Published : November 1, 2023Do you want to increase your call connection and conversion rate? If yes, we have found a powerful tool for you–a call center dialer.
A striking example of its potency is that 60% of customers will wait in a call queue for less than two minutes, and 13% of them do not want to accept any hold times. Call center dialers effectively cater to this parameter and minimize hold times. How? Find that out in this guide!
Here is a comprehensive guide on the call center dialer with its working mechanism, types, and features. We’ve also included a buyer’s guide of the top 5 call center dialers with features, pros and cons, and pricing for you to make the most profitable decision.
What Is a Dialer in a Call Center?
Dialers are systems that automate the customer number dialing process in a call or contact center. It automatically dials all the phone numbers of the pre-set contact list on behalf of agents without intervention. This dialer comes in handy for all kinds of teams–sales teams for telemarketing or lead generation and customer service teams for customer support or surveys.
Call center dialer connects your customers with live call center agents or an Interactive Voice Response, increasing your agent talk time and boosting the call-connect ratio. That’s not all; you can rely on dialers in call centers to automate appointment scheduling or reminders.
"There isn’t a single best call center dialer in the market. To make the right choice, consider your business size, nature of customer interactions, automation needs, and budget. Done correctly, you can expect heightened agent efficiency, increased productivity, and exceptional customer satisfaction. "
How Does a Call Center Dialer Work?
Call centers automatically dial all the phone numbers from your customer contact database. Here’s the working mechanism it follows –
1. The dialer system first imports your contact list, including names and numbers.
2. Now, the dialer starts calling based on the set dialing mode.
3. Once the dialer detects a human on the line, it connects the call to an IVR, plays a pre-recorded message, or routes the call to an available agent based on call duration and schedules.
4. Next, it displays the customer information on the screen to provide agents with context to deliver a personalized experience.
5. The system records and logs call data and results for future reference during active calls.
6. If the agent doesn’t answer, the system routes the call to the voicemail or follows the predefined workflow.
Different Types of Call Center Dialers
Although different call center dialers have unique mechanisms, all of them aim to enhance call center efficiency and boost agent productivity. Here are the three major types of call center dialers –
1. Predictive dialer
The predictive dialer facilitates automated outbound calls by automatically dialing multiple numbers simultaneously and routing them to an available agent once the recipient answers (via answering machine detection).
Predictive dialers correctly predict the right time to call the next number and filter voicemails, busy signals, disconnected numbers, and unanswered calls, saving agents time.
This kind of predictive dialing supports a high call-connect ratio, minimizes agent idle time, and helps you manage multiple campaigns, making it best suited for is best for insurance, sales, and fundraising.
2. Progressive dialer
The progressive dialer is an auto dialer software that keeps the agent on line in advance before dialing the call. The live agent starts the calling session (one number at a time) and answers the call when connected.
This promotes personalized conversations, increases conversion, and reduces call abandonment rates. Such auto-dialers are best for B2B organizations that need to cater to high-value leads.
3. Preview dialer
The Preview dialer gives agents a quick snippet of the recipient (previous call or message) who’s next in the queue so they are well prepared before the call. For this purpose, this call center software connects the live agent before the customer. It also allows your live agent to skip a contact by choice and move to the next one. This simple call center software supports personalized interaction and focused calling, making it best for organizations with intricate sales processes that need research for better conversion.
You May Also Read : Power Dialer Pricing: Maximizing Value for Your Investment
Features of a Call Center Dialer
Each call center software (dialer) has unique features that contribute to improving your dialing process. Here are the major features you must consider when selecting a call center dialer –
1. Call center analytics to measure and track relevant metrics like First Call Resolution, Average Handling Time, or Call Volume, and make data-driven decisions.
2. CRM integrations so your data can flow to, from, or between relevant applications seamlessly.
3. Power dialer to automatically dial numbers, allowing your agent to focus better on closing deals and engaging with prospects.
4. Automatic call distribution to route inbound calls to relevant agents or departments, optimizing call handling.
5. Call barging software to secretly listen to active agent calls and jump in if needed to offer real-time guidance, improving customer interactions.
6. Call transfer to effortlessly hand over the call to the relevant agent.
7. Interactive Voice Response offers a menu for callers to choose an option based on their needs.
8. Call recording to record and log calls for reference and agent training.
You May Also Read : How to Make 100 Calls a Day?
