10 - Why SpeakPipe Might Be the Most Underrated Tool in Podcasting

Listener interaction is one of the biggest challenges podcasters face.

In this episode of the Making Digital Real podcast, I share why SpeakPipe has become one of his favourite tools for building more connected, engaging podcasts without adding complexity.

You’ll hear how SpeakPipe allows listeners to leave voice messages without sharing email addresses or phone numbers, why voice feedback is far more powerful than written responses, and how podcasters can stitch listener messages directly into future episodes.

Mike also covers practical ways to use voice messages for questions, feedback, testimonials, private podcasts, memberships, and community building, all from the perspective of a podcast mentor and editor working with real clients every day.

If you want your podcast to feel less like a broadcast and more like a conversation, this episode will give you plenty to think about.

Send me a voicemail and give SpeakPipe a try for yourself HERE

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Transcript

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Making Digital Real podcast. Today, I'm going to be talking to you about a very simple online platform that I genuinely love and use regularly, especially with my podcast clients, and it's called Speakpipe, S-P-E-A-K-P-I-P-E, speakpipe.com. Now, if you've got a podcast or you're thinking about starting one, this is one of those tools that totally changes the way and how connected your show feels without adding any complexity whatsoever. And if you know me or have worked with me in the past, you'll know that that is what I'm all about.

Keeping it simple, keeping it real without any complications. So Speakpipe, let me introduce you to this platform. Now, one of the biggest challenges that podcasters face is interaction with their audience.

You're putting out episodes into the world, people are listening, they're loving your episodes, but most of the time you hear nothing back, okay? No feedback, no questions, and you also don't really get a sense of who's on the other side of the microphone. So Speakpipe solves that incredibly. Now, at its simplest, it lets your listeners send you a voice message straight from their phone or laptop.

No account needed, no app, no login, just pure simplicity. They click a link, press record, and they speak. In fact, the voice note that you heard at the beginning of this episode sent to me by the brilliant Anna Sarjansten.

She used Speakpipe to send me that voice message, which I instantly downloaded and stitched onto the beginning of this episode. Okay, it's so powerful. So let's talk about why this works so well, especially from a listener's point of view.

Now, one of the biggest barriers people have when engaging with podcasts can be privacy. And I talk about this all the time. You don't want to be handing over your email address.

You certainly don't want to be sharing your phone number as a podcaster. And also, they don't want to be logging into another platform. So Speakpipe removes all of these complications and barriers.

Your listeners can leave a message anonymously if they want, or they can say who they are. It's entirely their choice. And that sense of safety makes a massive difference to how willing people are to engage.

So there's a few ways in which I use Speakpipe. And when I'm doing any mentoring or training sessions to some of my podcasting clients, this is what I talk to them about. So first of all, feedback.

Things like, let me know what you thought about this episode, or tell me what landed for you, or what would you like me to cover next? These are the types of questions you can be asking in your episodes and giving your listeners a really brilliant way of responding. Because voice feedback is so much better than written feedback, in my opinion. You can hear their tone, emotion, hesitation, excitement.

You know, you don't get that with text. And as a podcast editor and mentor, that kind of insight is incredible. It tells you what's working far more clearly than just download numbers.

Secondly, questions. This is one of my favourite use cases. You can invite listeners to send in their questions by voice, not an email, not a direct message, a voice note.

Why does that matter? Because when someone asks you a question out loud, you hear what they're really struggling with. And you can hear that uncertainty behind the words. It's going to help you answer better, and it helps you shape future episodes that feel genuinely relevant.

And that nicely brings me on to this other thing that I talk about with SpeakPipe. Stitching those messages into your future episodes. You've now got content for future episodes with someone else's voice.

Incredible. So this is where SpeakPipe becomes so powerful. You can take listeners' messages and drop them straight into your podcast episodes, instantly turning your show from a monologue into a conversation.

It's going to make listeners feel heard. It makes new listeners realise that real people are engaging with your content. And what does that build? Trust.

And that's a big keyword of mine, building trust very quickly. I edit episodes every day for clients. And from an editing perspective, it's so clean and simple.

Easy to download. The audio quality is consistent, easy to work with, which matters more than most people realise. Okay, another feature of SpeakPipe which we've not discovered yet.

This is the widget. You can embed your SpeakPipe account directly onto your website or your podcast homepage. And this is going to be an episode coming very soon this year, which I'm going to be doing a special bumper edition on.

The power of having a homepage for your podcast, buying a URL for it, giving it its own page on the internet. But anyway, we'll come back to that in the future. But the widget from SpeakPipe can sit there quietly, nicely, inviting interaction from your audience without being pushy.

No pop-ups, no forms, just a simple button that says leave a voice message. And it fits perfectly with a calmer, more intentional podcasting approach. Now, there's always something to say here about energy as well.

Because speaking is easier than writing for most people, especially when they're already listening to your audio content. So if you want engagement, meet people where they're at. If they're listening, let them speak.

So, so cool. There's also something that gets overlooked when we talk about SpeakPipe. Because it isn't necessarily just a podcast tool, but it's also a tool for relationship building, collecting testimonials, gathering voice notes for private podcasts or memberships, inviting reflections after a private episode, letting clients share their wins or ask you questions, and capturing ideas and insights into your community.

And because it's voice, remember, it feels human. Rehumanization, one of my magic keywords. So hopefully that's given you a really good indication of one of the many strategies that you can have when it comes to podcasting.

Every time I speak to people about their show or their ideas for a show, most of them have never heard about this amazing tool or even thought about collecting voice messages from their listeners. So what do you reckon? Are you going to be downloading this? Absolutely. Give it a try.

You can't go wrong. There is a free version and a premium version. Watch out for a premium version video review coming from me soon.

And if you're looking for a simple, secure way to connect more deeply with your listeners, encourage interaction and build a stronger podcast ecosystem, SpeakPipe is well worth exploring. I'm going to pop my SpeakPipe link in the show notes so you can hear how it works for yourself. I would love it if you could leave me a voice message, anything you like.

And if you want help integrating this properly into your podcast, whether it be into your episodes or creating a landing page or a homepage for your show, then yeah, that's part of what I do. So please get in touch. And as always, thank you so much for listening.

And I'll see you in the next episode.