Learning about the types of dialers for call centers and its functions
Kinds of dialers that is suitable for your company
In the case of Contact Centers, outbound marketing strategies can be a chance to build an existing and loyal customer base. The dialing process is to be customized to the business’s niche and its business objectives. How does a call center dialer work? And, you must know which one is best for your company.
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How does a call center dialer work?
How does a call center dialer work? Automated calling systems that are used by call centers dial numbers from databases of contacts for individuals. If dialing from the contact list, call dialers can identify unreliable numbers, busy signals, disconnected lines and lines, and determine if the call was received by a live person or by an answering machine. The system is able to route calls to agents according to availability of the agent or join an automated call center, or play a recorded message after the dialer software has detected that the call was taken by a real person.
What is a dialer?
Dialers are a kind of call center software that is used to automate the dialing process of customer numbers, and to record the results for these conversations. Dialers are also able to broadcast recorded messages using interactive voice responses (IVR). Push notifications, as well as SMS.
If a caller responds to the call, a dialer could route this call out to an operator. It can also use voice robots for automated collection and play a voice message or switch onto the number in the list of numbers. Dialers can bring productivity of agents along with call documentation and the customer experience to the table since they cut down time, handle call information the way your company prefers and minimize cold transfer. The goal is to cut down the cost of phone calls by eliminating many repetitive and error-prone tasks.
What is a call center dialer?
Call center dialers can also be called outbound dialers as well as automated dialers or sales dialers. In recent decades, dialers have risen to be among the most crucial components of any call center that is outbound. Although manual dialing is popular in call centers. However, automated dialers have greatly enhanced the efficiency of call centers outbound through the automation that involves dialling numbers. This makes it easier for call center employees and improves overall efficiency in call centers.
Types of VoIP dialers for call centers
The different kinds of VoIP dialers have different functions. They are able to be set up and operated according to the requirements of the call center and the specific requirements for outbound call campaigns. Outbound dialers are generally classified into manual dialers and auto-dialers. Auto dialers are further divided into three types, each designed specifically for certain purposes such as Power dialers and preview dialers as well as predictive dialers.
| Auto dialer |
| Functions: (also referred to as automated dialers, automatic dialers, or robo dialers) allow agents to automate the process of calling prospects or customers using different dialing modes based on the calling campaign requirements. In the automatic dialing mode, only calls that are picked up by a real person are routed to a contact center agent which helps boost agent performance and efficiency giving reps more time for interacting with each prospective customer. |
| Pros: Auto dialers save loads of time for agents allowing them to focus more on each customer interaction, reduce agent idle time, increase talk time and improve the overall operational efficiency of outbound call centers. |
| Cons: Though auto-dialers employ voice recognition technologies, they aren’t always accurate in differentiating between human beings and answering machines. |
| When to use: An automated dialer can be a lifesaver when it comes to telemarketing, lead generation, outbound sales, and proactive customer support in outbound call centers with large call center teams who are typically required to handle high outbound call volumes. |
| Preview dialer |
| Functions: This type of auto dialer is also known as a semi-automatic dialer. It is one of the most commonly used dialers in outbound call centers. The preview dialer system selects a contact from the database of leads and sends the call request to an agent who can preview the information (including the history of previous interactions) prior to initiating the call. The agent can then either choose to place the call by clicking the call button or skip it and move on to the next number. In the preview dialing mode, the system dials only when the agent is ready to attend the call minimizing the chances of call drops. |
| Pros: Since agents get access to customer information before placing the call, preview dialers empower agents to better prepare for each call based on the available data. Thus, agents can offer a personalized experience and improve engagement. |
| Cons: In cases when there is no sufficient information about the lead, the preview dialer is not helpful. Besides, as agents may waste time studying individual cases before placing the call, it can result in reduced agent productivity and fewer calls per hour. This is why preview dialers are not the best option for managing high volumes of outbound calls. |
| When to use: Preview dialers can be efficiently used in running collection campaigns, in sales follow-up calls, or even in complicated cases of customer support. An agent can review the available information before initiating the call to get prepared for resolving the issue. |