5 Best Call Center Dialers
The market is flooded with dialers for call centers, likely making the choice overwhelming. To make this easier for you, we have curated this buyer’s guide of the top 5 call center dialers you must consider –
| Brand Name | Rating | Key Features | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| CallHippo | Call forwarding Call recording Voicemail Text messaging | Basic: $0 Bronze: $16 /month Silver: $24 /month Platinum: $40 /month | |
| RingCentral | Business phone or toll-free numbers Unlimited calling within the US and Canada Business SMS IVR | Core: $20 Advanced: $25 Ultra: $35 | |
| Aircall | Unlimited outbound calls 50+ Integrations and API access Access to API developer support Call recording and monitoring | Essentials- $30/user Professional – $50/user Custom Plan | |
| Nextiva | Auto attendant Hold music Mobile app and desktop app Video conferencing Audio-only conferencing Advanced IVR systems Caller ID | Essentials: $18.95 Professional: $22.95 Enterprise: $32.95 |
1. CallHippo
CallHippo enhances the processes of your outbound call centers and lets you connect with more prospects. With this dialer’s robust features, you can be available for your customers round the clock, boost agent productivity, monitor team performance, and lower communication costs.
Features
- Smart call forwarding
- Call queuing software
- Call barging
- Automatic Call Distribution
Pros
- CallHippo lets you offer real-time guidance to your agents during active calls with call whispering, enhancing customer experiences.
- This software provides you with caller identities or messages so you can better prioritize calls based on importance, caller identity, or urgency with call screening.
- It captures and logs conversations for better training, review, and compliance via call recording.
Cons
- CallHippo doesn’t download reports on your system; rather sends you a report link over your email.
- This software may lag or crash if you have multiple apps running in the background.
Pricing
- Bronze: $16/user/month
- Silver: $24/user/month
- Platinum: $40/user/month
2. RingCentral
RingCentral is a great dialer for call centers with powerful intelligence, video, messaging, workflow automation, and more. This software for outbound call centers is highly reliable, secure, and innovative software with less than 6 minutes of downtime, seven layers of protection, and 300+ integrations.
Features
- Call park
- Call delegation
- Call flip
- Caller id
Pros
- RingCentral ensures you never miss customer calls by allowing you to route them to your office phone or voicemail using answering rules. Missing calls can result in a loss of business since 85% of customers don't call back.
- This auto-dialing software allows your employees the freedom to log into any phone while accessing their saved settings and personal extensions via hot desking, eliminating location restrictions.
- It notifies you regarding voicemail transcriptions, missed calls, faxes, and more to keep you updated via Gmail and SMS notifications.
Cons
- RingCentral’s new users need training to navigate the platform.
- It lags and disconnects your calls sometimes.
Pricing
- Core: $20/user/month
- Advanced: $25/user/month
- Ultra: $35/user/month
3. Aircall
Aircall is a call center dialer that facilitates smarter conversations between customers and sales or support teams. You can automate the admin tasks, build impeccable workflows, and seamlessly integrate with your favorite apps.
Features
- Parallel calls
- Pause resume recording
- Time-based routing
- Queue callback
Pros
- Aircall lets you set team or individual working hours so all your inbound calls get routed to available agents via time-based routing.
- This software allows you to place or receive unlimited calls simultaneously on the same number via unlimited concurrent calling.
- It offers a central hub to review all inbound and outbound calls, voicemails, and recordings, saving time.
Cons
- Aircall doesn’t let you place a call during an incoming call.
- This software sometimes freezes, interrupting call center workflow.
Pricing
- Essentials: $30/license
- Professional: $50/license
You May Also Read : 11 Best Free Auto Dialer Software in 2023
4. Nextiva
Nextiva is an excellent omnichannel contact center solution and call center dialer software that unifies all your business conversations. With top-notch customer service and fraud mitigation with access control policies, this software goes beyond catering to your call center needs.
Features
- Call pulling
- Priority alerts
- Call presence
- Three-way calling
Pros
- Nextiva automatically rejects calls from callers whose caller ID is blocked or appears as a private number, so you dedicate your time to callers you know via anonymous call rejection.
- This software connects managers and employees closely with its push to talk so that agents call quickly to seek assistance while catering to customer queries.
