What is the Difference Between a Predictive Dialer and a Progressive Dialer?

Predictive dialers dial numerous lines simultaneously and connect live calls to agents as soon as they become available. This boosts agent productivity and call volume. It is best for large call centers that aim to reduce agent idle time and improve call efficiency. It is also perfect for a high-pressure sales environment.

Here are some of the main features of a predictive dialer.
 

1. CRM Integration
   CRM (Customer Relationship Management) uses data insights to improve existing relationships with customers. Businesses use CRM to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
    
2. Call Monitoring
   Call monitoring in predictive dialer allows managers to listen to live and recorded calls. This helps ensure quality control and provides coaching and feedback to agents. It also allows you to preview the performance of outgoing calls.
    
3. Answering machine detection (AMD)
   This dialer uses a sophisticated algorithm to detect whether the call has been answered by a human or any answering machine. AMD helps to save time by connecting agents to calls only when they are answered by customers.
    
4. Voicemail drop
   With the voicemail drop feature, agents can quickly leave pre-recorded voicemails by clicking a button. This saves time and ensures that every customer message is clear and consistent.
    
5. Skilled based routing
   In predictive dialer, skilled-based routing allows agents to route calls based on their skill set or expertise, ensuring that customers are connected to the most qualified agents to handle their inquiries.

Agent awareness, call center size, campaign management, abandon rate, and pacing algorithm are the five steps in which predictive dialers operate.
 

• Pacing Algorithm: It adjusts the dialing speed to maximize agent productivity and minimize wait times for agents and customers.
• Abandon Rate: It measures the percentage of calls that are connected but not answered by an agent.
• Campaign Management and Call Center Size: Predictive dialers manage campaigns with specific goals, such as sales, surveys, or customer follow-ups, where they collect the list of contacts and scripts for agents to follow.
• Agent Awareness: When a call is connected to an agent, the dialer provides information on call details like name, previous interactions, and account details through screen pops.
• A Little History: A little history provides context for the evolution and current capabilities, which have been primarily used in the banking sector, especially in the debt collection sector, for more than 30 years.
   

The power dialer, or a progressive dialer, automatically dials the next number on the list right after an agent finishes a call. This system is great for low-volume businesses that handle fewer calls, but it may not be ideal for complex calls where agents need more preparation time. By reducing silent and abandoned calls, many call centers and businesses use this dialer to enhance customer satisfaction and boost sales through effective follow-up calls.

Here are some key features of a progressive dialer.
 

1. Global Connect
   This features helps agents to connect with contacts worldwide efficiently, ensuring they call at right times in respecting time zones. It makes global communication smoother, allowing businesses to serve customers better across the world and improve overall sales performance.
    
2. Call Recording
   Call recording helps to record each of your numbers for quality assurance and training purposes. This helps managers to monitor agent's performance as a team and use the recording for coaching and improvement.
    
3. Call Transfer
   Progressive dialers allow agents to transfer calls to the appropriate departments to help customers with their questions or issues. This ensures that customers get the help they need quickly and efficiently.
    
4. Call Queuing
   By organizing incoming calls into a queue, it makes sure that agents respond to calls sequentially. Customers will wait less and this maximizes agent productivity through effective call handling.
    
5. Smart Switch
   Calls are automatically managed and prioritized by progressive dialers according to preset rules. By guaranteeing that agents attend to the most critical calls first, this optimizes agent workflow and raises customer satisfaction and overall efficiency.

Progressive dialer dials customer phone numbers from the pre-defined list at a time, so each time an agent finishes a call, the next lead will be automatically dialed or queued up for the agent to initiate the call. After that, it displays the contact information on the agent’s screen before automatically placing the call. The system detects if the call is answered by a human or an answering machine. This minimizes the agents' time spent waiting for a call or dealing with unanswered calls.
 

Both predictive dialer and progressive dialer automate the process of dialing customer numbers; however, their dialing method, agent utilization, contact management, compliance, and regulations differ.

• Predictive Dialer:  An automated phone dialer that uses advanced algorithms to determine when to place calls based on its analysis of historical data and other factors, such as current traffic.
• Progressive Dialer: Operates differently than predictive callers in that it makes only one call at a time, checking agent availability before making more calls.

• Predictive Dialer: Designed to maximize the efficiency of outbound calls by automatically calculating how many calls should be placed at any given time.
• Progressive Dialer: Dials numbers sequentially as agents become available to ensure a steady flow of calls without overwhelming agents.

• Predictive Dialer: Typically more expensive to set up initially and can scale well in environments with high call volumes.
• Progressive Dialer: It has a lower initial setup cost and is suitable for environments where maintaining a steady flow of calls without overwhelming agents is important.
   

The table below showcases the differences between predictive dialers and progressive dialers.
 

• Increased Call Volumes: It helps to increase the call rate by dialing multiple lines simultaneously, skipping busy signals and unanswered calls,
• Profitable gains: Predictive dialers decrease agent idle time by optimizing call connections, which raises productivity and may even increase income.
• Improve Efficiency: By streamlining the calling process and cutting down on the amount of time agents must wait between calls, these tools free up more time for agents to speak with more clients.
• AI-empowered calling: Predictive dialers optimize call distribution and boost overall efficacy by using AI to monitor call trends and agent performance.

• Dropped calls: Receiving many calls at once may result in missed calls or dropped calls, which can cause frustration.
• Risk of Call Abandonment: Predictive dialers negatively affect the customer experience by putting someone on the phone before the person is prepared to answer it.
• Complex setup and maintenance: The setup and maintenance of predictive dialers can be difficult, requiring specific knowledge to establish the system and handle technical problems.
• Agent burnout: Receiving a high volume of calls can increase agent stress and burnout. The continuous flow of calls can lead to stress and decreased job satisfaction.

• Boosts productivity: It increases agent productivity by connecting agents to phone numbers in a systematic and sequential manner.
• Decreased call abandonment: It reduces call abandonment by dialing numbers sequentially as agents become available, ensuring customers are connected to agents promptly.
• Valuable insights: It offers call recording and monitoring capabilities, providing detailed analytics on campaign performance.
• Better productivity: Progressive dialers reduce waiting times by screening out unanswered calls and automating the calling process.

• Low Agent Productivity: Progressive dialers dial numbers sequentially, leading to downtime between calls and potentially reducing agent efficiency compared to predictive dialers.
• Limited Scalability: It can be less efficient in high-volume situations because they dial numbers one by one as agents become available.
• Regulatory compliance risks: It may not always comply with regulations like Do Not Call lists or call attempt limits, as they lack real-time control over call pacing, potentially leading to legal issues for organizations.
• Less Flexibility in Call Handling: This dialer may struggle to adjust to changes in how many calls need to be made when agents are free, which can affect their ability to keep up with shifting campaign needs.

Choosing between predictive and progressive dialers optimizes business communication strategies. Progressive dialers automatically dial numbers as agents become available, while predictive dialers use sophisticated algorithms to predict agent availability and dial multiple numbers simultaneously.
 

Calilio has an auto-dialer system that allows you to make phone calls with both predictive and progressive dialers. Sign Up with Calilio today to optimize your call center operations and drive better results.

The difference between predictive dialers and autodialers is that predictive dialers use algorithms to predict the best time to make a call based on call volume, duration, and other factors. Auto dialers automate the dialing process and route calls to available agents.

The disadvantages of a predictive dialer are dropped calls, the risk of call abandonment, and complex setup and maintenance.

The best dialer for a call center depends on its size, the type of calls (inbound or outbound), budget, call volume, agent skills, and compliance needs.