What is an outbound dialer?

An outbound dialer is a software or cloud-based solution that allows your contact center to make outgoing calls. Outbound dialing systems help your agents expedite and automate the outbound calling, increasing efficiency and output. Depending on the efficiencies you’re trying to solve, there are four types of outbound dialer types to meet your needs.

Preview dialer

When using preview dialing, an agent signals when they’re ready for another call and is presented with the information about the upcoming contact to prepare for the conversation. The agent can review the material and ensure they have all of the necessary information to best address the situation. This type of dialing is often used for more complex cases and sensitive calls. While preview dialing gives the agents the most context to interact with the customer, it is also a much slower pace of outbound calling.

A Preview-All dialer presents a unified view of the upcoming call and gives the agent time to review the content to personalize the conversation. This functionality also lets the contact center optimize the call list to fit with each agent’s strengths.

Progressive dialer

Progressive dialing is similar to preview dialing in that agents indicate when they are ready for the next call. The difference is that the agents receive information about the customer at the same time the call is being made. This speeds up the outgoing call process, but gives less time for the agents to prepare. If a number is called and there is no answer, the system moves on to the next number. No time is wasted in the dialing process.

Progressive dialing is often used if the focus of your contact center is improved customer service and increased loyalty. You will see progressive dialing used for sales teams looking to renew or upsell current customers.

Progressive dialers also help agents maximize their time spent on the phone. Agents use these dialers to be able to make back to back calls at top speed. The dialer will call a number and connect agents when someone answers. If agents wish to leave a voicemail, they may do so, or they can hang up and be placed back on queue.

Predictive dialer

Predictive dialers are a perfect solution for call centers who handle large outbound call volume. Predictive dialers are highly efficient because agents are connected only once someone answers the phone. They are capable of making many calls at one time. When a person answers, they are automatically routed to the next available agent. Any time the software reaches a voicemail or busy signal, it disconnects and continues on to a different number. When agents finish up their call, they are disconnected and can be sent back to the queue to wait for the next one.

A predictive dialing solution connects to agents to live callers as soon as an agent is done with the previous call. Predictive dialer systems algorithmically determine when the next call should take place based on metrics like average call duration. The system dials several numbers at the same time until a caller picks up and then directs the customer to the open agent. This is one of the more productive and speedy outbound calling options. There are risks, however, as it is more likely a live caller could end up on the phone with no one on the other end, leading to abandoned calls.

Predictive dialing is used for customer service follow-up, telemarketing, market research, and outbound sales prospecting.

An automated dialer is used for high-volume use cases where your agent’s efficiency and cost-per-contact are a priority.

Power dialer

Power dialers work by dialing numbers for agents as opposed to agents dialing out themselves. The seconds saved from not needing to manually dial out during each call results in a significant amount of time when added up. Using a power dialer is not as fast compared to the other two types of dialers. However this is intentional.

This approach makes quick calls when the agent is ready. It gives them time to revise a customer’s account history or rehearse a script. In addition, power dialers generally do not bypass voicemails and busy signals. Agents can simply disconnect if they need to, or they can choose to leave a voicemail.

Power dialing calls the next number on a contact list as soon as an agent is available. If there is no answer, the dialer moves on to the next number. The agent has their next call queued up for them to reduce dialing time. Contact centers use power dialing when looking to enhance customer service as it ensures that no customer gets a call without an agent on the other end of the line.

In addition to choosing the right type of dialer system for your contact center, it is important to consider other factors such as risk mitigation capabilities and CRM integration. Take into account the combination of risk and productivity that best fits your business needs.

Industry use cases for outbound dialer software

Travel

• Keep track of your customer interactions. Outbound dialer software like predictive dialers keep a call log and help travel agents understand what contacts have been called.
• Integrate your dialer with a CRM so you can automate outreach with current customers who might plan to travel again based on their previous history.

Teleservices

• Teleservices can benefit from intelligent call routing and queue management because of the increased efficiency provided. Rapid contact and quick connect are crucial to this industry, outbound dialer software improves the performance of agents in handling more calls and positively converting more leads.

Banking and financial services

• Financial services firms can maintain a customer database and other pertinent account data such as when a specific customer was contacted and by which agent, account status, promotional information, and more.
• The information provided by a predictive dialer to financial services customer support and account recovery agents keeps them updated on customers’ background, which brings positive results to the overall customer experience.
• Outbound dialers can be integrated with secure payment capture features to ensure customer data protection and privacy when sharing sensitive financial information over the phone.

Debt collection

• A debt collection agent can quickly connect with a contact and have useful information such as the amount to be paid, due date, etc. on the screen for rapidly reminding them to bring their account up to date.
• Outbound dialers can also be used to automate the account recovery management process in high volume collections agencies.

Business process outsourcing

• Integrate dialers with large enterprise databases used by BPO customers and connect with their customers at an unprecedented scale.
• Integrating your outbound dialer with your BPO customer’s CRM helps provide context and interaction history for customers on the screen in front of agents, optimizing their conversations and adding to personalization.

How to choose which types of dialers are right for your call center?

Some dialers are better suited for larger organizations, while others are optimal for smaller centers with minimal primary functions. The type of operational workflows or equipment set in place can also determine what type of dialer would work most efficiently in your call center. In addition, dialer systems vary in price. Here are a few different types of dialers and how they’re used.