Automated outbound dialer campaigns enable babelforce users to automatically call hundreds of contacts per day. If you have an active services account, you can run these campaigns with any number of agents, simply uploading any number of contacts you want to call.

This guide will serve as an introduction to babelforce's outbound dialer functionality, and will show you how to set up your first campaign.

Introduction

The concept behind babelforce's outbound dialer campaigns is very simple. You create one or more campaigns, then you create a list (of contacts) and link this list to a campaign. By uploading contacts via CSV to a  list, the campaign is set up to start calling them. Now, agents can log into that campaign with their phone device, the babelConnect App. babelforce will start calling the contacts and as soon as one of them answers, they are automatically connected with an available agent. So let's have a look how to set up lists and campaigns.

1. Create an outbound dialer list

 

To set up the list, head to Outbound > Lists and click on "Add". Give your list a name and save it. It should look something like this:

As the screenshot shows, you can upload and download your contacts as CSV by clicking on "Upload" or "Download", respectively. Also, you can delete the contacts by clicking on "Clear list". Clicking on the small loupe shows all contacts on that list. Another important information is the UID. You will need it to automatically upload contacts calling via phone to that list. To have a closer look at how this works, check out our helpcenter article on automated callbacks.

2. Create an outbound campaign and link it to the list

Next, we need to create the outbound campaign. Therfore, go to Outbound > Campaigns and add a new one. Give it a name and add the number you want to be shown to your customers when calling them:

Now you have a campaign and a list. But they don't know about each other yet. Therfore, choose the source list you just created and link it to the campaign.

 

Now that we have the basic structure necessary for an outbound dialer campaign, we are only missing the contacts you would like to call. As mentioned, we have to upload them via a CSV file. The following image shows how that file can be structured:

• "uid" & "number" are the minimum required fields for an upload
• If fields titled "number2" and/or "number3" are included, these allow you to define additional phone numbers per contact. If for example the attempt to reach the main phone number of a contact is unsuccessful, these numbers will be called in order straight afterwards.
• You can also include as many custom data fields for your contacts as you like. These can be titled with anything you like, and the information will be shown to an agent when they are connected with a contact.  

To upload contacts to a list, ensure you have formatted the file correctly and saved it as a CSV file. Then click "Upload" and select the file. Be aware that it can take up to a minute if hundreds of contacts are uploaded. 

You should see a success message after a few seconds, and a confirmation of how many contacts were uploaded. 

Great, you set up your first Outbound dialer campaign. To learn how to use it, head over to this article.