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Share My Baby News Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost?
Using ShareMyBabyNews.com costs as little as $25 for 100 minutes (this equates to up to 200 thirty–second calls). But you can purchase additional minutes as needed; the larger the block of minutes, the lower the price–per–minute. Prices are listed on the “buy minutes” link on the main page of your secure account and on the sign–up page.
Your Share My Baby News alert also provides the listeners with an opportunity to reply with their own congratulatory message to you and your growing family. As a keepsake, burn a CD with your recorded message and all the congratulatory messages you receive in response. You’ll enjoy revisiting this in the years to come — and sharing it with your growing youngster.
What exactly do I get for this fee?
You receive:
- your own secure account within the ShareMyBabyNews system
- the ability to create or upload your list(s) of telephone numbers
- display your Caller–ID
- set up an inbound message board so that your recipients can call into the system to hear your message and leave replies (if you wish)
- the ability to record and launch a message from the phone or your computer
- real–time reports that tell you how each call was received (live, machine, busy, no–answer, bad number, partial answer, etc.)
- the option to send an email or text alert at no extra charge
- exportable replies (for example, welcome messages for a new baby can be exported and burned to a CD for your memory book)
- your choice of setting up your own account or printing as a gift certificate
- immediate or delayed broadcast launch time
- and much, much more...
How do I know how many minutes to purchase?
A good rule of thumb is to determine how many people you will have on your recipient list and whether or not you will be accepting replies and/or well wishes to be burned to a cd later.
For example: If your message will be a baby announcement to 50 people, you will want to plan on at least 60 seconds per call for the 50 recipients and 60 seconds to 120 seconds for the “welcome baby” messages you’ll receive from your friends and family. Therefore, you will probably wish to purchase a package of at least 200 minutes so that you won’t miss any of the recorded messages your recipients will want to leave for the baby.
The best way to ensure you don’t run out of minutes is to calculate your initial package but keep your credit card on file in our secure interface and indicate which package to purchase when your minute balance falls to zero. You’ll be able to make every call and capture every reply with no worries about running out of time.
How are minutes used?
Each successfully connected call will incur at least a 30 second charge (we round in 30–second increments). Therefore, if you’re calling a list of 100 people with a 20 second message and you are not accepting replies, you will probably use less than 50 minutes of call time since some calls will not be completed due to bad numbers, busy signals or no answers.
Please keep in mind that any time you are connected to the system via the phone (e.g. recording your message, checking replies, managing your lists) and when your calls are being delivered, minutes are being used. Therefore we recommend that you do all of your administrative work using the web interface (setting up lists, listening to replies, reviewing call delivery reports, etc. Using the web interface is always free.
Is this a one–time charge?
That depends on you. If you have minutes left over in your account after your initial launch, you may wish to use the service for another reason (e.g. little league team announcements, “save the party date” calls to friends and family, reminders to committee members, etc). You can always purchase an additional block of minutes or simply place a credit card on file and request that your account be “recharged” if and when your balance drops to zero minutes. You choose the package to purchase at that time and, as long as the credit card is valid, your calls will continue to go out without missing a beat.
Is my credit card information secure?
Yes! All payments are made via a secure connection (SSL) and, if you elect to keep your credit card on file with us for automatic purchase of additional minutes, your account information is safely stored on a secure server and this information is handled extremely carefully and never used for any reason other than prescribed by you for purchasing minutes as directed.
What Caller–ID number shows up when I send my recorded message?
Regardless of the phone you use to launch your broadcast, the number that will display on your recipients’ caller–ID is the one you set up in our system.
When you first log into your account you will provide the number you wish us to display on your recipients’ Caller–ID when you use this service. You can change the number anytime by clicking on the “edit” link next to your Account ID. You must have access to the phone that carries the number you are selecting so that you can confirm the setting when our system calls the number to activate the change. (This call is made within a few minutes of your resetting the Caller ID number.)
Is there a limit on how many phone numbers I can include on my contact list?
There is no limit to the number of phone numbers you can include in your list with the “block purchase” plan. However, if you are on an unlimited package, you should contact us at 1–888–483–5737 for information on the terms of your specific calling package.
How do I set up my contact list?
Once your account is created, you simply access your secure account page and click on the “create” or “upload” link in the “List” section of your page. Your list can either be typed in manually (“created”) or “uploaded” in a .csv or .txt format from a database query (’report”) or an excel spreadsheet. See the user manual in the upper right hand corner of your secure account’s main page for detailed directions.
Can I save multiple lists in the system and make more than one call?
Absolutely! In fact, we recommend that you create a “test” list and try the system out with a couple of numbers before the “main event” to become comfortable using the service.
You may launch your message to multiple lists and if an individual recipient appears on more than one list, we will remove all duplicate numbers before the broadcast is launched so that recipient will only receive one call to the duplicated number.
Once you have used Share the News you may find other ways to use any leftover minutes or even purchase additional minutes and keep your account open for years to come.
Is my contact list private?
Absolutely! Telserv Technologies, LLC never shares your private lists or personal information with anyone and we never use your data for any purposes other than connecting the calls you launch from our site and reporting the results back to you.
What happens if I include email or text addresses on my list?
Because we believe that your own voice message is the best way to convey your message, the email/text alert provides the recipient with a toll–free number and your message PIN so that they can access your actual voice message and hear exactly what the recipients of the phone message hear. This also allows for these recipients to leave a reply and participate in the “welcome or congratulatory” reply. But, don’t forget! When you launch your call you must also include a message PIN or your email/text alerts will not be sent.
How long will my account stay in the system if I only use the service one time?
Once created, your account will remain open as long as there is activity (either list updates, message uploads, or launched broadcasts). If we see that an account is inactive for 18 consecutive months, we may elect to delete the account at our discretion.
How do I record my message?
The easiest way to record a message is to pick up the phone, call into our voice interface, follow the prompts to record your message and launch your call. But, you may also pre–record a message and save it for later use or re–use. This can be accomplished via the voice interface or through a computer voice recorder application using a microphone. The resulting .wav file can then be uploaded into our system from your computer.
With people in different time zones how do you make sure you’re not ringing phones too early or late in the day?
Our intelligent switch respects the time zone of your recipient. Therefore, if you tell the system to start calling at 9:00 am, we will begin calling at 9:00 a.m. eastern standard time, 9:00 a.m. central standard time, 9:00 a.m. pacific time, etc., depending on where your called party is located — even if your list includes recipients from more than one time zone.
I received a gift certificate, what do I do now?
Congratulations! Go to www.sharemybabynews.com and click the “log–in” link in the upper right of the page. Using the information provided on the certificate, enter your “Account ID” and “Password” to access your secure account’s main page.
1. Create or Upload your list of contact names and numbers.
Lists: (create, upload) Once you have saved your list in the system, it can be modified to add or delete names or change numbers anytime by simply logging in to your account and clicking on the “view/edit/delete“ button next to your list name.
2. Prepare a Script for your call and practice a few times before launching your broadcast.
(A sample script is available here.)
3. Launch your broadcast.
Call 1–877–374–2734 and follow the prompts to:
- enter your account ID and passcode
- attach your message PIN (for calls into the system to listen to your message and leave a reply)
- choose your list
- record your message
- launch or schedule your launch for later
It’s so simple!
How do I know if my message was successfully delivered?
After you’ve launched your broadcast you can log back into your account and review the delivery report to see how your message was received (e.g. complete to machine, complete to person, busy, no answer, bad number) and listen to the replies your recipients have left for you (if you turned on this feature).
How do I get my replies burned onto a CD?
If you have replies that you wish to burn to a CD as a keepsake, simply click on the “download all” button in the reply section of your summary report and the saved replies along with your original recorded message will be exported to iTunes where you’ll be able to create a “playlist” and burn to a CD to keep and enjoy forever. If you would prefer that we take care of this for you, just call our customer service department and, for an additional charge of $9.95, we will burn your replies to a cd for you and mail it to you.
How many times will the system try to deliver the call if the line is busy or if there is no answer?
The system is initially set up to try up to four times with 15 minutes in between each attempt. However, you can easily change this setting by editing your profile (click on the “edit” link next to your Account ID number at the top of your main page). For example, you may want the system to attempt to deliver your call every five minutes up to ten tries.
What happens if my recipient hangs up the phone before listening to my entire message?
Your call delivery report will reflect that a partial answer occurred on this attempt. However, you can choose to have the system call that recipient back again immediately by removing the check in the box for “do not call again after partial delivery.” This is another one of the configurable settings in your profile accessed by clicking on the “edit” link next to your Account ID number at the top of your main page.
Will the listener be allowed to replay the message?
Yes. The replay setting is turned on by default when your account is created and as long as you have not turned off this option your caller’s will be prompted to “press 1 to replay this message” following the completion of your recorded message.
If I want to allow my recipients to leave a message so that we can burn their replies to a cd, what happens if the call is completed to a machine or voice mail?
If you have “attached” a message PIN to your broadcast, your recorded message and the opportunity to leave a reply can be accessed via our toll free “message board” call in number. (This is a great way to allow multiple people at one residence to participate in the “welcome messages” for a new baby or congratulatory messages for a “save the date for our wedding” call.)
I only want to send my message out; can I choose not to accept replies?
Yes. Whether you launch your calls from the phone or the computer, you will have the option to turn this feature on or off.