The Predictive Dialer Numbers Game

By GREG GALITZINE
Group Editorial Director

A predictive dialer uses technology to automatically call a list of telephone numbers in sequence, screening out unwanted results. The predictive dialer then predicts when the agent will be able to handle the next call.

According to various online sources, including Wikipedia.com, a predictive dialer can be very effective. One way to look at a predictive dialer is through the lens of simple math: A predictive dialer can be looked at as a simple numbers game.

At the root, predictive dialers are generally used to automate calls which would otherwise be made manually by a call center, such as welcome calls for new customers, customer service call backs, appointment confirmations, etc.

Predictive dialers rely on the fact that if a person was to manually dial ‘x’ number of people, a large percentage of these calls will not result in contact. Out of any significant number of calls made, only about 25–35% would actually connect to a live person. Of the rest, a large number (often 40–60%) won't be answered at all, 10% might be answering machines, faxes, or such, around 5% of numbers would be busy and the rest will result in network errors, or be identified as invalid numbers.

Enter the predictive dialer.

For call centers that make large numbers of outbound calls, the low completion rate represents a challenge. In manual dialing environments, agents spend most (~80%) of their time listening to the phone ring waiting to talk to someone, or dealing with invalid numbers or answering machines and only about 20% of their time actually conversing with customers. By using a predictive dialer to filter out these unproductive calls, call centers are becoming more productive.

As a result of deploying a predictive dialer agents spend more of their time talking to customers — some sources report a 300% increase in productivity, courtesy of a predictive dialer.

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Greg Galitzine is editorial director for Internet Telephony Magazine. To see more articles, please visit Greg Galitzine’s columnist page.