Predictive dialers are most frequently used for telemarketing to enhance efficient use of time by the Call Center sales force. They do this by analyzing how briskly the sales agents close a call and how many calls for a given geographic area are actually answered (and how rapidly) by an actual person. The predictive dialer predicts when the subsequent call center agent will probably be available and dials multiple phone numbers to try to have a customer on the line "just in time" for the agent to take the call thus, dramatically reducing wasted time by the agent and closing more sales.
Typical Call Statistics
For a typical calling list, 25-35% of the numbers called on average will end in someone actually answering the phone. On average, 10% will probably be answered by voicemail/answering machines, fax machines, or modems; 5% will be busy; and 40-60% will not be answered at all. Thus, if done manually, call center agents will waste roughly 80% of their time, and subsequently spending about 20% of their time actually selling. Primarily based on these statistics, a predictive dialer system will reverse these two numbers and enhance productivity by approximately 300%.
More Predictive Dialer Purposes
Predictive dialers will also be used for a lot of other call center applications. For instance, a predictive dialer can provide "welcome calls" to new clients, provide customer service call backs when someone is available to deal with a question or issue, remind and confirm appointments, bill collection, delivery notifications, employee communications or distribution, fund raising, automated voice messaging to the elderly, and as an auto dialer for any many other kinds of large volume calling such as distributing private messages en masse (e.g., campaigning). Predictive dialing techniques may even automate the method of updating customer information, submitting sales orders, ship custom-made emails and faxes, etc.
Some programs can also be used to handle incoming calls for purposes such as Inbound Messaging Center, urgent notifications (where the customer can leave a message of his issue, and you will be notified immediately), or your organization's voicemail system.
