Sundrop Mobile uses voice broadcasting and IVR to set sales record
Time to read: 2 minutes
April 05, 2011
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Sundrop Mobile (which just closed a $900k round through Vocap Ventures) set a record for their client, a Little Caesar’s franchise in Florida, earlier in the month when they set a new record for most sales in a given day. Using an outbound IVR that was powered by Twilio, Sundrop built up an opt-in customer database over 7 weeks using their mobile loyalty solution, loyalTXT. Using Twilio’s API, Sundrop Mobile’s voice broadcasting solution was able to not only automate outbound voice calls containing coupon codes, but also track individual customer redemption rates, opt-out rates, and revenue generation.
Building voice broadcasting and IVR on Twilio
Sundrop found Twilio through one of its developer integrations, and looking through what Twilio had to offer, thought it would be pretty cool to see if a merchant’s loyal customers would respond to a marketing offer via voice recording as well as they did via SMS text and email. It only took about an hour to work out the structure of the auto dialer service and about 4 hours to complete the integration. It actually took longer to sift through the FCC rules related to Do Not Call requirements than the integration itself took.
After integrating and testing, Sundrop contacted one of its closer customers to try the service on a live audience. After building an opt-in loyalty database of in-store visitors for 7 weeks, Little Caesar’s put together a multi-channel marketing campaign containing a coupon code to measure results. Sundrop and Little Caesar’s were shocked by the results.
On Tuesday afternoon at 3pm, an SMS text was sent to each member announcing a $3.99 Hot-N-Ready special for loyal customers valid on the following day. The SMS text included a unique tracking coupon code. On Wednesday morning at 10am, the Little Caesar’s franchisee used Sundrop’s voice broadcasting platform to record a short voice message with instructions to “mention coupon code 22 at check-out to get this deal” and Sundrop delivered the message using its Twilio integration. By 11:30, customers were entering the store and redeeming code 22 at a rate of 5:1 versus the SMS coupon code most likely because the voice message was more recent and convenient than the SMS text.
By the end of the day, the Little Caesar’s franchisee had generated more revenue that day than any other day in its four-year operating history.
Using C# ASP.Net, integrating the Twilio API was a snap. Sundrop has numerous future plans for the Twilio API and it’s mobile loyalty program, including making it easy for Sundrop’s merchants to build custom IVR surveys and deliver personalized messages to loyalty program member segments. Voice broadcasting with IVR is a natural, “personalized” complement to Sundrop’s mobile loyalty solution, and adds a professional yet personal touch to Sundrop’s merchants’ customer relations.
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