Agents who are working with customer support, sales sections, or other places requiring contacting people via the phone day in and day out will probably look the same. They will probably have the list of to-call numbers, pick the phone up and dial away. There are times when agents get connected right on the first try and can talk to the leads right away. But most often, the agents will be listening to busy signals, drop a voicemail or try another attempt or several more.
Agents whose life has been tuned like this will probably not even think much and the routine will be like second nature. Thinking of ways though for agents to be easily more productive than just doing routine tasks is the company’s job. Company’s do not have to hire another staff for this determination. Instead, this manual work can be left to an autodialer.
An autodialer can be an incredible help for agents and customers alike when an autodialer is used in businesses correctly. Here how automatic dialers can be helpful and the types of dialers are discussed.
What an Autodialer Is
An autodialer is a kind of predictive dialer software. In a gist, autodialer software can instantaneously dial phone numbers from within a contact list that has been pre-assigned to a specific campaign. It also directs the leads to agents currently on standby and is available to cater to them. With an autodialer installed, agents can focus on the leads rather than being preoccupied with the busy signals. Autodialer can also decrease the agents’ idle time and thereby increases productivity by even 10 times more.
Often, a computer with applicable software installations is required for a traditional autodialer plus a functioning voice modem and active telephone connection. More modern options of an autodialer are available such that they are cloud-based, working online, and in no need of additional hardware or actual active landline. Businesses thinking of getting into a modern autodialer only have platform subscriptions and a secure stable internet connection. Several platforms have also featured more than one type of autodialer.
Different autodialers have various forms and function differently too. They come in handy when businesses are short on time for campaigns and focus on dialing is inefficient for agents to solely do them. An autodialer is rather helpful too that can be applied in a lot of cases including emergencies, hospitality, healthcare sectors and chiefly, sales.
Autodialer Types
There are various kinds of autodialers or automatic dialers in the market. They usually assist with different tasks in turn increasing the agents’ productivity and the offer’s conversion rates. Here are the different types of autodialers:
- Predictive Autodialer
A predictive autodialer takes the efficiency of agents to a different level up credited to its capability to make several calls simultaneously rather than just making one at a time.
Not to worry about agents handling all those calls at the same. A predictive autodialer uses an algorithm to monitor individual agent’s availability in real-time. It also calculates when agents are available to take the succeeding call. The predictive dialer will adjust the time and volume of dialing for the agents in waiting.
A careful thing to note when using predictive autodialer is that a customer may receive and eventually answer a call and no agent is currently available to cater to them. Also, a predictive dialer does not give ample to agents to read through customer data beforehand. As a result, it may be too simple to work well with elaborate queries.
- Preview Autodialer
Predictive autodialer sends agents the customer data of the next one on the contact list before that number is dialed. When an agent is done with the current call, they can check out the customer’s details and they can decide when to contact or to skip to the next name queued. This methodology of a preview autodialer makes enough time for the agent to prepare everything beforehand to necessarily tailor to the customer’s profile.
When agents are regularly exposed to complicated cases that they need to be amply prepared for, a preview autodialer may just be incredible for this use.
- Progressive Autodialer
A progressive autodialer works similarly with a preview autodialer – allowing agents to look into customer data before making the call. The different thing about them is that agents do not have the choice of skipping a call because this autodialer dials the next phone number immediately after the current call has terminated. If the signal is busy, a voicemail is prompted or the call is disconnected, the progressive autodialer ends the call and proceeds to dial the queued phone numbers on the list.
- Smart Autodialer
There is also a smart autodialer where one can utilize phone numbers from an online spreadsheet or website instead of using those from an internal database (such as an integrated CRM or helpdesk). The smart autodialer is sometimes equipped with facilities that scan contents from a specified website and automatically add scanned phone numbers to the calling lineup with just a click of a button.
And once phone contacts are added to the list, businesses can arrange them as desired, call them right away or schedule another time to call if there is no answer.
- Voice Broadcasting Autodialer
The voice broadcasting autodialer enables businesses to direct several pre-recorded voicemails to multiple customers at once. These voice messages may be used to convey emergency notifications, medical reminders, customer reviews, or special promos. Businesses may opt to play a message when a customer picks up the phone and also leave a pre-recorded voice message for them to hear later.
A voice broadcasting autodialer is especially advantageous when messages need to be quickly sent to several numbers of people simultaneously to inform them about something urgent.
The Benefits of Working Alongside an Autodialer
Probably the most significant reason why an autodialer is so “in” these days is the fact that they help conserve time and energy for the manpower and optimize them for more important engagements. Manually dialing phone contacts can take up a large chunk of an agent’s time. It can be pretty tiring to do this task over and over day in and out.
With the embrace of autodialer technology, agents no longer need to waste a lot of time waiting on all sorts of calls.
Apart from the automatic dialing features, an autodialer can also sort out various cases such as busy signals, invalid contact numbers, or fax answering machines on the calling list without so much bother to the agent. Only calls that are answered by customers are passed along to the agents.
Autodialer use also decreases agent idle time, increase their talk time with customers, monitor agents in real-time and thereby, increase employee/agent morale.
