Sales Quenchers Case Study: Delivering Learning Nuggets by Smartphone

The mobile learning experience

Content delivery to a Sales Quenchers subscriber follows this process:

1. CellCast pushes daily content to the subscriber, based on their delivery preference. The content may arrive as a broadcasted call to their cell phone (or landline) that plays automatically. It can also come as an SMS/text message informing the subscriber that the daily assignment is available whenever the subscriber has free time.
2. After connecting, subscribers control playback using their phone’s numeric keypad. Choices include pause/restart, backward, and fast forward. Leaving a CellCast before completing it automatically places a bookmark, so the user can resume the session from that place when they return.
3. Subscribers answer any included tests or survey questions by pressing specified keys, or speaking their answers into their phone. The system records all responses in the CellCast database. For an additional fee, CellCast can transcribe spoken comments into search text or content when required. If test scores are important, subscribers can receive immediate feedback via e-mail, SMS, or spoken word grading or confirmation.
4. Subscribers can rate any content they’ve completed. ComCast combines each subscriber’s ratings with those of other subscribers. This is a social networking aspect of the Sales Quenchers experience.
5. Subscribers can define and access playlists and favorites, using an online portal interface.
6. The system facilitates just-in-time learning, with search methods and tools integrated into the portal platform. Premium Plus subscribers also have optional Mobile Widget interfaces available. Mobile users can search through published content by keyword, by category, or even by rating.
7. Finally, select managers and users can receive authorization to record and distribute their own audio or message-based content using their mobile devices. This ensures that content is fresh and timely.

Tracking and analysis benefits

Any manager, supervisor, or higher-level administrator can access, review, and analyze the collective results at any time. CellCast call tracking is also very precise. It records time and frequency statistics for every interaction. This is an improvement over the generalized results experienced when distributing Podcasts. (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3 Subscriber results for a specified Learning Nugget

From an Assessment Summary, managers can review learner answers to any test or survey question. (See Figure 4.) Audio responses to an open-ended question display a media strip, so a manager can play back the recorded response.

Figure 4 Answers given by subscriber to a test or survey.  

Finally, customer managers and site administrators have fast access to more than 20 standard reports that provide summary or detailed information. They have access to call completion rates, best and worst performers, best and worst test scorers, top content contributors, monthly billing reports, collective survey results and/or responses, and more. (See Figure 5.)

Figure 5 Standard Sales Quenchers Completion Report with Chart and Detail views

Systems management features

Sales Quenchers’ use of CellCast went beyond just an authoring and delivery tool for mobile content and communications. In fact, a variety of systems management features make the platform not only unique and powerful, but also addressed other management concerns:

• Mobile Profiles for Mobile Users – Knowing who has what kind of mobile device – and each device’s unique capabilities – is essential to Sales Quenchers when planning how to package and deliver digital content to that subscriber. The CellCast platform collects and manages wireless device and carrier-specific information for every defined subscriber, simplifying making, tracking, and delivery of assignments to any device anywhere in the world (see Figure 6).

Figure 6 Mobile Profile device details for selected User

• Automated Triggers and Business Rules – The CellCast platform allows Sales Quenchers and their customer managers to define and implement business rules that automate internal reporting, work flows, and assignments. For instance, completion of a scheduled CellCast can trigger other assignments. It can also trigger automatic generation of an SMS message or e-mail to the learner or their manager. (See Figures 7 and 8.)

Figure 7 Automated Triggers and Business Rules Editor: Workflow Definitions.

Figure 8 Automated Triggers & Business Rules Editor: Sample Results Message.

• Notification Series – This feature allows Sales Quenchers administrators to write, assign, and schedule e-mail blasts and SMS messaging campaigns to their subscribers. Key functions include embedded short-message and HTML editors, support for personalizing messages by inserting names or data elements, and localization and language support. It also supports integrated scheduling features, such as sending preset messages to every subscriber in a select group every Monday at 10AM local time. (See Figure 9.)

Figure 9 Notification Series – E-mail Message Editor

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