following the decision. There has yet to be a decision made at the federal level, but many companies have petitioned the Florida decision and do not believe dropped voicemails should count as calls.
Best practices
Naturally, when using Call Loop and any integrated services, it’s important for an organization to ensure its activities are compliant with all state laws. This means scrubbing contact lists against the national DNC list as well as any state or local registries. While SMS or voicemail messages may not technically count as calls, contacting numbers on these lists can still negatively impact an organization’s reputation.
Any marketing campaign using Call Loop should have a clearly defined goal, and all progress toward that goal should be tracked. Particularly when using ringless voicemails, it’s important to be mindful of when recipients will likely be on their phones checking for messages. While it’s true that ringless voicemails don’t disturb recipients like a call would, they will still be more likely to see them at certain times of day. It’s also best to prepare a script filled with all relevant information and convenient call back options to ensure the best results.
