What Is a Hosted Predictive Dialer?

For outbound dialing, choosing the correct dialing system will greatly benefit your agents. Predictive dialing has seen a lot of improvements in its reliability over the years. Many telemarketing companies have decided to use predictive dialers over options like power dialers or progressive dialers. What makes the predictive dialer the right solution for your company? Will having a hosted predictive dialer make a difference? Let’s start with the definition.

What Is a Hosted Predictive Dialer?

A predictive dialer is an outbound calling software that simultaneously calls a list of leads on multiple lines while live agents wait to speak to a live person. The dialer uses an algorithm to screen out calls that go unanswered or have busy signals, disconnected lines, or use other automatic services. This shortens the amount of time agents spend idle between calls, allowing them to immediately go from one live call to the next. The dialer can increase or decrease call volume depending on the settings set by the admin. Predictive dialing eases the pressure of agents needing to make a certain number of calls per day, allowing them to spend more time providing better customer service or sales.

Predictive dialers were initially not known for their reliability in separating man from machine. Over the years, the technology has seen vast improvements in its reliability, but it still cannot 100% detect if there is a live caller. This leads to a call becoming “abandoned”. Companies must keep track of their abandonment rate (the percentage of dropped calls). Since the predictive dialer also calls multiples lines, it increase the possibility that a call might get “abandoned” due the caller being busy. Most countries have a legal abandonment rate that they must adhere to. If they are not staying below a certain percentage of abandoned calls then the company can be reported and fined. With the predictive dialer used in the Parrot Cloud Call Center, the admin can set the abandonment percentage. If that percentage is reached, the dialer will then decrease the call volume to make sure it doesn’t go over that number.

Another problem with predictive dialers is that while they call more numbers, often time people will recognize they are being called using a dialer due to what is called the “telemarketer’s delay” (the time it takes for the dialer to send the call to you). They may be hostile or just hang up.

The Advantages of a Hosted Predictive Dialer

To highlight the advantages of a hosted predictive dialer (or cloud based predictive dialer), let’s start with the meaning of hosting. For websites, having a hosted site means that you website is housed and maintained in an outside server. While you have complete access to your website, it isn’t physically located on your computer. This same meaning applies to a hosted predictive dialer.

The predictive dialer runs an algorithm that allows it to “predict” how the call will be answered. Having a standalone system with the necessary hardware requirements would be costly and restrictive. A hosted system gives you the benefit of the dialer, with worrying about the costs of maintaining a server and updating software.

Why Do You Need a Hosted Predictive Dialer?

A predictive dialer can greatly increase the productivity of your company. It removes the extraneous factors associated with manual dialing, giving your agents time to make more calls and fulfill other duties. However it’s use doesn’t fit every situation. Different kinds of leads require a different approach.  Dialing a large list of “cold” leads is where you’ll see the biggest impact with a predictive dialer. “Cold” leads are less likely to answer their phones, therefore the chances of a high abandonment rate is lower. For a smaller list of “warm” leads, a power dialer would be a better option. “Warm” leads are more likely to answer the phone and you don’t want to risk the possibility of scaring them away with the “telemarketer’s delay”. If you chose a predictive dialer, a hosted predictive dialer would be your best option. A standalone system is expensive and less flexible.

For those who think they can benefit from both a predictive dialer and power dialer, EVS7’s Parrot Cloud Call Center gives you the option of manual, power and predictive dialing.

Interested in how our Cloud Contact Center fits in with your company? Parrot Predictive Dialer for free today. No credit card needed.