Voicemail is great but there’s a catch—your message and the voicemail could be out of sync, causing the start of your message to get chopped off. PastorsLine now has an algorithm that can detect voicemail machines. We can then sync, so your messages get recorded in full.
Let's talk first about the two options.
Then let's discuss the pricing.
TWO OPTIONS TO CHECK FOR MACHINES INSTEAD OF PEOPLE
Machine detection
This is the PastorsLine default. We check for machines instead of people for each number called. However, if you turn on 'Call screening' (see just below), we will turn off machine detection.
Call screening
On Step 3, just before you send your message, at the top of the screen, toggle on "Call Screening Greeting".
PRICING
Sending a voice message (Voice Broadcast) will cost 2 credits per minutes plus machine detection if used. The costs of machine detection is an additional flat rate of 0.5 credits per number called.
To avoid the cost of machine detection...
You can turn on call screening. However, it DOES add additional seconds to the call, so that might bump your call price into the next minute and double the credit cost. This is something for you to look at and monitor.
Here are two examples:
Your voice recording is 30 seconds long.
Without call screening: the length remains 30 seconds. So, the broadcast would cost 2.5 credits per person (per number called) because of the machine detection cost of 0.5 credits per call.
With call screening: the length will be around 45 seconds. This is still under 1 minute, so the broadcast would cost 2 credits per person (per number called).
Your voice recording is 50 seconds long.
Without call screening: the length remains 50 seconds (under a minute). So, the broadcast would cost 2.5 credits per person (per number called) because of the machine detection cost of 0.5 credits per call.
With call screening: the length will be around 65 seconds (1 minute, 5 seconds). This is now OVER 1 min, so the broadcast would cost 4 credits per person (per number called).
CONCLUSION?
If adding the call screening bumps your voice recording length to more than 1 minute, it will be cheaper to use machine detection.
If adding the call screening keeps your voice recording length to 1 minute or less, it will be cheaper to turn on call screening.