Technology & Roadmap 
August 6, 2024 
5 mins read
Stay informed by subscribing to our newsletter for the newest Exotel updates.
Subscribe Now!Missed call marketing campaigns were born out of a unique problem that Indians faced: affordable handsets but pocket pinching talk rates.
Missed calls started as a way for people to communicate with each other. A few years ago, “giving a missed call” was acceptable to convey pre-agreed things — I’ve reached home, you can pick me up now, I’m going to sleep, it’s time to wake up etc. At its peak, the sophistication of missed calls beats the morse code, hands down. Two rings for yes, one ring for no, three rings for whatever else you’d like it to be (as long as the other person knows the code).
As simple as it is, missed calls are also beneficial for all parties involved — the caller and the receiver. Especially if you’re a business, it can bring significant value. Some of the key benefits of missed call marketing are as follows.
Feel free to jump directly to any of the following sections:
Missed call marketing is a great way to build, grow and engage your customer base regularly. Moreover, they are a cheaper and hassle-free alternative to traditional calling or even IVRs. Here are some ways in which they can help your business.
Lead generation is one of the top priorities for marketers. Missed call marketing is a great tool for inbound lead generation, primarily because it costs nothing for the customer. For instance, you can post online ads or billboards inviting prospects to give you a missed call if they’re interested. You can then call them back or send SMS campaigns to convert them into customers.
Instead of calling every number in your database with your offers, you can build a list of interested prospects with missed call campaigns. This way, you can only call prospects who are interested and ready to buy from you.
Customers don’t want to pay to call you. They want to get the support they need without much effort. Missed calls can enable this. It offers a free and convenient way to reach you anytime. It also allows you to prioritise your customers and provide a stellar customer experience.
Missed calls are entirely automated — you don’t need agents manning missed call numbers. You can also send automated SMSes in response to missed calls, only requiring agents to step in at the last stage.
You can address a large number of customer needs with missed calls. For example, they can give you a missed call to know their account balance or application status, and you can provide them with the update on SMS without ever having to speak to an agent.
Not everyone has a smartphone or internet connection. Many customers/prospects still prefer phone calls for their communication. Missed calls allow users with feature phones to get the information they need without spending a penny.
It’s simple.
It costs nothing to the customer/prospect because the call does not connect. It is also cheaper for the enterprise when compared to other telephony services like IVR or outbound calling.
To know what Exotel’s missed call services cost, speak to a consultant today
From an acceptable method for people to communicate with each other, missed calls have become a way for brands to get people to interact with them. It’s an ingenious way for brands to know exactly what is happening with their target market. This applies to various industries, a few of which we discuss below.
Since they’re dealing with money, banks and financial institutions need to offer customers/prospects a simple way to reach them. Missed calls are perfect for that. Some of the most common use cases for missed calls in banking are:
Banks can also enable prospects to give missed calls to receive information about new products, updates, credit limit increase, international services etc.
The most significant advantage of e-commerce is scale. However, customer service at that scale can be challenging and expensive. Missed calls can help address these concerns. Some of the most effective missed call campaigns we’ve seen from e-commerce customers are:
Agrostar, a mobile-commerce platform for farmers, allows them to procure raw material by giving a simple missed call.
For a farmer, the most accessible mode of communication is a phone call. Most of them have feature phones with no access to the internet. So, Agrostar capitalised on what was available to them – a missed call.
Farmers who want to procure raw materials give Agrostar a missed call. Agrostar’s executives call the farmer back to understand what raw material they need and then arrange for its door delivery. More than 7,00,000 farmers across Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Rajasthan have already benefited from their services since 2012.
Since the pandemic, more and more people have taken to playing games online. Online gaming companies engage customers in numerous ways with missed call marketing:
Governments use missed call campaigns to engage citizens and improve participation in civic activities. Some of the most successful missed call campaigns recently have been:
Embed tweet: https://twitter.com/kishanreddybjp/status/1198428659398217728?
As one of the earliest industries to use missed call marketing, TV and entertainment have found unique use cases:
In the post-COVID world, imparting information and fighting misinformation has become critical. Missed call services can help with that. Some of the everyday use cases are:
NGOs need to build grassroots participation to spread awareness about social causes. Missed calls can be an important way to achieve that. They can use missed calls to encourage prospects to:
Jhatkaa.org used Exotel to set up a missed call marketing campaign to mobilise the citizens of Bengaluru.
Out of the 1,40,000 people who showed their support, 90% were registered through a missed call.
Embed tweet: https://twitter.com/sugarlesskaapi/status/834470254923374592
Pratham Books used the ‘Missed Call do, Kahani suno’ campaign to tell kids a story
Pratham Books is a not for profit organisation that aims to put a book in every child’s hand. They wanted to give children who didn’t have access to books a taste of listening to a story. They used Exotel’s missed call services to achieve that.
It’s fascinating to see the different applications of missed calls across industries. I hope you were able to discover ways that you could implement in your business. I feel the best part about missed calls is the simplicity of the technology and affordability. It’s not limited to any type of company or size. Both small and large companies can effectively use missed call marketing.
Looking to give it a try? Learn how Exotel can help you get started.
Businesses often move to cloud communication system to save on operational costs. However, that is not the only benefit of moving to the cloud. We wrote down the other direct and indirect advantages of moving your business communication to the cloud in this white paper.
Technology & Roadmap
4 mins read
Technology & Roadmap
6 mins read
Technology & Roadmap
5 mins read
+91-808 8919 888
+91-808 8919 888
+966 135 181 912
