VoiceCast

Lead Generation, Alerting and People Management in one simple tool

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Bulk Voicemail Gateway

Automated telephone calls - Often called Robo Calls. Sounds complex and expensive? It isn't!

TNZ VoiceCast is a quick and informative voice broadcasting system, designed to be simple and scalable with a huge capacity for simultaneous calls and features galore!

VoiceCast is available in a number of flavours, from an automated text-to-speech solution for swift delivery of messages packed with customized information, to a human-recorded voice option for a personal touch.



What can the VoiceCast service do for you?

  • Remind clients of upcoming appointments and consultations
  • Alert on-call engineers of faults or server issues
  • Notify of urgent product recalls
  • Chase up outstanding debts or invoices, including customised dates, invoice numbers, and dollar amounts due
  • Notify large numbers of people about a scheduled event or natural disaster
  • Notify of a system outage with full details on what is out and times/dates since outage
  • Sending a voice message for VPN access codes, security tokens or password changes (2FA)
  • Lead Generation - "press 1 for more information" or "press 2 for connection to sales staff" for access to hot leads


Recorded Voice versus Text-to-Speech (TTS)

You have the option of using either Recorded Voice or Text-to-Speech or a mixture of both.

  • Recorded Voice requires you to provide a WAV or MP3 file containing an audio recording of the message you're sending. When the end-user answers the phone, your audio recording is played.
    This provides a human touch, though lacks personalisation features.

  • Text-to-Speech uses synthetic voice to convert written text into audio. When the end-user answers the phone, they hear robotic audio automatically generated by the VoiceCast service.
    This allows for far quicker generation of calls (it removes the requirement for you to pre-record the message) and also allows for personalisation (each recipient can receive a customised message with their specific details).

  • A mixture of both options is available, however this is for power users only. The message can be pre-recorded, with sections of the message generated with text-to-speech. For example, "Hello NAME" is text-to-speech, while the rest of the message is pre-recorded audio.

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Recorded Voice

Provide a WAV or MP3 file containing an audio recording.

We convert the recorded voice Voice Calls.

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Text-to-Speech (TTS)

Provide a speech pharse, TTS engine creates computer generated voicemails.

We convert the text phrase to Voice Calls.

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A mixture of both

For power users - Provide combination of voice files with speech pharses.

We combine voice file with the text phrase to Voice Calls.



The Experience

When the recipient's phone rings, the call will appear on a recipients telephone in the same way all other telephone calls do.

By default, we set the Caller ID on VoiceCast calls to "Private". This will show on the recipients telephone as "Private Number", "Number Withheld", "Blocked" or another variation depending on their telephone supplier. We can display a custom Caller ID to represent your business if you prefer.

Once the call has been answered, we allow the recipient a few moments to answer the call. Normally, when answering the phone, a recipient will begin the call with "Hello". Once this initial "Hello" has been detected, VoiceCast will begin playing your main voice message. Should the VoiceCast system not detect this initial "Hello", it will wait a few moments then begin playing your message. Should a "Hello" be detected after play has begun, it will halt the message, then restart from the beginning.
If we have detected that the call has been answered by an answering machine, the VoiceCast system will cease playing the main voice message and begin playing your Answerphone message (if no Answerphone message has been set, the main message will begin playing again).

For a simple VoiceCast call without a keypad option, the voice message will play through once, then hang up.
If you have specified a keypad option, the VoiceCast system will wait a moment for the recipient to press a telephone button. If nothing is pressed, the message will play through a second time (allowing the recipient to press a keypad button at any time). If no keypad button is pressed, the call will end.
If the recipient presses a keypad button, the VoiceCast system will move to the next option, as specified by your configuration. The VoiceCast engine will then include the keypad buttons that were pressed in the final report that you will receive.



Flexible ways to send Voicemail/TTS Messages

VoiceCasts can be submitted using a variety of methods -

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Voicemail via Email

Send us an email with your list file attached.

We convert the recorded voice or Text to Speech phrase to Voice Calls.

Email to Voice
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Voicemail via Web

Submit a job with your list file, send mass voice calls with a few simple steps.

We also support Calendar & Address Book features on our web portal.

Web to Voice
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Voicemail via API

Initiate Bulk Voice Calls using your existing applications.

Our powerful Voicemail API supports REST, HTTP/S POST, SOAP, SMTP & more.

VoiceCast API



Frequently Asked Questions

VoiceCast is able to transmit approximately 700 simultaneous calls. This capacity is able to be increased on request for burst calls or larger volumes of calls.

We have the ability to prioritise emergency calls over standard Voice Broadcasts. If your content is required to be sent in an emergency scenario, we are able to cater for this.

Calls are charged per minute, per target.
Calls answered by an answering machine are charged for.
Calls that fail due to a bad number or another communication error are not typically charged for.

If you are sending a voice broadcast to 500 phone numbers and each call is answered for 45 seconds, budget for 500 one minute calls.

If you are sending a voice broadcast to 500 phone numbers and each call is answered for one minute and 20 seconds, budget for 500 two minute calls.

