What is a predictive dialer?

How does a predictive dialer work?

The dialer watches a group of agents and a list of numbers. Using the average call length, the answer rate of the list and the number of agents on the floor, it works out how many numbers to dial at the same time so that, by the time an agent hangs up, a new answered call is waiting. On a list where one in four numbers answers, it might dial four numbers per free agent.

When a number answers and no agent is free, the call is dropped or put into a short queue with a recorded message. Regulators in several countries cap the dropped-call rate; in India the practice is governed by TRAI's commercial communication rules and by the customer's consent, and a high abandon rate is one of the fastest ways to get a calling number reported.

What does a predictive dialer cost in India?

It is sold as part of a cloud contact-centre platform: a per-agent monthly licence, typically in the thousands of rupees, plus per-minute calling charges on the virtual numbers, plus setup. It is priced for floors of twenty agents and up, and below ten agents the algorithm has too little to predict with.

That is the reason small Indian sales teams do not use one. A five-person team paying per minute for calls that show an unfamiliar number, with a dialer that drops a fifth of its answered calls, spends more and connects less than the same five people calling from their own SIMs.

Predictive dialer versus auto dialer

A predictive dialer dials many numbers per agent and needs a pool of agents and cloud telephony. An auto dialer, in the sense most Indian teams mean, dials one number at a time per caller from a list, from the caller's own phone and SIM, and waits for the outcome before dialing the next. The predictive dialer wins on raw dials per hour for a large floor; the auto dialer wins on connect rate, cost and setup for a team of two to fifty.

A power dialer sits between the two: one number at a time per agent, but from cloud telephony rather than a SIM. A progressive dialer is the same idea with the customer record shown before the call is placed.

When is a predictive dialer the right choice?

Outbound floors of thirty or more agents working very large, low-quality lists, where a dropped call costs little and volume is the whole game: collections at scale, surveys, some telemarketing. If the list is small, the customer relationship matters, or the caller needs to know who is answering before they speak, it is the wrong tool.

Predictive dialer in Telecalling Software

Telecalling Software does not include a predictive dialer and does not run on cloud telephony. Its auto dialer places one call at a time from the caller's own Android phone and SIM, shows the outcome sheet between calls, and needs no minimum number of agents; one caller can use it. Teams that need predictive dialing for a large floor should look at cloud contact-centre products instead.