5 Questions to Ask When Choosing an Autodialer

The economy recently has seen a considerable uptick thanks to several government programs like the child tax credit and the economic impact payment programs introduced in 2020. Inflation has also been front and center of many financial analysts. Still, as families become more confident in their finances and economic outlook—many will take the opportunity to pay down debt or, on the contrary, take on new financial obligations.

As consumers look to increase spending, collection agencies will start to see a natural increase in debt payment obligations. Traditional contact center operations are currently experiencing increased call volume, sales and revenue.

When considering what dialer software is right for you, a key area to consider is how to help your agents use their time more effectively and stay focused on the context of each consumer interaction. In addition, many call centers have seen huge benefits in their dialer capabilities as they scale.

Now, before you judge the merits of how dialers are used in everyday interactions, realize that they are needed just as much in traditional contact centers as they are in the outbound communications world (collection agencies). I understand that past experiences with autodialers can often be associated with telemarketing, promises of dream cruise vacations and auto insurance renewals. Still, I hope we all can agree that they save time and money while eliminating repetitive tasks. 

Before investing in a call center dialer software, some crucial questions need to be answered. Like, do dialers restrict the number of lines I can use? Or, what is the difference between cloud dialers and on-premise? 

It can be overwhelming, but I’ve put together the top questions you need to know about your autodialer. Again, this is not a complete list and many of these questions and suggestions should be used when installing a new dialer or adjusting dialing strategies within your organization. 

5 Autodialer Questions to Ask

Can dialer software help my call center save time and money? 

Over time, predictive dialers can pay for themselves if used correctly. Configuring your dialer to work with your CRM will not only save your organization money, but the amount of time your agents are spending looking for account information pre and post-call will drop drastically.

Premise solutions cost more in maintenance, support and quickly go out of date due to the associated hardware. On the other hand, using a cloud-based dialer solution will guarantee you continued upgrades, similar to versioning for your smartphone. When updates are available, your dialer is automatically upgraded when you login.

How many calls per hour can an autodialer make?

There is no science behind the amount of placed calls per hour or per day. However, it is vital to make sure your dialer strategy is in sync with your organizational risk for TCPA. Capacity dialers can run thousands of lines at once without skipping a beat. Still, there are risks, like packet loss on a particular carrier if dialing into a localized region or agent availability being outpaced by the dialer, to name a few. 

Should I be concerned about TCPA law?

In April 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the definition of an “automatic telephone dialing system” (ATDS or autodialer). An autodialer is a tool that can generate numbers randomly or sequentially — more than just the ability to dial numbers from a list. This narrows down which tools can be used for calling mobile phones and text messaging for marketing communications to customers.

Your call center can use an autodialer to place calls to residential lines. If making a phone call to a residential line using an artificial or prerecorded voice, prior consent is required. The TCPA prohibits using an autodialer to make calls to a wireless phone number unless: (1) the caller has received prior written consent for informational or telemarketing calls; or (2) it is for an emergency purpose.

For more information on TCPA, check out our Complete Guide to TCPA Compliance. 

What is the best strategy to use when implementing a new dialing solution?

Start by looking at ways to: 

• Increase right party contacts (RPCs) per hour
• Reduce idle time
• Increase the number of live conversations
• Reduce compliance risk

All these are big on their own, so break them up into separate projects. 

Are performance analytics, reporting and other dialing metrics essential to track?   

Yes! Performance analytics and other reporting are essential to measure, regardless of industry or application. Real-time dashboards can make or break a call center and are key to making sure site and agent performance are optimal. It can also help improve TCPA compliance and dialer performance. Here are a few key metrics to consider:

• See call times, hold times, compliance checks and availability
• Track goal progress and deliverables
• Monitor agent status in real-time
• Track and analyze weak performers
• Discover Different Talents in Call Types

Types of Call Center Autodialers

Preview Dialers: Heralded as one of the simplest forms of outbound dialing, preview dialing allows agents to ‘Preview’ a record or account before the system places a call. Effectively, the agent has the power to review the account before deciding to place the call. Because of the simplicity, this dialing mode can provide agent flexibility, increasing customer satisfaction. 

Preview dialers are primarily used to handle complex service and sales interactions. 

Predictive Dialers: Cloud software solutions have reinvented what a predictive dialer is. Designed to help agents be more efficient, a predictive dialer will call as many individuals in a contact file as possible using specific settings. Once a call is connected, it is then transferred instantly to an agent to complete the interaction. With TCN, our predictive dialer can do this in the time it takes to blink an eye. 

These settings will look at campaign statistics to ensure agent availability does not outpace the dialer, like; agent status, hold times, average handle times, and IVR inbound queues and adjust the campaign in real-time.

True predictive dialers will streamline agent productivity and maximize your number one asset, your agents. 

Salesforce Power Dialer: When combining auto dialing capabilities with a CRM like Salesforce, you can unlock functionality and untold efficiency. Used as a sales enablement tool, Power Dialers can boost your team’s sales goals, metrics, and customer context. Agents and other reps get the entire picture of each account as it should be, right within the CRM. One benefit of using a Power Dialer is that you no longer have to worry about updating an account or customer information. 

Cloud contact center solutions like TCN are entirely integrated with Salesforce, making the agent experience seamless.

Manual Approved Calling (MAC): Like preview, manually approved dialers (sometimes referred to as Manually Approved Calling or MAC) gives control to two groups of agents when presented with a cell phone number.  

It allows a subset of agents to review and determine if a cell phone number can be dialed on behalf of agents waiting for calls to be connected. This allows for human intervention on each cell phone on record.

MAC was introduced to ensure compliant dialing strategies for the Accounts Receivable Management industry within the last decade due to current call center TCPA compliance regulations.

AutoDialer: Generally speaking, an autodialer is an outbound call center solution that automatically dials customer telephone numbers, delivers essential information through an automated message, or connects a customer to a live agent once the call has been answered. Cloud-based dialers, like TCN, have unlimited flexibility and capacity. 

The word autodialer is used interchangeably and when referring to other dialer modes, such as preview, predictive and manual. 

Our team has broken down these and other definitions over at our Call Center Glossary. 

To efficiently capture this rare, unprecedented time, your collection agency or call center needs to leverage leading software to help capture those payments and sales. Call center dialer software solutions can provide your call center with the resources it needs while this economic trend lasts.

To learn more about TCN and the many dialing capabilities available to your call center, be sure to Request a Demo.