Voice Broadcasting: How to Call Many People at the Same Time

Voice broadcasting delivers prerecorded messages or text-to-speech (TTS) voice messages to a large number of recipients simultaneously.

It gives you direct access to the person you intend to contact, cutting through the noise of other channels. It’s typically helpful in conveying reminders or delivering critical alerts to multiple people at the same time.

Many businesses use voice broadcasting as a part of their omnichannel strategy to engage customers on the channel of their preference. In this article, we’ll explore voice broadcasting from multiple angles to give you a sense of how valuable it is for businesses and institutions.

What Is Voice Broadcasting?

Voice broadcasting, also known as voice message broadcasting or automated voice messaging, is a mass communication service that sends the same voice message to hundreds or thousands of phone numbers simultaneously.

Typically, a company or organization prepares a single audio message, either a human-recorded announcement or a TTS-generated script, and an automated dialer calls all the numbers on a contact list.

For example, the recorded script might say, “Hello John, your appointment is scheduled for tomorrow at 3 PM,” using data fields to supply the name and date. When recipients answer their phones, they hear this message.

Importantly, advanced voice broadcasting software also allows some interactivity. The listener can press a number on their keypad to confirm specific information, answer a question, or request a callback.

This capability has existed since the 1990s. It’s deeply integrated into communications platform as a service (CPaaS) APIs, allowing businesses to launch broadcast campaigns via cloud dashboards or code.

Popular Uses of Voice Broadcasts

Voice broadcasting is widely used for time-sensitive or high-priority alerts that require immediate attention. Keep reading to learn about some common use cases.

Emergency notifications

Government agencies and first responders use voice broadcasts (often referred to as “Reverse 911”) to warn communities of natural disasters, evacuation orders, road closures, or other public safety emergencies. This allows officials to spread warnings in the affected areas quickly.

In recent research, Chartwell found that 70% of residential consumers were OK with receiving power outage notifications without signing up for them, and that 22% of the respondents were neutral.

Appointment reminders

Clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies automatically call or send messages to patients about upcoming appointments. This cuts no-show rates.

A Medical Group Management Association survey proves this. It found that nine out of 10 health care organizations used automated appointment reminders to reduce no-shows.

Outage alerts

Utility companies notify customers of power or water outages and restoration schedules via voice broadcasts. The Chartwell research report found that 92% of customers surveyed approved of these automatic alerts.

In practice, a power company might call all subscribers in a specific zip code to say, “This is an emergency alert from [Utility Name]. A scheduled outage will occur in your area on Thursday, March 23, from 1 PM to 3 PM.” These phone calls can reach customers who are off-grid or have weak Internet, ensuring timely awareness.

Promotional campaigns

Businesses and event organizers use voice broadcast messages to share limited-time offers or reminders. For example, a retailer might send a special discount coupon by phone to loyal customers.

While SMS and email are standard for marketing, voice calls can stand out. The recipients tend to listen if they recognize the name on the caller ID. For example, a political campaign used automated calls to inform voters about a candidate’s rally time and location. If you use the voice channel, it’s essential to comply with consent laws and opt-in rules.

Surveys and feedback

After a business provides a service, a call might say, “Press 1 if you were satisfied or 2 if you were not.” The interactive voice response system collects responses without the assistance of a human agent. These automated follow-ups quickly gather net promoter score data from recent customer interactions and make it easy to collect customer satisfaction scores.

How Voice Broadcasting Works

Setting up a voice broadcast campaign involves several automated steps, which are usually handled by a CPaaS or cloud contact center platform.

Create a message

You need to have a person record an audio message or use an AI-generated TTS recording based on typed text. Script the message with the necessary personalization using merge fields, such as the customer’s name or appointment date.

Modern platforms integrate TTS to read out dynamic data as a part of the message. They also have tools to record and upload audio and check the TTS voice quality before launch.

Upload lists

Import your call list, or upload it from your system. It’s typically in the form of a CRM, database, or spreadsheet that includes recipients’ phone numbers and the necessary personalization fields. The platform enables you to filter or segment the list by geography or customer segment. It helps ensure you only call the target audience.

