A voice broadcast costs: answered calls x billed minutes per call x the per-minute rate, plus GST and number rental. On Edesy that's Rs 0.50 per minute with a 60-second pulse, unanswered calls free, plus 18% GST. A message under 60 seconds bills one minute per answered call. The campaign wizard shows a cost estimate before you launch, priced from your actual rate card.
See the estimate for your own list: Open the Voice app, build the campaign and check the cost before you press launch.
The formula
Cost = answered calls x billed minutes per call x rate per minute
+ number rental
+ GST (18%)| Input | Where it comes from | Edesy value |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Your CSV or API leads, after DNC and duplicate removal | Your list |
| Answer rate | Your history or a test batch | Your data |
| Billed minutes per answered call | Message length, rounded up to whole minutes | 60-second pulse |
| Rate per minute | Your rate card | Rs 0.50 |
| Unanswered calls | n/a | Free |
| Number rental | Per caller ID number | Rs 499/month mobile or 92-series, Rs 449 landline |
| GST | n/a | 18% extra |
Message length is the biggest lever
With a 60-second pulse, every answered call is billed in whole minutes:
| Message length (including greeting) | Billed per answered call | Cost per answered call (before GST) |
|---|---|---|
| 20 to 55 seconds | 1 minute | Rs 0.50 |
| 61 to 115 seconds | 2 minutes | Rs 1.00 |
| 121 to 175 seconds | 3 minutes | Rs 1.50 |
Leave a few seconds of margin: a call that runs 62 seconds is billed as two minutes, doubling its cost. If your recording is 58 seconds, trim it. The voice broadcast features page covers how to upload audio or use TTS.
Remember that people hang up early. Not every answered call runs the full message, but for budgeting, assume they do.
Worked example (illustrative)
A 10,000-contact reminder list, a 40-second message, one mobile caller ID.
Upper bound (every contact answers):
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| 10,000 answered calls x 1 minute x Rs 0.50 | Rs 5,000 |
| Number rental | Rs 499 |
| Subtotal | Rs 5,499 |
| GST at 18% | Rs 989.82 |
| Total | Rs 6,488.82 |
With an assumed 60% answer rate (an example figure, not a benchmark; use your own):
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| 6,000 answered calls x 1 minute x Rs 0.50 | Rs 3,000 |
| Number rental | Rs 499 |
| Subtotal | Rs 3,499 |
| GST at 18% | Rs 629.82 |
| Total | Rs 4,128.82 |
The 4,000 unanswered calls cost nothing. If you retry them, budget the retry pass the same way using the expected answer rate for the retry.
Edesy's built-in estimate
Before you launch, the campaign wizard shows an estimate. Here's what it does, so you can read it correctly:
| Part of the estimate | How it's worked out |
|---|---|
| Pending contacts | Contacts not yet completed or failed |
| Assumed talk time | 30 seconds per call by default; change it to your real message length |
| Estimated cost | Priced off the same rate card that will actually charge you, assuming every pending contact answers for the assumed talk time |
| Rated vs unrated contacts | Numbers that don't match a rate are shown separately, not priced at zero |
| Estimated run time | Pending contacts divided by max concurrent calls, times (talk time + ring time) |
Two things to note:
- It's an upper bound on answered-call cost, because it assumes everyone answers. Your real bill will usually be lower.
- Run time ignores dialing-hour closures. If your window is 10:00 to 19:00 and the estimate says 12 hours, the campaign will run across two days.
The estimate is also available through the API. See the campaigns docs.
Estimate run time too
Cost isn't the only thing to plan. Run time depends on max concurrent calls:
Run time = (contacts / max concurrent calls) x (message length + ring time)With 10,000 contacts, 20 concurrent calls, a 40-second message and 30 seconds of ring time: 10,000 / 20 x 70 seconds = 35,000 seconds, about 9.7 hours of dialing. If that has to finish in one day's dialing hours, raise concurrency or split the list.
Other costs to include
| Item | When it applies | Price (plus GST) |
|---|---|---|
| Backup (fallback) caller ID | If you add one for carrier failover | Rs 499/month (mobile or 92-series) |
| Premium TTS voices | If you choose a premium voice | Rs 0.03 per character |
| Recorded audio | If you upload WAV or MP3 | No TTS charge |
| Retries | Second pass on no-answer, busy, machine | Same per-minute rate |
| Answering machine detection | If turned on | Machine-answered calls are billed as answered |
Read fallback caller ID for voice campaigns and answering machine detection for when those are worth it.
Ways to bring the cost down
- Keep the message under 55 seconds. One-minute billing per answered call.
- Clean the list. Remove duplicates and invalid numbers; suppress DNC.
- Call at the right time. Better answer rates mean fewer retries.
- Use AMD before retrying, so you don't pay to repeat a message a person already heard.
- Run a test batch of a few hundred contacts first and use its real answer rate.
Paying for it
Campaigns are paid from a prepaid INR wallet topped up with Razorpay, deducted in real time, with GST invoices and GSTIN capture for input tax credit. Top up a little more than the estimate so the campaign doesn't stop part way. There's no minimum commitment. See voice broadcasting pricing.
Checklist before launch
- List cleaned and DNC suppressed
- Message timed (under 55 seconds if possible)
- Assumed talk time in the estimate set to your real length
- Estimate reviewed and wallet topped up
- Dialing hours and concurrency checked against run time
- Test call heard on your own phone
More on the product: voice broadcasting.