CLIC’AUTO reaches 75% pick up rate and 70% listen-through rate on automated call campaigns

Who is CLIC’AUTO?

CLIC’AUTO is a French company specialized in managing marketing campaigns for third parties.  With 99% of their customers in the automotive industry, CLIC’AUTO can increase foot-traffic to dealerships, boost customer loyalty and gather client feedback through automated, personalized voice and SMS campaigns. Nicolas Fleurbayx, a CLIC’AUTO sales manager, is responsible for managing these campaigns.

The challenge: replacing a key tech on the fly

One day in 2014, Nicolas was told he couldn’t continue using his then-current voice campaign provider due to a conflict of interest. He went searching the internet for a new solution, and came across CALLR. “Having to switch providers was a blessing in disguise, since I discovered that CALLR’s pricing for outbound voice campaigns is the lowest I’d ever seen,” explained Nicolas. “Once I started using the web interface, I also realized it was very well designed. Because of this, it took me a lot less time to build a campaign. Before, I needed 5 to 10 minutes to test and configure, and now it takes me 2 and a half minutes. If I have a client who calls me in the morning, I can have their campaign ready that same day.”

Outbound call and direct-to-voicemail campaigns

Today, Nicolas uses CALLR on behalf of his clients in two main ways – for outbound voice and direct-to-voicemail campaigns. Outbound voice campaigns “Push voice campaigns are great for driving traffic to a physical location and for acquiring new customers,” explained Nicolas. “I use these kinds of campaigns when my clients are having a big sale or an in-store event. They grab attention much better than an SMS, and if done right they can be very effective. ”Nicolas first uses CALLR’s web interface to record his message, then selects the appropriate file of contacts to send it to, along with a day and time. “The essential point is to arouse curiosity in the listener. You want to keep these recordings short – 45 seconds is ideal, and no longer than a minute. Present yourself, the event or offer, and how to get there, in the most succinct and interesting way possible.”  Nicolas tries to reach people when they’re at home: this can be during lunch time, or after 6pm (7pm for busy metropolitan centers like Paris).

Direct-to-voicemail

“I’ve found direct-to-voicemail very useful for campaigns designed to increase customer loyalty.  These are more about strengthening relationships between local business owners and their clients.”  To that end, Nicolas recommends store owners record their own voice messages. “There’s something about hearing someone’s voice that instantly creates rapport.”  To incite listeners to take a desired action, Nicolas relies on one of three ‘calls-to-action’ in his pre-recorded messages:

1. Press 1: the listener is asked to press 1 if they’d like to be contacted by a salesperson.  The salesperson then receives an email with the person’s contact information.
2. Direct connection: If the listener would like, they can be connected to a salesperson during the call.
3. Leave a voicemail. The listener is invited to leave a recorded message.

“Press 1 options can be tricky, since a lot of people say they want to talk to a salesperson just out of curiosity.  I get the best results with direct connection, especially if the message and targeting are really relevant.  The ‘leave a message’ option can be great for post-sale campaigns or to collect customer opinions, since a lot of people feel more comfortable giving honest feedback as a voice message instead of taking with a live person.”

Results

The automotive industry is very seasonal, so Nicolas has about 5 yearly rush periods where he relies heavily on CALLR. For example, this past June, CLIC AUTO sent voice campaigns to 260,000 people and direct-to-voicemail campaigns to 21,000.  “What I’m very happy about are the metrics on these – our voice campaigns have a 75% pick up rate. 70% of the people who answer listen to the entire 1-minute recorded message. Those are excellent stats,” concluded Nicolas.[cta href="https://www.callr.com/usecases/phone-marketing/" txt="Want to set up your own voice campaigns?" btn="Check out our API"]