Set up the campaign

In the campaign settings, configure when and how calls will be placed. You schedule dates and times for the broadcast, respecting allowable calling hours (for example, by scheduling calls neither too early nor too late in the day). Set routing rules or fallback options that indicate the system should dial primary numbers first and only call alternate numbers when there’s no answer.

Upload do-not-call (DNC) lists to exclude individuals who have opted out. Some systems allow you to set the caller ID that will be displayed and use a local number to increase answer rates.

Automated dialing

When the campaign goes live, the platform automatically dials the contacts in parallel. Using telephony hardware or cloud voice trunks, the system simultaneously broadcasts to multiple lines. This high-capacity dialing enables you to reach an entire list within minutes rather than days.

The system monitors call progress and retries unanswered numbers according to configured rules. Most importantly, advanced platforms detect the call outcome. If someone answers the phone, the message plays; if an answering machine picks up, the system drops the voicemail after the beep.

Smart delivery

Voice broadcast systems feature smart capabilities to improve reach and efficiency. In addition to deploying answering machine detection, platforms may pause or throttle calls to respect network capacity. They might also automatically scrub numbers, filtering out invalid or disconnected lines. Often, this occurs through real-time number lookup and exclusion of individuals on DNC registries.

If a campaign targets customers segmented by behavior, the software ensures only matching contacts are called. High-end systems provide speech analytics to determine if a person answered (as opposed to voicemail) and can even log whether the call’s recipient spoke a key phrase.

Optional interaction

Voice broadcasts are more than just one-way announcements. If enabled, the call can prompt the listener to press a digit that commands the system to take action. For instance, the message might say, “Press 1 to confirm, 2 to cancel, or 3 to repeat this message.”

The system captures these keypad inputs and triggers the defined action, making the broadcast a mini-survey or self-service confirmation. It enables businesses to collect information or RSVPs at scale.

Reporting

After and even during the campaign, the platform generates reports and analytics. Typical metrics include:

• Number of calls placed
• Number of calls answered by a person
• Number of calls that went to voicemail
• Number of unanswered or failed calls
• Percentage of listeners who pressed a key

The dashboard shows real-time numbers to summarize broadcast delivery and engagement.

Key Benefits of Voice Broadcasting

Voice broadcasting offers several advantages that make it an attractive channel in many scenarios:

• Offers massive reach: A voice broadcast reaches thousands of people within minutes. There’s no need to deploy a large call center. Because many calls can be dialed simultaneously, an organization can rapidly reach out to all its contacts in a geographic region or customer segment.
• Doesn’t depend on the Internet: Voice broadcasts only require each call recipient to have either a landline or a mobile phone. This makes voice broadcasting effective in places where the internet or mobile data is unreliable or unavailable. Voice calls can reach nearly everyone, while email and push notifications require Internet connections. Voice calls and broadcasts remain a reliable means of conveying urgent information to elderly populations and in rural areas or disaster zones with disrupted connectivity.
• Saves money: Automated voice campaigns are surprisingly low-cost per contact. Once the infrastructure is set up, each minute of a call costs only a few cents over a cloud telephony service, which is cheaper than paying human agents to dial thousands of numbers.
• Personalizes messages: Voice broadcasting tools deliver features that make a message sound more personal. You can pull dynamic fields like names, dates, and account details into the TTS script. Personalization isn’t just lovely; it pays off. A McKinsey study found that companies excelling at personalization see an average revenue uplift of up to 15%.

• Ensures compliance: The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) tightly regulates prerecorded calls and telemarketing. It generally requires prior consent for such calls and adherence to state and national DNC lists. In a press release, the Federal Communications Commission says the TCPA “restricts the making of telemarketing calls and the use of automatic telephone dialing systems and artificial or prerecorded voice messages” and “requires telemarketers to obtain prior express written consent from consumers before robocalling them.” Broadcast platforms manage this by automatically checking numbers against DNC registries, allowing listeners to press a key to opt out of future calls, and logging recordings of each message.
• Simplifies deployment: Because voice broadcasting is typically provided as a cloud service, organizations don’t need to install any hardware. They simply use a web dashboard or API to set up campaigns. The integration is straightforward, as most systems offer APIs or plug-ins that connect to CRM databases, appointment systems, or other business software. This ease of deployment makes voice broadcasting accessible even to smaller teams.

