BEDFORD, Mass., Sept. 23, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SoundBite Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:SDBT) today announced the SoundBite LIHEAP Enrollment solution, a new proactive customer communications solution for energy and utility providers offering Low Income Home Assistance Programs (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Programs (WAP) to low-income households. These federally funded programs subsidize home energy bills and reduce costs through household energy efficiency measures. SoundBite's on-demand, multi-channel communications solution maximizes program enrollment rates at a lower cost per enrollment than traditional communications.
Rising payment delinquencies and regulatory initiatives are driving utilities to re-evaluate their low income assistance strategies. With a 4.5 billion dollar appropriation included in the 2009 stimulus bill, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, utilities are financially motivated to increase consumer participation in LIHEAP and WAP.
SoundBite Solution Accelerates LIHEAP and WAP Enrollments
Utilities that augment their traditional direct mail, advertising or community outreach efforts with a multi-channel communications solution consistently achieve their LIHEAP and WAP enrollment and recertification objectives faster and at a lower cost per enrollment. Leveraging SoundBite's Intelligent Communications Platform for program outreach and awareness, several investor owned utilities have doubled program enrollment rates at an 80 percent lower cost per enrollment than direct mail. SoundBite's LIHEAP Enrollment solution includes campaign strategy design and continuous optimization to ensure superior quality and flawless execution of proactive communication strategies. Its highly scalable platform can quickly and cost-effectively deliver automated and personalized messages to tens--or hundreds--of thousands of customers that are compliant with both federal and state regulations.
"Utility providers need to transform their enrollment strategies if they want to reduce delinquency rates and receive the lion's share of federal program dollars available," said Jim Lovegrove, Director of Energy and Utility Markets for SoundBite Communications. "Community outreach events and neighborhood canvassing are less effective than they used to be. Communicating valuable program information over a variety of communications channels will yield greater results, at a lower cost and in less time."
Join SoundBite's On-demand Solutions Webcast
In an on-demand webcast, Jim Lovegrove explores the challenges of current low income outreach programs and offers strategic recommendations on proactively communicating with this important segment of the community. It represents the second in a series of webinars focused on proactive customer communication strategies for the utilities sector.
About SoundBite Communications
SoundBite Communications provides on-demand, integrated multi-channel communications solutions that enable clients to achieve superior business results. Building on its foundation as a leading provider of automated voice messaging services, SoundBite offers integrated voice, text and email messaging solutions that help clients deliver the right message, to the right customer, using the right channel, at the right time. Organizations in industries such as collections, financial services, retail, telecom and media, and utilities rely on the SoundBite Intelligent Communications Platform to send over a billion messages annually for collections, customer care, and sales and marketing applications. For more information, visit http://www.SoundBite.com.
SoundBite is a registered service mark of SoundBite Communications, Inc.
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