We tend to get this type of question more that we should. To an inexperienced user, this symptom seems like a system issue, where more often than not, it’s a simple misunderstanding of the system’s capability. Let’s take a look at a few of the most common reasons why people aren’t answering your outbound contact center calls.
- No Answer Timeout – Every outbound campaign can have a different setting for this parameter. There’s a system default, but the default may not be high enough in certain scenarios in order for a call to be given ample time to be answered. For example, it’s entirely possible that the no answer timeout setting gets hit after the called party hears one ring on their phone. One ring is hardly enough time to answer a call. In this case, the timeout is hit and your contact center representative will receive an automated message stating that the person is not answering. Adjusting the setting to a higher amount of time should eliminate this issue where the called party does not answer.
- SIP Trunking – You will have a provider that supplies you with the necessary gateways in order to do your outbound SIP calling. This is an internet based service. Sometimes the internet can be unreliable. If outbound calls do not appear to be even initiated, it’s most likely to be a provider interruption, assuming all of the Q-Suite services are up and running. Provider stability is outside the realm of what the system can do, so while it may seem like a system issue, it’s simply an internet issue.
- Callers actively avoiding answering – I’ve done it before. I know you have too. You see an incoming call on your home phone or cell with a caller ID you don’t recognize or do recognize as an obvious call center caller ID. You either explicitly reject the call or you just let it ring out until it hits voicemail or the call disconnects. From the system’s point of view, everything is functioning perfectly. But the harsh reality from the point of view of the outbound call center is that people often don’t answer their phones when they either know it’s a call center or they don’t recognize the caller ID. There’s nothing that the system can do to overcome this.
The three reasons listed above can be quite irritating for outbound call centers, especially for the people who are responsible for managing them. It’s one of the major differences between an inbound call center where people are actively calling in order to talk to a representative instead of dodging calls whenever they decide to. People are going to pick up though, but expecting a 100% success rate is just not feasible.