Predictive vs progressive dialling for collections

A collections list is rarely one kind of work. Some records are a first reminder on an agreed date. Some are a broken arrangement. Some are a dispute, a third-party debt order, or a note that the last conversation was difficult. Predictive dialling is built for the first of those, where the opening is stable and the value of the hour is the number of right-party conversations. It places more than one call and connects a collector when a person answers, using average call length and answer rates.

Progressive dialling places one number for each collector who is already free. The collector waits while the number rings, goes to voicemail, or is not answered. A connected call has someone ready, so this mode does not create abandoned calls by getting ahead of the team. On a collections floor that is already thin, that is often the point: the person who answers a payment call and hears nothing, or hears only a message, is a complaint as well as a missed arrangement.

Preview shows the collector the record first. They dial when they have read it. It is the slowest of the three, and it fits the account where the wrong opening costs more than an idle minute. 626CRM, our own hosted CRM, is included on Growth and Enterprise and can hold that history. 626Dialler can also connect to an existing Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics or Zendesk, with call activity written back after each call.

A connected call is not a useful collections call if it is the wrong person, a switchboard, or an answer machine. Right-party contact is the conversation with the person the account is actually about. Predictive dialling can raise the number of connections and still leave the right-party rate untouched if the data is poor. Preview gives the collector a chance to check the record before the dial. Progressive sits between them: the collector is free, but they have not necessarily read the note.

Answerphone detection can be tuned per campaign. It is there so collectors spend less time on machines. It is also a known way a silent call is produced, if a person is classified as a machine and the call is disconnected. Ofcom says action against silent calls is likely to be its highest priority. Sample the recordings on the collections campaign rather than assuming the detection setting that suited a sales list still suits this one. How the abandoned call rate is calculated, and what it leaves out, is in what is a good abandoned call rate?.

Ofcom's statement of 20 December 2016, in force since 1 March 2017, names no abandoned-call threshold. It may take action in any case where abandoned calls are made. For collections, the practical effect is the same as for any other outbound work. If you dial ahead of the people who are free, some live answers will not reach a collector. Those are abandoned calls if an information message is played, and silent calls if it is not.

The information message should identify who the call was for, say that they tried to make contact, and give a basic-rate or free number to decline further calls, with no marketing. Ofcom may look at whether that message starts as quickly as possible, and no longer than two seconds after pickup, or after the person starts to speak where the system classifies the call by listening for a voice. If you make a further abandoned or silent call to the same number within 72 hours and a live agent was not available, Ofcom is likely to treat the repeat as an aggravating factor.

A collections campaign that recalls the same mobiles every hour will meet that 72-hour point quickly. Build the retry around an agent who can actually take the call, or leave the record for the next session. The persistent misuse guide quotes the statement on this.

Collections calls are often not sales calls, and PECR's live-marketing rules are about direct marketing. Some collections activity is still marketing, and some is subject to other regulators. The ICO says the Financial Conduct Authority has rules banning certain cold calls, and that you need to know the rules that apply to your own campaign. This article does not set those out. Where the call is a marketing call, TPS covers individuals, sole traders and partnerships in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. CTPS covers companies, limited liability partnerships, Scottish partnerships and some government bodies. Screen both on a business list. The TPS and CTPS guide follows the ICO and TPS pages.

626Dialler can screen TPS and CTPS before dialling, on every plan. Consent, where you have captured it, can be stored on the contact. PCI payment processing is available, and recordings can use PCI pause while card details are taken. On Enterprise, AI transcription and sentiment are available. A documented REST API is available. Alveus hosts 626Dialler for every customer.

Split the list before you argue about the dialler. Records with a stable script and a collector team that can absorb the answer rate can go to predictive, with a target you are willing to slow down for. Records that need the file read first go to preview. Records where you will not accept an answered call without a collector waiting go to progressive. Manual dialling remains available, including click-to-call, with suppression still able to run.

Watch the abandoned call rate per campaign, per calendar day, and read the silent calls beside it. If the rate climbs because the afternoon is understaffed, drop the ratio or move the list to progressive for that session. The pricing page shows which modes are on which plan. Book a demo if you want to see one collections campaign running predictive and preview together.