Outbound Management

Editing, starting, and stopping the campaigns that the outbound call center agents execute using the Communication Desktop (CDT) application, and as of FP16 in Communication Panel.

Agents need serving rights to the queue where the campaign is run, and if they use in CDT, also to the campaign.

Note:

Campaigns should be planned and administrated to comply with local laws. These may include but not limited to;

  • the use of automated dialers

  • management of customer data

  • consent and purpose of call

  • abiding to opt out calling registers

  • the ratio of abandoned calls

  • availability of agents to answer calls

Basic Principle

A campaign is run in one outbound database with a dialer. The outbound database contains the actual campaign data including, for example, call lists and campaign results. The dialer acts as a call scheduler that initiates calls and allocates agents to successfully connected calls. Outbound Dialing Controller (ODC) acts as a mediator between the dialer, the database, and the CEM Server.

Dialing Modes

The following dialing modes are supported:

  • Preview

    In this mode agents can view the customer data before making the call. By default, there is no time limit for viewing the customer information before the call. During the preview and wrap-up the phone line is not busy.

  • Progressive

    After the agent has wrapped up a call, the software chooses a new customer automatically and makes the call immediately. The agent gets no preview time.

  • Predictive

    The software makes calls automatically. When a customer answers the call, it is immediately connected to a free agent. Predictive calls are first connected to a queue from which they are then allocated to agents.

Templates, Scripts and Call Results

You link scripts, call results, and templates to the campaign.

  • Templates

    With templates you manage customer data in the database during phone calls. For basic campaigns the needed information for making the campaign calls can be included in the templates. When advanced questionnaires are required, you can use a script.

  • Scripts

    These are sequences of questions and answers. They are used to guide the agent through an outbound phone call and help to enter the results.

  • Call results

    These are a set of values for classifying calls. They can be used, for example, for indicating that a call requires further actions.

Outbound Usage with IVR

Campaigns run with the Queue Dialer in predictive mode can be configured to either connect an answered call to a free agent or alternatively to a custom IVR for an automated service. For example, a custom IVR could be configured to:

  • Play an announcement prompt

  • Request a confirmation response (via DTMF input)

    Note: You cannot ask for consent when running a campaign in predictive mode.

  • Transfer the call to queue (via DTMF input)

  • Request a redial (via DTMF input) which can optionally be set to connect to an agent or IVR when redialled (see IVR Redial Time element)

  • Provide an end result for campaign classification (see IVR Call Result Value or Classification elements)

Campaign calls not answered can be redialled according to the max call setting. For more IVR outbound elements, see Setobcallresult Element.

Inbound and Outbound Calls

When agents need to fluently serve both outbound call campaigns and inbound queues, use blending, or define a campaign with the queue dialer that enables using an inbound call queue for the outbound campaign, see Receiving Outbound Calls from Inbound Queues.