| Power dialer |
| Functions: Power dialer is the most basic automated dialer that dials the next number on your outreach list right as the agent completes their previous call. When the power dialing system reaches a busy signal or a disconnected number, it automatically calls the next number in the queue. When an actual person answers, the power dialer immediately connects them to an agent. Unlike a predictive dialer that dials numbers before an agent becomes available, a power dialer proceeds to the next call only after the current call is terminated. That means the agent is always on the line as soon as someone picks up and therefore dropped calls are minimized. |
| Pros: Compared to manual dialing, in the power dialing mode, agents can make more outbound calls as there’s no time wasted on looking up and dialing numbers manually, which results in improved agent productivity. |
| Cons: Because there is no predictive algorithm, agents have to wait while each call connects, meaning more agent idle time. In addition, since agents don’t get much time to review the information about the lead, it may lead to a lower level of personalization. |
| When to use: Power dialers are helpful when there is a high outbound call volume and you want to avoid manually selecting and dialing numbers. Those are commonly used by outbound sales teams, for bill and debt collection, running surveys, etc. |
| Predictive dialer |
| Functions: Predictive dialer is a type of auto dialer that is aimed at boosting agent efficiency by increasing the number of outbound calls agents can handle. The auto phone dialer will auto dial a large group of numbers simultaneously and direct answered calls to agents who are currently available. It also screens out busy signals, answering machines, and disconnected numbers. By using a sophisticated algorithm, predictive dialing software can adjust the call rate based on a number of call metrics. These include the number of available reps to take calls, the average number of dials before a person picks up, the answered calls ratio, the call abandonment rate and the average lengths of conversations. |
| Pros: Predictive dialers increase the contact rate and the number of calls agents can take. That ensures the efficient use of agents’ working time since they are immediately connected to the next live call once the previous call is over. |
| Cons: As predictive dialers are fast, your team needs to have enough agents (at least 10) to efficiently handle calls without delays that can cause people to hang up before being actually connected to an agent. |
| When to use: Predictive dialers are best suitable for call centers with high outbound call volumes. They can be efficiently used in telemarketing and sales campaigns, debt collection, mortgage and insurance campaigns, political and fundraising campaigns for nonprofits, etc. |
| Power IVR |
| Functions: Power IVR is used in automated outreach campaigns to deliver pre-recorded messages to a large number of leads or customers. Once the call is picked up by a live person, the power IVR system will play the pre-recorded audio file. Then it will either connect the call to an agent or remove the caller from the call list based on their touch-tone responses or speech commands. |
| Voice drops |
| Functions: Voice drop is very similar to Power IVR, except that, unlike Power IVR, the system will drop the call right after playing the pre-recorded message without waiting for the touch-tone responses or speech commands from the call recipient. Voice drops are mostly used in automated outbound campaigns to reach out to a large number of customers for payment reminders, or other similar cases. |
How to choose the right type of dialer
If you’re thinking of hosting dialers (cloud dialers) or web-based dialers or on-premise dialer solutions, knowing which type of dialer your call center requires is the most crucial step. With a myriad of auto dialer software solutions that are available, it could be difficult to determine which is best suited to your call center’s outbound requirements as well as the scale of your staff.
The most effective way to handle the volume of calls that come out is to utilize prescriptive dialers, also known as power dialers. An excellent example of how they can be used is to generate warm leads from cold-call campaigns. On the other hand when it comes to lower calls, such as closing leads that are warm, a preview dialer would be the better choice. because it provides agents with the background they require before making calls in order to ensure better interactions and greater leads conversion rate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who uses dialers?
- Outbound sales teams
- Marketing departments
- Customers service representatives
What are dialer softwares for call centers?
- Cloudtalk
- Kixie
- Dialfire
- Callhippo
- Liferay
- Hodusoft
How does an auto dialer work?
Traditional auto-dialers are used in conjunction with voice modems and software to aid human agents by removing lengthy tasks, and then calling the number automatically. If a call is answered by an auto-dialer, it can either make the connection to live agents or play a pre-recorded voice message. If the call is routed to the voicemail of the caller, auto-dialers may leave a voice message or record the number on their system to be called at a later time.
