All contact centres are reliant on technology to perform their task.

This includes a whole range of different technologies including:

  • Predictive diallers
  • Computer networks
  • Databases
  • Voice or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) networks
  • The public switched telephone network (PSTN)
  • Test regularly

Test and monitor your end-to-end infrastructure and the applications that rest on it.

Refer this duty to your IT department.

 

Dialler operations

This section covers all types of dialling. The abandoned call and answer machine detect (AMD) sections are, however, only relevant to predictive dialling.

Consumer experience does not relate to how a call was initiated if it is not abandoned.

This section also covers different mechanisms to control over-dialling, such as explicit over-dial rates or agent–trunk ratios.

Diallers and dialler usage

The section covers a number of different scenarios:

Manual
Number dialled by hand, even if data selection is by a system.

Preview
Agent has to indicate that it is okay to initiate dial.

Timed preview
Agent has a pre-determined time period to review call details before call is made.

Progressive
Call will be dialled when previous one is completed, but only one per agent.

Predictive
More calls are made than there are agents, to eliminate agent wait time.

Other technologies
Such as power dialling and auto-dialling.

 

Predictive dialling

  • Provide CLI number

It is important to note that the DMA Code and Ofcom regulations differ in that the Code requires you to transmit a CLI for ALL calls you make, whereas Ofcom regulations only apply to your use of predictive dialling equipment.

Productivity factors

Predictive dialling provides varying levels of productivity gain over progressive dialling, depending on four main characteristics:

  1. Pacing

The quality of the predictive dialler’s pacing engine or algorithm.

  1. Live connection rate

The live connection rate of the campaign – i.e. the proportion of calls the dialler makes that are answered.

  1. Call cycle

The average duration of the call cycle once connected – this is the time spent talking, plus any wrap-up time after the caller has disconnected.

In general, shorter call cycle durations and lower connect rates reduce the effectiveness of progressive dialling and there is, therefore, a greater productivity dividend for predictive dialling.

  1. Size of team

The size of your team plays a crucial part. In order for your predictive dialler to be effective, you need a certain number of agents on your campaign in order to improve productivity without generating unnecessary abandoned calls.

  • Calculate required team size

What constitutes this minimum team size will depend on your pacing, live connection rate and average call duration – and each dialler will behave differently under different circumstances.

  • Understand your chosen dialler

It is important to understand how your chosen dialler works with low team sizes and that you use that information to plan your campaign. This is important because:

  • Be careful using diallers with small teams

Many predictive diallers will generate high numbers of abandoned calls when the team size is too small.

  • Larger teams increase dialler productivity

Productivity is increased with larger team sizes and, if it can be done within the operational priorities of the contact centre, it is better to run with larger teams.

  • Use maximum number of agents

Wherever possible, maximise the number of agents assigned to your campaign.

Predictive dialling systems are usually more efficient and accurate when you have a large number of agents on a single campaign.

Use this to minimise your abandonment rate.

 

Preventing abandoned calls

Some diallers will automatically understand if you have enough agents under the given calling conditions to start predictive dialling.

However, most will not. If this is the case, you will need to ensure that when you have a small number of agents working, your campaign is limited to prevent the dialler generating abandoned calls.

  • Reduce abandoned calls by:
  • Reducing your dialler’s abandoned call target
  • Limiting the number of trunks your campaign is configured to use
  • Setting your campaign to be run in progressive, rather than predictive mode

 

Predictive dialler rules of thumb

If you are unsure how your particular dialler performs, consider the following rules of thumb for a typical dialler that cannot compensate for small team sizes itself:

  • Use minimum 12 agents

Experience has shown that 12 agents is the minimum team size to efficiently manage predictive dialling within an acceptable 3% abandoned call cap.

  • Reduce nuisance rate for smallest teams

A dialler can operate with 10 agents provided the nuisance rate is reduced to 2% – otherwise, there is a

significant risk of poor dialler performance in the latter half of the shift due to the dialler compensating for higher dropped calls at the start of the shift.

  • Use preview/progressive dialling for smaller teams

Experience has shown that less than 10 agents should be managed on preview/progressive dialling.

Dropped calls represent a higher percentage because of the small team size, meaning the dialler becomes inefficient in performance and use of data.

  • Switch diallers to recover nuisance rate

Switching from predictive to preview/progressive dialling during a shift should not cause a dialler to treat the call list as two separate lists and is therefore a method of recovering a nuisance rate over the working window – but it is important to ensure that this applies to your dialler.

  • Seek specialist advice

If in doubt, consult you dialler vendor for specialist advice on this complex issue.

 

Dialler ring time

  • 15 seconds of ring time

Give your customer 15 seconds of ring time before aborting the call, to give them sufficient time to answer  and not be frustrated.

  • Optimise for customer experience

Customer experience is what is important in your timing – so make sure that you allow for the time it can take for a call to actually connect and start to ring. Ensure your customer gets the full 15 seconds of ring time.

  • Allow extra connection time for mobiles

Mobiles, in particular, can take several seconds to actually start to ring.

  • Allow for optimal dialler performance

Look at good operational practice. Too long a ring time has a negative impact on dialler performance because it extends your calling cycle and makes it more likely that answering machines will cut in.