If you are sending a voice broadcast to 500 phone numbers and each call is answered for 45 seconds, then transferred to a live Operator for two minutes, budget for 500 five minute calls (one minute for the initial call, then two minutes per leg for the transferred call).

Once the calling has completed, you will receive a report containing individual information on each call.
Information includes the number of seconds the call was active, which keypad buttons were pressed, whether the call reached a human or an answerphone, etc.

We have a range of Text to Speech voices available. These include both Male and Female voices with different accents.

Voices are selected in four ways:

  • As an account default, set up by your account representative
  • Manually selected from the TTS Engine dropdown if sending via the web dashboard
  • Dynamically set within your SFV file if sending advanced VoiceCast calls
  • By recording your own audio into a WAV or MP3 file

You can create a simple VoiceCast with a keypad button routing the call to a live Operator through the Web Dashboard. At present, creating a complex survey is not available through the Web Dashboard.

Should you need to create a survey, you will need to build the SFV file. See the "Building VoiceCast Control Files (SFV)" guide for further information.

We do not provide voice recordings. You can create your own voice recordings or we can recommend professional studios that you can hire to create high quality audio files.
Otherwise, we recommend utlizing one of the built in text-to-speech voices for simple, quick and cost effective voice content.

We do have a facility available for you to record a voice message by calling one of our telephone numbers. Contact a TNZ Representative for further information.

For a simple VoiceCast using text-to-speech, all you need is a Web Browser and access to the Internet. If you can see this website, you already have all you need!

Should you want to record your own voice files for use with the VoiceCast service, you may wish to purchase a computer microphone and audio recording software (we recommend Audacity).

For users who are recording voice files for use with the VoiceCast service, we recommend saving these as WAV files.

WAV allows for the best quality audio as there is little compression (however the file sizes are much larger). Standard telephony allows for an 8000kHz sample rate, 8 bit with mono sound (PCM). VoiceCast will downsample any audio files to this standard.

If you have any queries or issues with audio formats, don't hesitate to contact a account representative.



Ways to Send VoiceCast Messages

See the REST API documentation for 'Voice' and 'TextToSpeech'.

SOAP and FTP options are available. Contact us for details.



Tracking and Reporting

Once the calling has completed, you will receive a report containing individual information on each call.
Information includes the number of seconds the call was active, which keypad buttons were pressed, whether the call reached a human or an answerphone, etc.

An example:

Destination Seconds Date Status Result Answers
+6495005000 80 Thursday, 10 May 2019 11:09 a.m. SUCCESS Sent Ok Main=1,RecordMessage=3
+6495005001 47 Thursday, 10 May 2019 11:09 a.m. SUCCESS Sent Ok Main=2,Question1=1,Question2=5,End
+6495005002 32 Thursday, 10 May 2019 11:10 a.m. SUCCESS Answerphone Answerphone
+6495005003 0 Thursday, 10 May 2019 11:12 a.m. FAILED Bad Number/No Answer (NUR) Main

Reports and Statistics can be viewed in real-time via the Web Portal.
You can download information on what has completed, why certain calls failed, what recipients pressed on their keypad and even resend failed calls, all in an easy to read format.
Calls are also able to be cancelled, rescheduled and delayed using the Web Portal.

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Large Call Capacity

VoiceCast is able to transmit approximately 1000 simultaneous calls. This means VoiceCast can generate up to 60,000 one minute calls over the space of an hour. This capacity is constantly growing as we update software and hardware. This capacity is able to be increased on request for burst calls or larger volumes of calls.

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Answerphone Detection

Voicemail detection is built into VoiceCast. You will receive full reports on which calls were really answered and which went to answering machines. You can even play a completely separate message to suit your later-listening audience, or we can end the call without even leaving a message.


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Route Call to Live Operator (Call Centre Link-up)

As a part of your configuration, you can set calls to be routed to another telephone number. This is designed to be routed to a Live Operator who can assist the client further. This enhances the Live Operator's efficiency as they only receive calls from hot leads, without needing to do the leg work.




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Pacing Management and Simultaneous Call Control

For large broadcasts, calls can be "paced". This allows for the system to limit the number of calls being made at any one time. This can be adjusted on-the-fly via the online Web Portal. This feature allows the system to not only avoid overloading local exchanges and telephone networks, but is useful for those using the Route Call to Live Operator (Call Centre Link-up) feature, as the Pacing Management can be configured to match the number of Live Operators available.

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Cloud Hosted

The VoiceCast solution is fully hosted. This means there is no special equipment or computer software required. All configuration can be done using a Web Browser or Email Client. We also provide a complimentary Voice Recording service, so you can dial our dedicated telephone line and record your Voice Messages for sending.

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DTMF Tracking

Full DTMF reporting for surveys, call acknowledgements and routing calls to a call centre service.







PRICING

Starter Plan
From
$20

/month

+ Messaging Costs
  • Dashboard
  • APIs
  • Integrations
  • Multiple Message Types
  • NZ Support
  • Volume Discounts
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