What can you get done in 5 seconds? Austin startup Cenoplex is showing wireless carriers that 5 seconds is long enough to communicate quite a lot to their customers. Cenoplex is currently testing its Actionable Audio Message service, which inserts a carefully targeted message into the 3 to 5 second gap, or “dead air,” at the beginning of customer service calls. If you are a prepaid customer, you might be encouraged to “top up.” If you have exceeded the number of minutes on your plan, you might get a warning that you are paying more now for minutes. And if you are eligible to upgrade your phone, you’ll hear about that.
Cenoplex’s solution lets carriers use the caller’s profile to pick the right message, and then send the user an action item related to that message. For example, a person who exceeds their plan’s data limit regularly would hear this message: “Running over on your data usage every month? Press any key for text with special upgrade offer.” Total running time: 5 seconds.
Cenoplex CEO Greg Welch says he was sold on the idea of monetizing customer service calls when he learned that 80% of the people who purchase a new handset from a retailer will call customer service for help setting up voicemail. Welch is a wireless industry veteran and serial entrepreneur who moved Cenoplex from Los Angeles to Austin to take advantage of the city’s “phenomenal workpool” and low cost of living. He and his team have raised more than $6 million entirely from private investors. Cenoplex has 20 employees now and plans to hire 30 more within the next year.
Welch looks forward to the day when carriers in his hometown will become Cenoplex customers, and he thinks it will happen within the next 3 to 6 months. The company’s first customer is a Midwestern carrier called i wireless that is majority-owned by T-Mobile. Right now i wireless employees are testing the Actionable Audio Message service, and soon the carrier’s 200,000 subscribers will also be hearing the messages. Welch says Cenoplex has had conversations with the nation’s 13 largest carriers, and the interest level is high.
One of Cenoplex’s selling points with carriers is the opportunity to reduce the number of customer service calls that require a live operator. For example, customers who purchased phones very recently could receive messages asking them to press any key for a text telling them how to set up voicemail on the phone that they bought. Many people might hang up and set up voicemail themselves using the instructions in the text message.
Actionable Audio Message can also help carriers facilitate communication during emergencies. Welch says that severe weather warnings and AMBER Alerts will also be available to operators so that they can push these messages to their customers when necessary.