Startups see revenue in enhanced voicemail

MOBILE CONSUMERS PROBABLY don’t give voicemail a second thought. But a couple of startups are hoping to change that.
Voicemail, like caller ID and long-distance calling, has become a standard inclusion in almost all wireless offerings, nearly as much a part of plans as the buckets of minutes themselves. And the phone’s voicemail icon can be an annoyance, reminding users to check their messages the way a spouse might nag them to take out the trash.
“Talk to anybody,” said Colin Lamont, VP of marketing for GotVoice Inc. “They’ll say that voicemail is necessary, but it’s a necessary evil.”
A 5-year-old outfit from the Seattle area, GotVoice last year released an IVR-based voicemail-to-text service that allows users to receive audio messages as an e-mail or text message. The company targets road warriors and other busy executives with three premium voicemail transcription offerings in addition to a free service that repackages voicemails as streaming audio clips for mobile devices.
“Where we’re finding traction is voicemail-to-text,” Lamont continued. “Once you get someone to use this, they understand the eminent value of reading voicemail. You typically have to listen to voicemail to consume it, but being able to read it you can consume the message within seconds, then determine whether you need to take an action.”
Enhanced voicemail is nothing new, of course. Skype and other Internet voice companies have offered similar services for several years, and most major carriers offer some sort of premium offering. But both YouMail and GotVoice are hoping to take voicemail one step further, allowing users to control how they receive incoming messages, and how to respond.
While GotVoice is targeting high-end business types with premium services, YouMail is casting a broader net with a free enhanced voicemail service. Like GotVoice, YouMail allows users to create custom greetings for different callers, but the Orange County-based startup has tweaked its offerings to target younger users as well: YouMail members can use a custom greeting that automatically hangs up on callers before they can leave a message (for bill collectors and former friends, presumably); users also can choose from thousands of prerecorded greetings. (One example: “I’m sorry, that number is no longer in service. You’ll have to find a new boyfriend.”)
YouMail claims 15 employees and has raised $7 million in angel and Series A funding. The company also offers a handful of premium services, and is experimenting with community-type functionality, allowing users to share their custom greetings and provide feedback on the quality of transcribed messages.
The youth-focused services notwithstanding, though, YouMail has found that its prime target is a more mainstream user.
“We started off thinking our primary user was an 18- to 28-year-old male, those who were focused on personalization but spends a fair amount of time online,” said YouMail CEO Alex Quilici. “What’s happened is that it’s become 25- to 40-year-old users and smartphone users. I think when you look at who gets the most voicemail, it’s that group, and we saw the major pain point with voicemail. If you’re on your desktop, you can very easily drop them a voicemail or text message” with YouMail.
YouMail has tapped 4INFO to deliver its text-based ads, and the company delivers click-to-call ads for partners such as 1-800-FREE411. Quilici said banner ads typically generate $20 to $60 CPMs – cost per thousand impressions – and are delivered online as users check their accounts.
GotVoice and YouMail each claim fewer than 100,000 users with their direct-to-consumer services, although Lamont said GotVoice’s white-label end users will surpass that number this year. YouMail hopes to differentiate itself with free services, while GotVoice touts the fact that – unlike YouMail – its service doesn’t require users to forward their unanswered calls to a server. But both companies are hoping they can generate money with souped-up versions of what users are already getting free from their operators.
“We really tried to open up voicemail and turn it into digital content,” Quilici said, “so you could do whatever you want with it.”