Seven Tips To Tell The Difference Between 'Robocalls" And Vital Information From Businesses You Trust
SEATTLE—October 29, 2008—As this year’s political candidates flood voters with ‘robocalls’ or unsolicited automated calls, pre-recorded communications are being widely dismissed as irritating and an invasion of privacy. But what if the messages contained important information, such as a flight cancellation notification or a call alerting consumers to suspicious activity on their credit card account?
Fortune 500 companies are increasingly turning to automated calls as a means to reach more of their customers and employees with vital, need-to-know information, especially in tough economic times that are forcing companies to get more done with fewer resources.
Varolii Corporation, one of the largest providers of personalized automated communications nationwide, offers the following seven, simple tips to help consumers tell the difference between a robocall and a need-to-know call. An automated call with vital information will always be:
-
Relationship-based – Recipients will recognize the caller as someone they already do business with, such as their bank, pharmacy, or employer
-
Courteous – The calling organization will identify itself right away, using a natural-sounding voice in a conversational tone
-
Personalized – The message asks for the recipient by name, and that name is pronounced correctly
-
Relevant – The information is specific and applicable only to the individual receiving the call
-
Valuable – The information is something the recipient needs to know such as a fraud alert, flight delay, or prescription pick-up reminder
-
Private – The recipient is asked to authenticate him/herself before receiving confidential information
-
Interactive – There is an opportunity have to a “conversation” by answering questions and confirming selections, such as a new flight to be booked or confirming a credit card purchase
“It’s all too easy to mistakenly dismiss an automated call as a nuisance,” said Jeffrey Read, Executive Vice President of Field Operations at Varolii. “But for the literally millions of customers and employees of organizations who are careful to follow these guidelines, it’s an incredibly valuable service for which they are grateful.”
About Varolii Corporation
Varolii Corporation provides the on-demand software and services that help organizations create intelligent, automated conversations with their customers and employees over whichever combination of communication channels will generate the best response. Each message is carefully designed and continually optimized to improve service, increase revenue or manage unplanned events; for example, flight cancellation notices, fraud detection alerts, outage notifications, customer surveys, medication adherence notifications, payment reminders, and emergency alerts. More than 350 organizations, including many of the largest U.S. banks, airlines, wireless carriers, utilities, and healthcare organizations trust Varolii to send more than 3.5 million messages every business day. Varolii is headquartered in Seattle with offices in the Boston and Denver metropolitan areas. For more information, visit www.varolii.com
Media Contact: