Double Dutch

It all started with a short article on his company blog entitled:

“A Quick Guide To Selecting The Right Voice Talent”.

The author, Chris Johnson, is co-Founder of Simplifilm, a young company specializing in “Hollywood-style Explanation videos”. They’ll have to make a video to explain what that means, but Simplifilm says it uses animation and storytelling to demo software applications.

This does not come cheap. Back in July, the company was running a “Grand Opening Sale” offering “3 minutes of broadcast quality demo movie work for $20,000. That’s 40% off the going rate.” You do the math.

Before he became a filmmaker, Chris was Finance Director at Robert Owens for Ohio Attorney General 2008, and he worked as a loan specialist at First Ohio Home Finance.

Thanks to his financial background, Chris seems to know the value of a voiceover, and he’s not basing it on anecdotal evidence. This is how he starts his blog:

“Did you know that the right voice can make a 35% difference in conversion rate? We replaced a voice track in a video – and made no other changes, and the conversion rate went from 2.5% to 3.8% on cold traffic. (Cold traffic is people that are mostly strangers that are coming in via search engines and social media).”

I’m not sure how “2.5% to 3.8% on cold traffic” leads to a “35% percent difference,” but Johnson is definitely on to something.

VOICEOVER CONVERSION
This is not the first time a video company noticed a correlation between the choice of voice and website conversion.

The conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors taking a desired action. It often refers to the number of shoppers turning into buyers. Depending on the size of a company, even a small increase in conversion could mean a significant rise in profits.

San Diego-based Fireclick monitors conversion rates. If you want to get a better idea of industry averages, the Fireclick index will provide some insight.

For software, it averages about 2% per year, with a cart abandonment rate of 75%. That means that three quarters of online software shoppers never become buyers! Could selecting the right voice really change that?

In 2009, Ginger software asked video optimization firm EyeView to develop an introductory video for their homepage to increase the number of visitors that would actually download their software.

EyeView ran a test: 50% of the global audience saw the video with a British voice-over, and 50% saw it with an American voice. Globally, the British voice-over was 4% more effective. For US audiences, the conversion rate for the British accent was 5.5% higher than the American one.

Eyeview:

“The Brits didn’t have it all their own way. In India, the American accent was 12% more effective at converting visitors. But the most surprising statistic of all came when we looked at the comparative performance of the two accents in the UK.

For audiences watching the video in the UK, the voiceover with the American accent was 8% more effective at making visitors download Ginger’s software than the British accent, representing a significant swing away from the global trend.”

Simplifilm’s Chris Johnson confirms:

“The right voice is key to converting video watchers into new customers. When you get the right voice, it breathes life into your video productions, and you should take the time it takes to select and respect your voice talent.”

Please remember that, next time you’re tempted to low-ball yet another voiceover project!

With voice talent having such a tremendous impact on conversion, how much does Simplifilm pay per production? Bear in mind that they charge about $33,000 for a 3-minute video. Johnson:

“Generally, productions are around a couple hundred dollars. We’re not going to lord over them or dangle money like some jerk, we want to do business, be respectful and move on.”

FINDING THE PERFECT PIPES
Now, wouldn’t it be interesting to know where Chris finds the right voices? According to his article, two talents work for him on a regular basis and he tells his readers:

“If -for some reason – you need to find someone outside of your network (…) you can start with Voice123.”

Voice Coach and talent Mark Avery read the blog and responded:

“Unfortunately, many producers and end-users of voice talent have gone to the “discount superstore” mentality of hiring voices for their projects, and the results often show themselves in low conversion rates.”

Of course I had to put my two cents in. Thinking back to my interview with Bodalgo’s Armin Hierstetter, I wrote:

“Chris, most online voice casting services will accept anyone with a credit card, talent not required. It’s not unusual for voice-seekers to receive over 100 auditions for a simple project. Imagine how long it will take you to listen to all these mediocre submissions…”

These turned out to be prophetic words. That same week, Chris joined the Voice Over Professionals group on LinkedIn, and this is how he introduced himself:

“Howdy, guys, I’m new to the group. I’m a production company doing software stories. We’re looking for a stable of 4-6 males and 4-6 females for future work.”

OPEN THE FLOODGATES
You can imagine what happened next. I’ll let Chris tell the story:

“So, when I asked for submissions here – and other places – they started trickling in. Then the floodgates opened.

Last count was 400+ and I have seen no slowdown… both here, from another couple of sources.
I’m surprised because I (hopefully) didn’t represent myself as being too “giant.” I caused 400+ auditions for what will amount to $5,000 or so in fees annually – at most.

Now, how do I read through ‘em all? I put everyone in a spreadsheet, but what’s next? How do I sort people out? I need say 8 voices. If I take 5 minutes per x 500 voices, that’s 2500 minutes.

Or 42 hours JUST listening to voices. I’m not doing that.”

At this point I started to jump for joy, thanking Simplifilm’s founder for the perfect example. This is exactly why most Pay to Plays will eventually implode. Do you get my drift?

Some of my clients have worked with voice casting sites for a while, and they’re starting to realize how expensive “going cheap” can be. Think about it!

How long does it take to find a quality needle in a huge haystack made of scrap metal?

Let’s look at the numbers.

Of course it’s unusual to get 500 auditions for one job, so why not assume that Chris Johnson has to weed through (only!) 100 demos. If he spends 5 minutes on each talent (as he just wrote), this will still take him eight and a half hours!

Imagine being in Chris’s shoes. Should he hire someone to do the dirty work for him and weed through hours and hours of audio? That person needs to be paid too.

If Chris is lucky, his hired help might find the perfect voice among the first 20 contenders. However, my clients concur with Armin Hierstetter that the overall level of entries is usually way below the mark. They’re forced to listen to a deluge of demos before they finally spot the right voice at the right price. What an expensive way to find cheap talent!

Critics might say that I am exaggerating the situation just to make a point. Voice seekers don’t listen to that many demos. Or do they?

In their Client Experience Report Winter 2011, Voices.com states:

“(…) it often surprises talent that the majority of clients review all their auditions. I say majority as that includes those who reviewed “all of the auditions” (45%) plus those who reviewed “50-100 auditions” (8%).”

A while ago I noticed that so many voices.com projects were still listed as open after many, many months. Could one of the reasons be that the client simply gave up after listening to 30 mediocre auditions?

Fortunately, there is an easy solution.

Some of my clients find it much more cost-effective and less time-consuming to hand their project to an agent and let him or her select four or five voices that can all deliver the goods. Clients might end up paying union rates and agent fees, but in the end they’re saving time, trouble and money.

Bye-bye Pay to Play, and thanks for the memories!

THE BABBLE BUBBLE
Online casting services have grown exponentially in the past five years. Fast growing companies often fall victim to their own success. Quality and customer service are compromised and sacrificed in favor of rapid expansion as they’re chasing after the big bucks.

It is no secret that more and more (pseudo)voice actors are joining Pay to Plays. That means that more dogs are fighting over the same bare bones. The chances of landing a decent job at a decent rate decline rapidly.

Here’s my prediction. At some point in the near future, there is no point in joining such a service anymore. It’s not worth it.

Saturation leads to annihilation. Bubbles burst. Cheaply made balloons will pop first.

What’s left is just hot air.

Try fitting that in a 3-minute video demo!

Chris Johnson, here’s a word to the wise:

If you need new talent, call an agent.

Don’t ask for any names of agencies, though.

You might get a list of … about 500!

Paul Strikwerda ©2011
www.nethervoice.com

Technorati Tags: Armin Hierstetter, Bodalgo, Chris Johnson, conversion rate, Double Dutch, Double Dutch Blog, Dutch voice actor, explanation videos, EyeView, Fireclick, Fireclick index, Ginger Software, LinkedIn, Mark Avery, Nethervoice, Paul Strikwerda, Pay to Plays, Pay-to-Play, Simplifilm, voice over professionals, voice-over, voice123.com, voiceover, voiceover agent, voices.com, voices.com client experience report

“Voice-seekers are idiots. Well… some of them”, said one of my colleagues, known for her strong opinions.  “Why is that?” I asked.  “Because they ask for the impossible, especially when it comes to accents.” Her argument went like this…

Take your typical voice-over job listing:

Project: Short Video
Language: English
Gender: Both
Age: Middle Aged
Budget: Embarrassingly low (but it’s great experience!)

Here’s the 64,000 dollar question: based on this description, should you take a few moments of your valuable time to record a demo? If the answer is YES, what’s going to be your approach? How do you know what the client will be listening for? What exactly does she need to hear to hire you?

Here’s the honest answer: YOU HAVE NO CLUE!

It’s the story of a man walking into a bar asking for “a drink”. The bartender randomly selects a bottle and pours a trendy macaroon-infused vodka. After one disgusting sip the man turns to the barman and says: “That’s not what I wanted!” The bartender responds: “How was I supposed to know? You could have been a bit more specific!”

The barman has a point. So, let’s see if we can be more precise in our imaginary job description by adding one word:

Language: English (British)

That’s a big help, isn’t it? The voice-seeker simply wants a UK-accent.

But not too fast…is there such a thing as a “British accent”?

As you know, the United Kingdom consists of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Even though there’s a great degree of uniformity when it comes to written British English within the UK, when a Scotsman from Aberdeen and a Cockney from London open their mouths, they sound like they’re from a different planet. Some might argue they actually are. Bottom line: a uniform “British accent” is as real as the Loch Ness Monster.

BBC
To get a better idea of the variety of British inflections, the BBC captured 1,200 voices of the United Kingdom, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, and made them available online.

All you have to do is click on a dot on the map, and it will take you to an audio clip of a regional speaker. Here’s a subtle hint. Some of the clips had to be subtitled. Even seasoned BBC listeners couldn’t always understand some of their fellow countrymen and women.

HER MAJESTY
But what about RP, you might ask. RP or Received Pronunciation is sometimes called “The Queen’s English” or BBC English. It is estimated that only 2 percent of UK citizens speak a pure form of RP.

Recordings show that even Queen Elizabeth has changed her accent over the past 50 years, and the BBC has long abandoned the policy of only hiring people for their posh pronunciation. Instead, you’ll find a wide range of accents at the Beeb, and these days, a mock 1950′s BBC accent is only used in comedy.

Voice-seekers wake up! BBC English died a long time ago. You probably aren’t even looking for a British accent, but for a stereotype. A cliché. And if that’s not what you want, you need to be much more specific. John Cleese, Ricky Gervais, Russel Brand and Sir Ian McKellen all have UK accents. But do they sound the same? To quote Monty Python: “Say no more!”

THE NEW WORLD
An estimated two thirds of all native English speakers live in the United States. The English spoken on the streets of Miami is remarkably different from the accents you’ll hear in the Deep South or in Vancouver.

Many of the nation’s newscasters tend to speak GA (General American) or ABE (American Broadcast English). Television journalist Linda Ellerbee, who worked hard to eliminate a Texas accent, said: “in television you are not supposed to sound like you’re from anywhere”.

So, is that what voice-seekers want when they ask for a North American accent?  Shall we pretend that we came out of nowhere and sound as neutral as the taste of tap water?

Should we, like Linda Ellerbee, lose our Southern twang and work hard to sound just like the Cronkites, the Lauers and the Courics? Will that land us the job? Or should we look at our accent as an asset; something that distinguishes us from the rest of the pack?

Here’s the thing: why sound like everyone else? Why not bring some color to the grey masses? Geico’s gecko doesn’t speak ABE. And what about that “fabulous” Orbit chewing gum girl? These actors didn’t get the gig because they went for “neutral”.