- It offers 40+ advanced features and reports to evaluate VoIP call center efficiency and make improvements where needed.
Cons
- Nextiva can take long to set up.
- Its interface is not intuitive.
Pricing
- Essential: $18.95/user/month
- Professional: $22.95/user/month
- Enterprise: $32.95/user/month
5. DialerHQ
DialerHQ is yet another best dialer software that enhances your business communication with high flexibility and edgy features. It caters to all your business’s unique and complex needs regardless of its size or scale.
Features
- Call cascading
- Call tagging
- Multi-level IVR
- Automatic Machine Detection
Pros
- DialerHQ facilitates real-time call monitoring to help you understand and improve your agents’ performance.
- This software offers a personalized telephony experience based on your unique call center needs.
- It lets you enjoy friction-free connectivity and seamless reachability with DialerHQ's Wi-Fi calling.
Cons
- DialerHQ’s features have a learning curve.
- Its call quality lags sometimes.
Pricing
- Starter: $7.99/user/month
- Professional: $11.99/user/month
- Ultimate: $19.99/user/month
6. TeleCMI
TeleCMI is a top omnichannel contact center that makes all your communications in a unified platform. With an efficient outbound phone system, accessing call reports and sales call tracking is easy, resulting in increased sales productivity, saving time, and agent productivity.
Features
- Predictive dialer
- Desktop notification
- Call back
- Outbound IVR
- Skill-based routing
Pros
- Live call monitoring allows you to track your agent's performance and provide better training.
- Call whispering lets the supervisor enter the live call and train agents without letting the customer know.
- The local or international phone number you purchase for your outbound sales call center will act as your outbound number.
Cons
- Whenever users want to make Internet-based calls, smartphones are compulsory.
- A stable Internet connection is mandatory to minimize call droppings.
Pricing
Paid annually
- Basic: $1007/user/month
- Premium: $1259/user/month
- Enterprises: $1343/user/month
How to Choose the Right Call Center Dialer System?
The ideal call center dialer system has the features your call center requires and fits perfectly into your budget. Here are some points you must consider before choosing a call center dialer system –
- Match the dialer to your business size – for instance, progressive dialers are best for small to mid-sized businesses, so agents are available to attend calls as they come in.
- Choose features that align with your call center’s needs; small teams must prioritize basic features such as call routing and IVR, while large teams must have call monitoring and advanced analytics.
- Prioritize reliable customer support so your issues are resolved instantly without any downtime.
- Choose a dialer based on your calling goals – predictive dialer to achieve high volume; preview dialer to follow up on warm leads.
- Consider your customer type – for instance, a preview dialer is fit for high-value customers to make contextual conversations.
You May Also Read : What is Sales Dialer and 7 Best Sales Dialer Software
Wrapping Up
Call center dialers significantly reduce repetitive tasks and boost agent efficiency. It dials all the numbers on your contact list based on your pre-defined criteria, as explained in the working mechanism section above. Although the pre-defined criteria are customizable, you must first choose the right dialer types according to your business size and goals.
When selecting your dialer, choose the one with features relevant to your business. To make the selection easier, we have curated and incorporated a detailed buyer’s guide on the five best dialer systems for call centers you can rely on.
Does exploring and choosing a suitable dialer seem overwhelming? If so, we recommend considering a leading outbound call center software dialer with advanced features and affordable pricing–CallHippo.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Which dialer is best for a call center?
If you have high call volumes to cater, a predictive dialer would work best. However, if you have high-value leads to cater, a progressive dialer is a great choice.
2. How much does a call center dialer cost?
A robust dialer software for call center like CallHippo costs between $16-$40/user/month.
3. How to set up a call center Dialer?
To set up a call center dialer software, import the leads (manually or via API) and select a dialing algorithm. Lastly, dial the leads as per different criteria–priority, agent assignment, and ascending or descending order.
4. What can auto dialer software do?
Best auto dialer software for call centers basically automates the phone number dialing process without any agent interruption.
Updated : September 2, 2024
Supriya Bajaj is a senior content developer with immense experience in the VoIP telephony domain. With a deep knowledge of VoIP systems and emerging technologies in the field, she provides insightful and targeted content. Known for simplifying complex topics and her thought-leadership articles, Supriya delivers actionable content for both technical and non-technical audiences.
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