What are the causes for long wait times in ContactNow?

Data that has a low contact rate

The data you imported will be deemed as low contact rate data if it has a low answer rate. This can be caused by connecting to too many Answer Machines. The dialer will detect Dead Lines due to carrier problems or the number/device being out of service, or No Answers due to customers not picking up.

When the dialer is in predictive and progressive mode then it will make calls depending on how many agents are available and when it predicts the agents will be ready for another call. If the dialer experiences periods of low contact rate data it will need to make more calls before it can reach a live customer to pass to an agent. While this happens agents will wait in Available. You can monitor the amount of outbound calls being made by the dialer on the Wallboard.

To view your wallboard hover over the Analytics icon and select Wallboard.

High rate of Abandoned calls

The dialer is designed to slow down when the number of calls abandoned goes above 3 per cent of all calls made for the day on each queue. This reduces the amount of predictive calls being made and can cause agents to wait longer for another call to be passed to them.

If the abandon rate becomes too high the predictive dialing mode will automatically switch to progressive. This is so the dialer can make calls knowing an agent is available to take them. When the abandon rate drops back down the dialer will automatically switch back to predictive.

Available Later

The data that is displayed as Available Now indicates how many records are immediately available. Data that is showing as Available Later indicates how many records have a call back set for the future. This could be because an agent has set a scheduled callback, or the customer could not be contacted, and the dialer has applied a retry try to the record (Answer Machine, Dead Line, No answer).

To view your data hover over the Data icon and select Dataset Management. 

Ensure the right campaign is selected.

When you hover over the progress bar you will be able to see the status of your live data.

If there is data that is Available Later the dialler will only call these records, only after the callback time has passed. 

Data that displays as Available Later may be causing high wait times as the records as of yet cannot be redialled. The retry times set on the outbound queue will determine when they become available again to be dialled and they will then be displayed as Available Now.

To set or edit retry times for an outbound queue hover over the Configuration icon, select Agents, Teams and Queues and then go to the Queues tab. 

Click the gear icon of the outbound queue from the right hand side and select Edit. Then go to the Retry Times tab. 

You will now be able to change the time between calls within Ofcom regulations (No answer, Busy, Dead line, Answer Machine and Abandon).

Data dialing in the background

The data may be dialing in the background if the the dialing mode is set to Predictive. To check which dialing mode your outbound queue is set to hover over the Configuration icon, select Agents, Teams and Queues and then select the Queues tab. Click the gear icon on the right hand side of the queue you wish to edit. 

Then select the Settings tab, and check to see if it is set to Predictive.

To check to see whether the dataset is dialing hover over the Analytics icon and select Calls. You can filter and generate a tailored report by the call cost column to display calls with the highest charge at the top of the table.

Unavailable Agents

The dialer will be most efficient when agents spend as little time in idle or disposition as possible. To check the status of your Agents, go to your dashboard and view the Agents in status widget to get an overview of all your Agent’s statuses. 

Force agent available will force your agents into available when they log in, and after every call.