Voice-seekers: you don’t want to have to weed through hours of auditions. But you have to help us out here: tell us what you want in as much detail as possible. If you want me to sing it, you need to bring it. If you don’t give us a clear idea of the destination, how are we ever supposed to get there?

Here’s by far the worst thing you could ever throw at us:

Language: English (neutral)

Who came up with that brilliant idea? What does “neutral” sound like? It’s like asking Bobby Flay to cook a flavorless meal. Can you imagine a casting director asking Philip Seymour Hoffman who is auditioning for a role, to play the part without personality? Would snowboarder Shaun White enjoy such worldwide appeal, had he chosen to stay Mr. Plain and boring?

It boils down to this. An accent is a way of pronouncing a language. It is therefore impossible to speak without an accent. No one is neutral. And I’ll tell you something else: voice seekers are starting to realize that their voice of choice could have a dramatic impact on the conversion rate of their website. Here’s where it gets really interesting for people like you and me…

Ginger software makes a contextual grammar and spelling checker that enables writers to produce error-free texts. It’s geared toward people for whom English is a second language. Ginger asked video optimization firm EyeView to develop an introductory video for their homepage to increase the conversion of this page for visitors.

The conversion goal for the page was for visitors to click the Free Download button. EyeView had a choice to make. Would they go with a British narrator or with an American talent? Would it even make a difference? What do you think?

THE EXPERIMENT
EyeView decided to run a test:  50% of the global audience saw the video with a British voice-over, and 50% saw it with the voice-over performed with an American accent. The result: globally, the British voice-over was 4% more effective at converting visitors into downloaders. The Catholic Church would be thrilled with this rate of conversion! But wait… there’s more! EyeView:

“For US audiences, the conversion rate for the British accent was 5.5% higher than the American one – above the global average. In Canada, the British accent still outperformed the American, but by a mere 1.5%.

Irish viewers watching the British version converted 12% more often than those hearing an American voice while the response of the Australians was even more extreme. Viewers “down under” converted 32% more often when pitched with Pommy tones than with an American twang.”

Only in the UK and India, the American voice-over outperformed her British counterpart. So much for “neutral”. And so far, Ginger has seen a 15% increase in the number of people downloading their software.

The next time you wonder whether or not you should do that voice-over job for $125, think of the tremendous impact your voice can have on the sales of a business. In these times of economic woes, an increase of 15% is a CEO’s dream. That’s surely worth more than a symbolic fee.

THE EISENBERG PRINCIPLE
NYTimes bestselling author Bryan Eisenberg is an authority and pioneer in online marketing and improving online conversion rates. He was the key note speaker at the Search Engine Strategies Expo in London on February 17th. His address was called: “21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites”. In his speech, the EyeView experiment was on the top of his list.

And when people ask me about my personal voice-over ‘secret’, this is what I tell them: even though it’s fun to do all kinds of accents and characters; 9 out of 10 times clients hire me because I sound like me, and not like somebody else.

That signature sound is a combination of my upbringing, my education, my travels, and my love for music and languages. My accent is the result of time spent living and working in The Netherlands, England, Israel and the United States. It’s a blend of my biology and my biography. I can honestly say that I do my best work as soon as I stop pretending to be someone I’m not.

Allow me to accentuate one last thing. Being me has one big advantage:

I have very little competition.

Paul Strikwerda © 2010
www.nethervoice.com

PS The more auditions you do, the greater your chances of landing a job, right? Or not? Read Bursting the Audition Bubble!

PPS are you receiving RSS Double Dutch updates yet?

Technorati Tags: accent, accent influences conversion rate, American Broadcast English, BBC English, British accent, Bryan Eisenberg, conversion rate, Converting websites, Dutch voiceover, EyeView, General American, Ginger Software, Nethervoice, Neutral English accent, Paul Strikwerda, Queen's English, Received Pronunciation, Shaun White, voice-over, voiceover