What Is An Abandoned Call?
An abandoned call occurs when multiple numbers are dialed with contacts answering live, but not enough agents are available to connect with every answered call. For example, if three numbers are dialed, and three contacts answered, if an agent takes one call and no other agents are available, then the remaining two calls are classified as “abandoned”. This happens for many reasons, but we’ll focus on two main reasons: Customer Data and Caller IDs
Customer Data and Caller IDs
Customer data comes in all shapes and sizes. As data is used, and recycled, returns begin to diminish for the most part. This may come in the form of increased voicemails, busy, failed, and other no answer dispositions.
This is also true when using caller IDs too heavily. Smartphones now have the ability to block calls, while phone carriers can flag caller IDs they deem as “spam.” These are good reasons to have a large pool of numbers and rotate caller ID groups/strategies on campaigns to keep usage low.
Combine both cases and the result is decreased live answers, increased Wait Time and the perceived notion that the campaign is “running slow.” The tendency is to increase the Channels Per Agent on the campaign, causing the campaign to run harder. If/when too many numbers are dialed, and if not enough agents are available to field calls, the abandon rate goes up.
Four Solutions To Solve High Abandon Rates
Solution 1 – Data Cool Off Period
It’s important to manage data, and caller IDs, with an awareness that they can become quickly overused. Allowing for an extended “cooling” period can help mitigate the decrease in live answers. This can easily be done with tags. Tags are labels used to identify contacts as being part of specific groupings. They are used to section data off for certain contact arrangements, which makes it useful for data management.
For example, if a contact with a high Consecutive No Contact Attempt or a high Total Outbound Calls count with a last call disposition set as “Not Interested”, it may be reasonable to tag them as “cold,” or what ever tag description clarifies this contact’s designation to take a break. Perhaps setting these contacts aside for a month or two may help get better responses. As data begins to flow back into buckets or live filters, it’s important to keep an eye on future results to help further manage and optimize for better results.
Solution 2 – Evaluate Caller ID Groups and Strategies
The same is true about caller IDs. While caller IDs cannot be tagged, they can be added or removed from caller ID groups and strategies. Having different sets of groups and/or strategies, and rotating them, can help keep a low daily and overall caller ID count. This helps lower the possibility of recognition from repetitive caller IDs.
Be aware of caller ID reputation. This feature helps managers identify caller IDs that have been flagged by carriers. If caller IDs are flagged, they may display “spam” or “Telemarketer” on the recipient’s phone. Setting the Max Dials Daily in the low hundreds, as well as having a group specifically designated for the Failover Caller ID Strategy, can help lower the chances of caller ID flagging.
Solution 3 – Set Abandon to “Any Agent”
Another strategy is to set the Abandon Option to “Any Agent.” Essentially, this setup can be thought of as a failover strategy that helps ensure that calls are answered. For example, in the event all agents are on the phone, this setting allows any available agent to receive the call, even if they are not members of or joined to the campaign. This also means if agents are joined to other campaigns, there is the possibility of these calls being sent to them as well.
Solution 4 – Get New Data and Caller IDs
Having new data plus new caller IDs are a primary way to get better results. If campaigns are running with good answer ratios, then they don’t have to run with an elevated Channels Per Agent setting, therefore, minimizing abandoned calls. Of course, having new data and caller IDs shouldn’t garner a set-and-forget approach to running campaigns, but should be supervised with an awareness from the ideas in this article.
Lowering Abandon Rates Is Unique to Every Business
While everyone experiences unique results with different arrangements, experimenting with different data sets and caller ID strategies will be required by managers to achieve the best results. Our expectation is that this article serves as a starting point that guides managers in the right direction.
