When it comes to running outbound calling campaigns, automation can make all the difference. By automating and optimizing the process of dialing numbers, call center dialers can make it way easier, more effortless, and tons more efficient for agents to reach out to prospects or customers.
Starting with auto dialers with very rudimentary capabilities to much more sophisticated AI-powered auto dialer software solutions as technology evolved, dialers have now become must-have tools for outbound call center agents.
If you’re not yet familiar with call center dialers and how they can boost your outbound calling strategy, read on to learn the difference between auto and predictive dialers and find out which one would be the right fit for your call center needs.
What is an Auto Dialer?
An auto dialer is a basic automated calling system (typically part of contact center software) that sequentially dials phone numbers from a list of leads or customers and connects answered calls to the available agents.
Auto dialers filter out disconnected numbers, busy signals, voicemails, and unanswered phone calls. If there’s no available rep to handle the call or if the call goes to voicemail without being answered, the dialer can be configured to play a pre-recorded message.
Find out more about what is an auto dialer.
When setting up your campaign with auto dialer software, you need to manually set up the dial rate per agent. With the 1:1 dial rate, the system will dial one number per agent. You can also set the dial rate up to 3:1, but you might need to comply with particular regulations that may differ from country to country.
In the U.S., for example, in accordance with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), if an answered call isn’t connected to an agent for 2 seconds, the call is considered abandoned. And the FCC requires call centers to keep the abandonment rate to 3% per single campaign.
Benefits of Auto Dialers
Back in the days when dialers were manual, call center agents had to dial numbers manually, which was a pretty daunting task. A significant amount of time was simply wasted on the dialing process itself, waiting for the calls to connect, listening to busy signals, answering machines, and dealing with disconnected calls.
With the invention of auto dialers, the dialing process has become automated and optimized to minimize agents’ idle time so they can focus more on interacting with leads and closing sales.
On the whole, by using auto dialing solutions and optimizing outbound calls, businesses can benefit through:
- Improved call connection rates
- Reduced agent idle time
- Increased agent talk time by up to 300%
- Enhanced agent efficiency and productivity
- Reduced call center operating costs
The Ideal Use Cases for Auto Dialers
Once invented, auto dialers were predominantly used in the banking industry for debt collection purposes. Today, auto dialing tools are widely used by organizations in various industries for:
- Lead generation outreach
- Telemarketing and sales
- Running promotional outbound sales campaigns
- Conducting surveys
- Collecting customer feedback
- Making follow-ups and reminders
Overall, any business looking to expand their outreach and optimize their outbound calling efforts can gain massive benefits from using auto dialing tools. However, auto dialers are mostly recommended for small teams.
What is a Predictive Dialer?
As technology advanced and AI came into play, call center dialers gradually evolved into smarter and more sophisticated solutions.
Enriched with Artificial Intelligence and machine learning capabilities, predictive dialers have recently seen a wide adoption – and their popularity continues to grow. In fact, according to a report by Grand View Research, the global predictive dialer software market is expected to reach USD 12.2 billion by 2028, with the market size valued at USD 1.03 billion in 2020.
A predictive dialer initiates multiple calls per agent simultaneously and directs connected calls to the available agents. It starts dialing numbers a few moments before the agent is ready to proceed, so when an agent completes their previous call, they can jump right in and instantly handle the next call in the queue.
Just like an auto dialer, the system is able to potentially detect disconnected numbers, voicemails, answering machines, busy signals, and unanswered numbers, and connect only the calls that are picked up by an actual human.
Unlike an auto dialer that dials numbers solely based on the dial rate set manually, a predictive dialer uses AI and statistical algorithms to predict agent availability taking into account the number of available agents at any given moment, the average call duration, call abandonment rate, and other real-time and historical call metrics.
Based on these factors, predictive dialer software adjusts the dialing rate automatically and can either accelerate or slow down the dialing pace to ensure better connectivity efficiency.
Benefits of Predictive Dialers
In addition to the benefits provided by auto dialers, with predictive dialers, no time is wasted in between calls, which takes the agents’ efficiency and productivity to an even higher level.
Statistically, in fact, dialing one number at a time keeps agents utilized for around 40 minutes per hour, while predictive dialing can increase utilization to 57 minutes per hour.
Thus, with predictive dialer tools, you can make the best use of your agent’s talk time, which means your sales team can spend more time actually talking to leads, instead of waiting for the calls to connect. That ultimately contributes to more conversions and improved sales.
To recap, using predictive dialer software results in the following benefits:
- Better call pacing based on real-time analytics
- Zero agent idle time in between calls
- Maximized agent efficiency and productivity
- Increased agent utilization to 57 minutes per hour
- Streamlined call center operations
The Ideal Use Cases for Predictive Dialers
Predictive dialers are typically recommended for mid-sized and large businesses. As predictive dialers initiate multiple active calls per each agent at any moment, you obviously need a solid team of agents to handle these calls – otherwise, dropped calls would be an issue.
In addition, since the predictive algorithm of these dialers performs better and makes more accurate agent availability predictions when it has a decent amount of data to analyze, it works better for large call centers and enterprise-level, high-velocity sales teams.
E.g., if a sales team is working on outbound calling campaigns that prioritize call volume and aims to reach out to as many leads as possible in the shortest amount of time, a predictive dialer would be an ideal solution to rely on. That is especially the case when reps don’t have much background on the prospects and are required to follow a very straightforward call script.
Predictive dialers are now actively used in:
- BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance)
- Government
- Healthcare
- IT
- Telecom industries
Auto Dialer vs. Predictive Dialer: Key Differences Summarized
| Auto Dialer | Predictive Dialer |
|---|---|
| Dials X number of contacts sequentially and directs answered calls to available agents. | Dials multiple numbers per agent simultaneously a few moments before an agent becomes available. |
| The dial rate needs to be set up manually. | The dial rate is set up and adjusted automatically in real time based on the number of available agents, average call duration, call abandonment rate, and other call metrics. |
| Recommended for small businesses with teams of less than 8 agents. | Recommended for mid-sized and large businesses with high-velocity sales teams. |
| Ideal for cold outreach campaigns and connecting with the maximum number of leads. | Ideal for outbound sales campaigns with large call volumes for maximizing individual agent productivity. |
Now that you know the difference between auto dialers and predictive dialers and hopefully understand which one would be a more suitable solution for your own business, it’s also worth mentioning that even though auto dialers and predictive dialers are great time-savers and efficiency boosters for call center agents, they do come with a few limitations and restrictions.
First, since dialers are designed to maximize the number of outbound calls agents can make, that can lead to higher call abandonment rates. Second, failure to comply with legal regulations such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can result in costly penalties for call centers.
Streamline Your Outbound Calling Strategy with AI Auto Dialer
While automation and predictive capabilities of today’s dialer solutions can significantly improve outbound call center efficiency, adding even more AI-enhanced features to the mix can take your sales team’s performance to a whole new level. AI-powered predictive auto dialers are truly innovative solutions adopted by leading call centers all across the globe.
VoiceSpin’s AI Dialer is a clear-cut example of what a predictive dialer, enriched with advanced Artificial Intelligence is capable of achieving. For instance, the intelligent dynamic lead and agent scoring system, which is an embedded part of our AI auto dialer solution, automatically matches leads with the most relevant sales reps who are best qualified to handle the interaction. And that can dramatically improve lead conversions and increase your bottom line.
Reach out to our sales team by booking a 30-minute demo and learn more about how VoiceSpin’s AI-powered auto dialer can streamline your outbound calling and boost your team’s efficiency and sales potential by miles.
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