Knowing the Different Types of Outbound Dialers

One of the core services a BPO company offers is outbound calling. The service means calling prospective leads for marketing campaigns. In the past, agents used a list of prospective customers. Then, they do the dialing themselves, waiting for someone to pick up the phone. It was inefficient because agents spent minutes dialing, waited for each number to answer, experienced many unanswered calls, and manually rerouted calls to answering machines or fax machines.

Now, call centers have more productivity and automation tools that make their work more efficient and productive. For example, the use of an automated outbound dialer makes the task simpler and faster. As a result, it minimizes errors, increases efficiency, improves customer satisfaction, and reduces the cost of calls.

What is an outbound dialer?

An outbound dialer is a software or cloud-based system that automatically dials a list of phone numbers quickly and accurately. It is designed to predict the availability of agents and filter out busy signals, disconnected phones, and answering machines. In addition, the software optimizes the pace of the outbound calls to instantly connect the agents with prospects. It also works in the background to analyze answered calls, the number of active agents, dropped calls, and filter unproductive calls to ensure that agents have more time to talk with prospects.

Types of outbound dialers

They may be called different names, but the most important thing is to know which types will suit your business according to your objectives, budget, and resources.

• Predictive dialer. This is the gold standard among dialers. A predictive dialer can automatically place a call by accurately predicting when a sales agent will be available to take another call. It employs algorithms to calculate various metrics like the average duration of a call. Then, the system dials several numbers at once to ensure that an agent will have the following call as soon as the previous call ends. Predictive dialers are effective in market research, customer service follow-up calls, debt collection, and telemarketing.
• Power dialer. A rapid or power dialer automatically calls the following number on a list of leads after the agent ends a call. It moves to the next number on the list if the first called number is busy or rerouted to an answering machine or voicemail. While the calling process is automatic, it only calls one number at a time. If you want to enhance your customer service and keep an eye on your budget, a power dialer system is a good option.
• Preview dialer. If you want a slower pace in outbound calling, the preview dialer fits the bill. The outbound calling is also automatic. The difference with other outbound dialers is in the timing. With the preview dialer, a call center agent can indicate that they are available and set when they are ready to take the next call. Setting the time to handle a new call allows the agent to have time to review the customer information before they talk to the lead. It helps them prepare better, improving their service to the customer, which leads to a positive result.

Now that you know the various types of outbound dialers, you can choose the right one that will benefit your company based on your budget and business goals.