Frequently Asked Questions
This list of frequently asked questions provides basic responses to a wide range of questions you may have. If your questions are not answered on this page, please contact us.
What does Varolii do?
Varolii builds and hosts software that enables companies to deliver automated communications to customers and employees via phone, SMS, fax or email. And we capture and analyze every interaction, ensuring each message delivered is of the highest quality and results in the recipient taking the desired action. A great range of industries rely on Varolii to deliver enhanced customer service, collections, medication adherence, business continuity and more. The company’s flagship capability—
Varolii ID™—enables companies to avoid communication fatigue among recipients and execute true 1-to-1 communication on a large scale, achieving better results from fewer notifications. We enable you to rise above the noise — communicating in ways that your customers will listen to, understand and take action on.
I already have a call center full of agents talking to my customers, and an IVR. Why should I consider using Varolii?
Varolii extends and augments the value of your existing communications. By interacting with existing agent / dialer / IVR solutions, Varolii enables you to more effectively leverage the value of all your communications assets. Your agents are freed from handling routine calls, allowing them time for more complex, revenue-generating tasks. And using a hosted system eliminates the expense of supplementary hardware while putting no additional demands on IT staff. Plus using our hosted system that integrates tightly with your existing CRM system will add capabilities that allow you to manage the setup without taxing your IT resources.
How difficult is it to implement Varolii’s Solution?
Varolii solutions are delivered under the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. That means your Varolii solution requires no on-premise hardware, is fast and easy to install, and requires minimal engagement from your internal IT staff. As a hosted service, we can integrate to contact center software, telephony tools, and back-office systems to help you drive better performance from your Varolii applications and leverage all of your existing technology investments. More information is available on our Integration Services page.
What type of returns can I expect?
Varolii has a history of achieving exceptional results. Alaska Airlines reduced their cost per contact by 66% and improved their customer’s experience. Time Warner Cable gained $1.6 million in net benefit per month over business as usual. What kind of results you can expect will depend on your objectives, the type of application, degree of tuning, and other factors. Varolii offers customers detailed post-implementation ROI analyses. We are always happy to meet with you to review your objectives and provide initial ROI estimates.
Don’t customers prefer to hear live human beings instead of robotic voices?
You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But the fact is that most customers find Varolii’s natural-sounding, pre-recorded voices consistently easy to understand and interact with. Varolii can even optimize the voices according to your audience (for example, if you were communicating with an older customer base), and adjust pacing, tone, and other vocal features to deliver the best possible listening experience.
In addition, Varolii Media Services has developed a "Sea" of over 10,000 pre-recorded first and last names – each spoken with a variety of inflections, genders, and pacing – to ensure that your customers will respond positively to your message. By receiving customer feedback, Equiant Financial Services realized that Varolii was much more advanced in technology and the quality of voices was superior to what other competing companies offered.
In collections work, many of our customers tell us that consumers actually prefer to hear a Varolii contact. They are spared potential embarrassment of talking with a live agent, and the Varolii communication never has a bad day, always has the right tone, and always offers the right options.
How do you ensure message quality and a positive customer experience?
Varolii Media Services focuses exclusively on positively impacting your customer's experience, specifically that split second of time when they first hear or see your message. We incorporate Message Mastering as a formal quality assurance process by which scripts are reviewed internally by Varolii experts. And we provide the Golden Voices — professional voice talent who know all the right inflections. With our dedication to sound quality, your customers will think it's a real person on the other line, encouraging immediate interaction and acceptance.
I've read your materials – my business is collecting money from customers. Why should I care about improving their experience or having "customer conversations"? I just need to collect more money for less money.
One of Varolii’s core competencies is in the collections business. After delivering over 2 billion notifications, we have proven that delivering the best possible experience, even when collecting a debt, helps ensure that your customers stay with your company, reducing churn and the expense of acquiring new customers. In addition, delivering a good experience provably enables higher collection rates and more dollars collected. When you partner with Varolii in your collections efforts, you’ll collect more money — and, you’ll collect it sooner, getting a larger share of wallet.
SunTrust, a large financial holding company, implemented a Varolii welcome call which was placed a few days before a customer’s first payments were due. It explained how to fill out the paperwork in their new homeowner packets, let them know when their forms were due, and gave them the option to pay over the phone or speak with a loan counselor to discuss their account and other options for making payments. This led to a 65% reduction in first payment default rates in all stages.
