• by Randy Haldeman , April 13, 2009

Ask 100 mobile marketers why a particular mobile ad works and another doesn't and you're likely to get a 100 different opinions. Unfortunately, there's no right answer. But with voice ads, we've discovered there are some things you can do, with both the art and the science, which can make the difference between good response and great.

The Art of Crafting Voice Ads

Just because audio ads can sound like radio spots doesn't mean they necessarily should. In-call voice ads aren't broadcasts...they're effectively uni-casts, delivered right into the ear of a listener. Most of us don't talk like radio announcers when we call our friends, so it makes sense that the most successful ads use voices and vocal deliveries that sound personal...dare I say, intimate. Our best-performing ads have been those that sound and feel like a personal conversation, rather than a pre-packaged monologue.

Also, the gender of the voice matters a lot, depending on what the promotion is. Campaign opt-in rates almost double from 1.5% to 2.8% when switching from a male voice to a female voice. Why? Because the ad was targeting parents, and the motherly voice was more reassuring to our callers. In other campaigns, though, the male voice got the better response, usually those that were targeting teens and young adults. We've seen responses in the 6-8% range for some of our more "manly" promotions.

The Art of The Offer

Sure, hearing a targeted brand message on the phone is worth something, but with mobile, you can do so much more, such offering things like promo codes, coupons, directions, or links to free stuff. In fact, one recent A/B test we did had response rates shoot up nearly 4X by offering a free mobile ringtone.

How about a little reminder? One option is SMS messages that can be scheduled for delivery at a specific time in the future. We are currently running a TV tune-in campaign that will send out an alert with details of that week's show (special guests, clues, teasers, etc). This way, we are mobilizing thousands of viewers to watch each week. It's key to keep the messages targeted and relevant and even a little quirky to keep the audience wanting more.

The Science of Crafting Voice Ads

Voice User Interface (VUI) Designers can talk for hours on the science of how to structure effective voice ads. For example, there's a big difference between, "Press 1 now to get your coupon," and "To get your coupon, press 1 now." The reason comes down to our faulty memories. By putting the offer BEFORE the action, people are better able to remember what they're supposed to do and are consistently more likely to do it.

It is also important to align the call-to-action with how the brain would think about it. Here's a typical marketing versus VUI discussion I had last week. I wanted to have the call-to-action of a particular campaign be the brand name of our customer (assume it was Gatorade), so it would say "To get your dollar-off coupon, say Gatorade." I figured it would further impress the brand in the customer's mind and on their lips. But I lost out to the argument that the time-tested most effective way to get someone to act is to align the action word with the requested behavior, so our call-to-action now says "To get your coupon, say 'Send it!'" And, by golly, it is working well.

The Next Frontier

Voice advertising is new to many marketers, but has been gaining wider and following. It works on all 5 billion phones in the world, including 3.5 billion mobile phones, and usually gets 5 to 10X the opt-in rates of online ads. As with every emerging advertising medium, we learn new and interesting things on a daily basis, on both the science and art of creating effective ads.