Predictive dialing refers to a state-of-the-art pacing mode used to call a large number of customers within a short period of time. Predictive dialing helps optimize agents’ time by reducing the idle times between connected calls and freeing agents from dialing calls. Predictive dialing gathers statistics related to the duration of calls, how long it takes for calls to be answered, and how often calls are answered. The system places several calls when an agent is about to become idle.

The performance of predictive dialing depends upon the accuracy of the contact lists and the policies on nuisance calls. If the contact list is poor, the performance of the predictive dialing campaign may be affected negatively as agents are not connected to live contacts and are not able to do business.

A predictive dialer is a type of dialer that dials a list of telephone numbers and connects answered dials to people making calls, often referred to as agents. Using statistical algorithms, predictive dialers minimize the time that agents spend waiting between conversations while minimizing the occurrence of someone answering when no agent is available.

There are two possible sources of delay when dialing numbers one at a time:

i) Only some fraction of dials are answered. As an example, if 1 out of 3 dials is answered, a predictive dialer might dial 3 lines every time an agent becomes available.

ii) Dials that are answered take some time before being picked up. If it typically takes 10 seconds for someone to pick up, and conversations typically last 90 seconds, a predictive dialer might start dialing at 80 seconds.

Predictive dialers may either be standalone hardware devices, or they may be integrated with software with call center or contact center platforms. Dialers integrated with software perform less aggressive dialing modes, such as power, progressive, or preview dialing.