Need more clarity on TCPA guidelines? Use this checklist to ensure you’re adhering to the regulations.

*Nextiva doesn’t offer legal advice. Please consult with a legal expert to ensure that you’re adhering to all applicable regulations and laws.

Integrated Voice Broadcasting in Your Omnichannel Strategy

Modern organizations rarely rely on a single communication channel. Instead, they mix voice with email, SMS, app notifications, live chat, and face-to-face service to maximize reach and convenience.

For example, Deloitte advises government agencies to offer “phone, website, or chatbot” channels because people have varied preferences about how to engage with institutions and organizations. This advice is based on a citizen survey of respondents from 13 countries.

Similar preferences apply to private organizations or healthcare institutions seeking to reach customers or patients. For example, when a hospital announces a new flu shot clinic, it can choose to engage hard-to-reach patients through an email newsletter while sending a text message with a scheduling link. The hospital can expand its outreach with a voice broadcast to connect directly with patients or remind them about appointments they have already scheduled.

This omnichannel strategy lets an institution or an organization deliver the best possible customer experience (CX) with scalability to many people simultaneously. The Aberdeen Group found that companies with top-tier omnichannel engagement retain about 89% of their customers, compared to just 33% retention for companies with weaker multichannel efforts.

Overall, voice broadcasting works best in tandem with other channels by closing gaps that emails or texts alone might miss and making your overall communication strategy far more effective.

Best Practices for Voice Broadcast Campaigns

To get the most out of voice broadcasting, follow these best practices.

Segment your audience

Don’t send the same message to everyone. Use your data to target recipients by location, behavior, or need. For example, a clinic might broadcast flu shot reminders only to patients who are over 65 or have certain health conditions.

Tailoring who gets which message increases relevance and response. If you have multiple lists, run separate campaigns or personalize by segment.

Keep messages concise

Long calls lose listeners. Aim for under 30 seconds of spoken message. Introduce yourself briefly, state the call’s purpose, and provide a clear, single call to action (CTA).

For example, your message could say, “This is [Name] from [Organization]. Your appointment is scheduled for tomorrow at 3 PM. Press 1 to confirm, or call us at 555-1246-000 to reschedule.” This short format respects the recipient’s time and reduces hang-ups.

Use a clear CTA

Every voice broadcast should clearly state the next steps to take. Make the CTA explicit, whether it’s “Press 1 to confirm,” “Call us back at this number,” or “Visit our website to learn more.”

Without a clear CTA, even a well-crafted message leads to confusion and inaction.

Test before launch

Run small test campaigns first. Listen to the recorded message to check its clarity and volume levels and make sure that people’s names are pronounced correctly. If you’re using TTS, ensure it sounds natural.

Test the entire call flow: Confirm that pressing keys for any interactive prompts works as expected and that calls are directed properly. This will help you catch errors before the calls reach your customers.

Review the reports and optimize

After each voice broadcast, study the analytics. Check answer rates, drop-offs, and response rates to prompts. Determine whether any specific phone prefixes consistently fail.

Use this data to refine your strategy. For instance, if pickup rates were low at a particular time of day, try a different schedule next time.

If many people pressed “#” because they were confused, simplify the prompts. Continuous review and iteration will steadily improve your campaign’s effectiveness, helping you maximize engagement while minimizing customer irritation and legal risks.

Better Outbound Communications With Nextiva

Nextiva’s unified CX platform seamlessly integrates voice broadcasts with voice, SMS, email, and other channels. It combines live assistance and automation into a single interface, enabling organizations to quickly and reliably contact hundreds or thousands of people.

Overall, voice broadcasting remains a vital component of outbound communication. Nextiva lets you use it in tandem with other channels, giving you a complete package to engage customers and prospects on the channel they love the most.

Explore Nextiva, and find out how to deliver exceptional CX at scale.