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Outbound & dialler planning

Deep-dive lesson · about 12 minutes · short quiz at the end

ccPlanning academy · channel planning · deep dive

Outbound & dialler planning

When you make the calls, the whole planning problem turns inside out.

The big idea

Inbound, you wait for work. Outbound, you create it.

Inbound planning is about having enough agents for demand that arrives. Outbound flips it: the work is a list you choose to call, and the constraint is how efficiently you can connect agents to live, useful conversations. Different problem, different levers entirely.

Dialler modes

Preview, progressive, predictive.

Preview
agent sees record, then dials
Progressive
one dial per free agent
Predictive
over-dials to fill agents

Each trades agent idle time against the risk of calling more people than you have agents for.

The predictive gamble

Dial ahead, and sometimes overshoot.

Predictive diallers ring more numbers than there are free agents, betting that most won’t answer. It maximises talk time — but when too many answer at once, there’s no agent free, and the call is abandoned on the customer. That trade-off is the heart of outbound planning.

The regulatory cap

Abandonment is legally limited.

In the UK, Ofcom caps predictive-dialler abandoned calls at 3% of live calls over a 24-hour period, with a mandatory recorded message on abandonment. Other regions have their own rules. This isn’t a target you choose — it’s a legal ceiling that constrains how aggressively you can dial.

Connect rates

Most dials don’t reach a person.

dials → connects → right party → sale

Plan on the funnel: dials → connects → right-party contacts (RPC) → outcomes.

Right-party connect

RPC is the number that matters.

A connect to an answerphone or the wrong person is wasted. Right-party connect rate — reaching the actual person you wanted — is the real productivity measure. It varies hugely by time of day, list age and data quality, so it must be forecast, not assumed.

List penetration

The work runs out — and the easy contacts go first.

Unlike inbound, an outbound list is finite. Early passes catch the easy-to-reach people; later attempts hit the hard ones, so connect rates fall as you work down a list. Planning has to account for a list ageing and depleting — and for when to retire or refresh it.

Timing & compliance

When you call is half the battle.

RPC peaks at certain hours (often evenings for consumer lists) — but calling windows are also regulated, and time zones matter for national lists. Outbound planning schedules around the hours people answer and the hours you’re allowed to call.

Blending

Outbound as inbound’s release valve.

A classic efficiency play: agents take inbound when it’s busy and switch to outbound (or outbound dialling pauses) when inbound is quiet. Done well, blending soaks up inbound troughs with productive outbound work — but it needs careful real-time control so neither channel is starved.

Why you plan on RPC, not dials

10,000 dials, 600 real conversations

Say 30% of dials connect and half of those reach the right person: 10,000 dials → 3,000 connects → ~600 right-party contacts. Plan agent hours on the 10,000 and you’ll wildly over-staff; plan on the 600 conversations and the AHT they carry, and the numbers work.

And those rates drift — down as the list ages, up in the evening peak. Forecast the funnel, don’t assume it.

The takeaway

Plan the funnel, respect the cap, work the list.

Outbound is about connecting agents to right-party conversations efficiently: choose the dialler mode, stay under the legal abandonment cap, forecast connect and RPC rates, plan for a depleting list, call when people answer, and blend with inbound to mop up troughs.

Now test yourself ↓

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Slides done? Here’s the same idea in a bit more depth — the part worth keeping.

In depth: when you make the calls, the problem turns inside out

Inbound planning is about having enough agents for demand that arrives; outbound flips it entirely — the work is a list you choose to call, and the constraint is how efficiently you can connect agents to live, useful conversations. Different problem, different levers. The dialler mode sets the first trade-off: preview (agent sees the record, then dials), progressive (one dial per free agent), or predictive (over-dials to keep agents busy), each trading agent idle time against the risk of calling more people than you have agents to take.

The predictive gamble and its legal ceiling

Predictive diallers ring more numbers than there are free agents, betting most won’t answer — which maximises talk time but, when too many answer at once, abandons the call on the customer. That trade-off is the heart of outbound planning, and it isn’t purely commercial: in the UK, Ofcom caps predictive-dialler abandoned calls at 3% of live calls over 24 hours with a mandatory recorded message, and other regions have their own rules. It’s a legal ceiling, not a target you choose, and it constrains how aggressively you can dial.

Plan the funnel and the depleting list

Most dials never reach a person, so you plan on the funnel — dials to connects to right-party contacts (RPC) to outcomes — and RPC, reaching the actual person you wanted, is the number that matters, because connects to answerphones are wasted. RPC varies hugely by time of day, list age and data quality, so it must be forecast, not assumed. And unlike inbound, the list is finite: early passes catch the easy-to-reach people and connect rates fall as you work down it, so planning has to account for a list ageing, depleting, and needing refresh. Layer on regulated calling windows and time zones, and blend with inbound as a release valve — agents taking calls when it’s busy, dialling when it’s quiet — with the real-time control to keep neither channel starved.

The principle to remember: plan the funnel, respect the cap, work the list. Choose the dialler mode, stay under the legal abandonment ceiling, forecast connect and RPC rates, plan for a depleting list, call when people answer, and blend with inbound to mop up troughs.

Quick quiz

Five questions. Pick an answer to each, then check your score.

1. How does outbound planning differ fundamentally from inbound?

Inbound waits for work; outbound creates it from a finite list — different levers entirely.

2. What does a predictive dialler do?

It maximises talk time but abandons calls when too many answer at once.

3. What is the UK regulatory limit on predictive-dialler abandoned calls?

It’s a legal ceiling (with a mandatory message) that constrains how aggressively you can dial.

4. Which metric really measures outbound productivity?

A connect to the wrong person or voicemail is wasted — RPC is the real measure, and it must be forecast.

5. What happens to connect rates as you work down a list?

An outbound list is finite and depletes — plan for ageing lists and when to refresh.