 

Dialler abandonment timing

  • Connect calls within two seconds

Connect calls to your live agent within two seconds of your call being answered.

  • Set up abandonment message

The DMA Code and Ofcom policies stipulate that If your call is to be abandoned because a live agent is not available, you must play an information message within two seconds of your customer picking up your call; i.e.:

  • No later than two seconds after the telephone has been picked up

OR

  • No later than two seconds after an individual begins to speak (or ‘start of salutation’)

 

Dialler abandonment rate

  • Maximum acceptable abandonment rate

Set an abandon rate that is appropriate to your data and audience – and typically no higher than 3%.

  • Balance abandonment rate against efficiency

Find the lowest abandonment rate that still delivers high agent performance against an acceptable number of customers receiving an abandoned call.

  • Calculate acceptable rate for each campaign

Calculate each campaign at different abandonment rates to find your most appropriate rate.

For example, if reducing your rate from 2.5% to 2% will add two seconds of idle time per agent per call, how will your cost in lost agent time per week balance against the lower number of customers receiving abandoned calls?

  • Set a lower rate for warm lists

Expect your abandonment rate lower when warm calling to current or higher-value customers.

  • Set automatically and manually-tuned abandonment rates

If your dialler equipment can self-tune to an abandonment rate, set the rate no higher than 2.8% per campaign.

If you manually control dialling aggressiveness, aim for an abandonment rate no higher than 2.75%.

This approach gives you room for occasional rate spikes whilst retaining compliance.

  • Stay compliant per 24-hour period

Monitor and adjust your abandonment rate for each campaign through the course of each shift.

Regulations require that your rate will be no more than 3% per campaign over a 24-hour period.

Ofcom define a 24-hour period as being between midnight and midnight on a calendar day.

 

Testing predictive diallers

Predictive diallers are the devices that cause the most problems with nuisance and silent calls – so it is vital that you test these specifically, as well as part of your end-to-end solution.

  • Employ third-party testing

All testing should be done by an independent third party to provide an objective view.

  • Test relevant factors

Testing simulates a large volume of live calls to ensure your predictive dialler is performing its job to the required standards.

  • Tests include:
  • Applying various answering machine tones to ensure that answering machine detection is optimised and your error rate (i.e. number of false positives) is reduced
  • Measuring the time between your customer answering the phone and reaching a live agent
  • Determining if a line is released by the contact centre technology when a customer hangs up
  • Applying various call termination treatments (such as answered, busy or unobtainable) to emulate real outbound call situations
  • Proving that your organisation can be alerted when your over-dial rate exceeds a certain limit (for example, a 3% call abandon rate)
  • Verifying that the caller line identification (CLI) is presented
  • Capture baseline configuration

Capture a predictive dialler baseline configuration to show that your dialler works within the regulations.

  • Use as benchmark

Compare this baseline to later performance and return to it if necessary.

 

Answer machine detection (AMD)

Answer machine detection is a technology which uses various techniques to automatically detect if a call has been answered by a live caller or some form of answering machine (either physical machine, voicemail system or network based call messaging service).

  • Identify system failings

AMD technology is not currently 100% reliable and can fail in one of two ways:

  • A ‘false positive’ – where the AMD technology incorrectly judges a live customer to be an answering machine
  • A ‘false negative’ – where the AMD technology incorrectly judges an answering machine to be a live caller and connects the call to your agent
  • Factor in ‘reasoned estimate’

In most cases, your customer’s experience of a false positive is a silent call followed by a disconnection. For this reason, Ofcom rules state that you must factor in a ‘reasoned estimate’ of false positives into the abandoned call figures that count towards your maximum 3% abandoned call rate.

  • Detailed information about handling false positives and false negatives

Read the DMA’s published paper, endorsed by Ofcom, detailing the statistical treatment of both false positives and false negatives and how you should handle them within your dialler management strategy.

Download the DMA’s paper here: www.dma.org.uk/article/calculating-abandoned-calls-in-the-light-of-the-ofcom-2008-statement

  • Understand answering machine redial rules

Ofcom also requires that calls dialled using AMD and classified as an answering machine cannot be dialled again for a 24-hour period unless you have an agent reserved – similar in essence to the 72-hour rule for handling calls abandoned by a predictive dialler.

  • Allow for AMD pitfalls

Although it is clear that in some circumstances AMD technology can improve the performance of your predictive dialling campaigns, you should also note three clear negative aspects to the technology:

  1. Poor experience for your customer in the event of a false positive
  2. Effectiveness of your predictive dialler is impaired because your abandoned call rate has to be artificially suppressed to cater for the estimate of false-positives
  3. Effectiveness of your dialler is further impaired because of the 24-hour rule, which means that either your call cannot be re-attempted for another day or, if that is not an option, your call must be made without using the dialler’s pacing technology
  • Avoid AMD unless <1% false positive rate

Because of the margins for error, the DMA advises that unless your system has been tested and achieves a false positive rate of 1% or less, it does not make commercial sense to use AMD in your telemarketing campaign at present. Because AMD exposes you to the risk of breaching the silent calls thresholds (with subsequent regulatory consequences), and because of the detriment to customer experience, using AMD does not currently constitute best practice.