We treat close to a half trillion dollars annually for some of the largest financial services organizations in the world, as well as smaller organizations with specific needs. Varolii has proven that our methodology works for collections across all industries — delivering more dollars collected for less dollars spent, while providing the benefits of the best possible customer experience in what is typically a difficult situation.
It’s a competitive marketplace, how can I be certain Varolii offers our organization real value?
We demonstrate our value through jointly-developed ROI studies based on your own production data. With Varolii you won’t have to guess at value – you’ll have the numbers in your hands. We offer you the ammunition to create effective business cases, then we deliver through ongoing ROI studies.
What makes your Automated Communications offering unique?
Only Varolii has Varolii ID, a core technology of the Varolii Interact Platform that dynamically captures, retains and analyzes individual interactions to create automated, one-to-one communications, driving better results and a higher ROI. This capability lets you communicate less and get a better result.
Additionally, we make sure your customers receive the highest quality at every touch point. To ensure this, we offer Message Mastering for developing scripts; we have pre-recorded libraries of almost all names, dates, and numbers; and we personalize every contact. A better customer experience provably enhances customer response rates.
We also constantly monitor and analyze your results against our unique industry benchmarks. Sharing the results of this analysis enables you to receive consistent, ongoing improvements in ROI.
Does Varolii have solutions for my industry? If so, do you have referenceable accounts?
Varolii delivers solutions for vertical industries including consumer services, financial services, healthcare, utilities, and telecommunications, as well as horizontals, such as customer service and collections. We are fully referenceable in all our served markets. For referenceable accounts, please view the customer videos and case studies on our Customer page.
Can message recipients interact with your communications?
Varolii’s technology goes beyond “making the phone ring” or sending a message. Varolii creates an interaction that rivals the quality and intelligence of person-to-person contact and a conversation that will encourage your customer to take action. Our goal is to deliver such a high quality experience that communications are welcomed and the end result is your customer takes the action you ultimately desire. Learn more about how we allow customers to self serve.
Can you send notifications through multiple channels?
Varolii can not only can reach your customers using multiple channels, but across channels. Varolii allows you to combine different channels within a single communication, creating greater reach and giving your customers the option of choosing which device they’d like to be contacted on. They can even ask for the same information to be sent to another device or medium. For instance, they can get a voice notification on their mobile phone and ask that the same information be sent via text or to their email.
Explain how messages are delivered when a customer isn’t home or is unavailable.
At the very end of the calling day, if the responsible party is not reached, a personalized answering message is left with a unique retrieval code. This message directs the customer back to the Varolii data center via a toll free 800 number, where the customer can authenticate and hear the full notification with all interaction features intact (including the option to make a payment), preventing inbound calls to the call center.
How soon can I expect to see results?
You'll begin seeing results from the day you turn the switch. Using Varolii, Kansas City Power and Light experienced a 39% reduction in collections write-offs and were able to redeploy over 40 agents from handling pre-disconnect outreach. And a Top Wireless provider saw a 416% increase in customer saves. When you communicate with your customers using a Varolii solution, you create an immediate connection. Varolii's unique real-time reporting features mean you can monitor results and customer feedback from any Varolii solution whenever you choose.
What kind of support can I expect?
Service is a key differentiator for Varolii. As a client of Varolii, you have access to a strong group of consultants whose primary goal is to help enhance your ROI. Our customer support is built around a live 24x7 model that offers full support for all areas, including platform, application and data transfer. In order for any communication to work – it has to be delivered. Varolii technical support includes dedicated engineers with all the tools and escalation capabilities necessary to resolve any problem quickly, efficiently, and with minimal impact on your operation. In addition, only Varolii has Client Advantage, a dedicated team who focuses on your application around the clock. Varolii Client Advantage uses a blend of technology, experience and best practice data to provide customized support, monitoring, and recommendations for improved performance and results, while at the same time ensuring the best possible customer experience.
Are your products managed on premise or are you a hosted solution?
Varolii’s services are only available as a hosted offering. We assume all responsibilities for system monitoring and system performance and provide development resources who act as an extension to your own IT staff. Varolii’s operational team supports and monitors campaigns, systems and the general health of the platform and services, including the external vendors required to provide the level of service required.
Can your communications be sent in multiple languages?
Varolii's multi-lingual communications capability enables your customers to interact in the language they’re most comfortable with increases the number of right parties you reach and interaction with those right parties. Without it certain consumer segments won’t understand the communication and will need to be contacted another way or they’ll attempt to interact but not fully understand the communication, leading to potential misunderstandings with the company.
Varolii provides English and Spanish as standard notification options (other languages require custom configuration).