Key takeaways
- Connect rate is live conversations divided by total dials: 120 conversations from 1,000 dials is a 12% connect rate.
- In Rapidialer, only the Connected and Callback outcomes count toward the Connected figure in Analytics and each agent’s Reach rate.
- Rapidialer’s list funnels count a contact as Reached when its last outcome is Connected, Callback or Not interested.
- Twilio may add $0.015 per unanswered or six-seconds-or-shorter call when those calls make up 20% or more of a month’s North America calls.
What is connect rate?
Definitions differ, so agree on one before you compare numbers. Some teams count any answered call, voicemail included; others count only conversations with the right person, or with a decision maker. Answer rate (any pickup) is usually higher than connect rate (a live person), and conversion rate measures what happens after the connect, such as meetings booked.
Connect rates fall when lists are stale, numbers are wrong, calls arrive at the wrong time of day, or caller IDs carry spam labels. They rise with fresher data, calls in each contact’s local business hours, a recognizable local number registered with the carriers, and retries spread across different times and days rather than repeated within minutes.
The rate is only as honest as the call dispositions behind it. If one rep logs a receptionist who took a message as a connect and another logs it as No answer, two reps on the same list report different rates. Write down which outcomes count before you set a target, and keep that definition when you compare months.
Common mistakes. Comparing your rate with a figure from a vendor that defines a connect differently. Measuring per contact one week and per dial the next. Celebrating a higher rate that came from calling only the warmest rows. And reading the rate across the whole team, which hides one rep whose caller ID has been labeled.
How do you calculate connect rate?
Divide the dials that reached a live person by all dials in the same period, then multiply by 100. Choose the period, the list and the reps before you count, so the numerator and the denominator cover the same calls.
A second version counts contacts instead of dials: contacts reached at least once, divided by contacts attempted. It answers a different question, how much of the list you have reached, and it rises with every retry while the per-dial rate may fall. Report both, labeled, and you will see when retries are reaching new people and when they are only adding dials.
- Per dial: 96 live conversations ÷ 800 dials = 12%.
- Per contact: 140 contacts reached ÷ 500 contacts attempted = 28%, after up to three attempts each.
- Dials per conversation: 1 ÷ 12% ≈ 8.3, a useful way to plan a day’s volume.
What lowers a connect rate, and how do you raise it?
Most of the levers sit before the dial, in the list, the timing and the caller ID. Change one at a time and compare the same list over the same number of days, or you will not know which change worked.
- Timing: call inside each contact’s local business hours. Rapidialer’s calling hours are checked in the contact’s own time zone, taken from the phone number’s area code.
- Retries: spread attempts across times and days. With a list’s retry rules on, Rapidialer brings No answer contacts back after 4 hours and Voicemail contacts after 24 hours by default.
- Caller ID: a number with the lead’s area code may be answered more often; local presence dialing explains how the match works and what it does not fix.
- Reputation: a number labeled Spam Likely depresses the rate for every call it makes; compare rates by caller ID to find it.
- Data: remove wrong numbers as reps find them; in Rapidialer the Wrong number outcome takes the contact out of the list.
How does Rapidialer measure connect rate?
Rapidialer measures it per call and per contact, and both use your call outcomes. The Analytics page shows a Connected card with its share of total calls, filtered by agent, call direction, outcome and date range. The Team performance table ranks agents by Reached calls and shows each agent’s Reach rate: Connected and Callback outcomes divided by all of that agent’s calls, beside talk time, average call length, callbacks set and follow-ups done.
List funnels count contacts, not calls: Attempted, Reached, Qualified and Won for each list. Reached includes a Not interested outcome as well, since someone picked up, so a list’s Reached share is higher than the agents’ Reach rate on the same calls. See call analytics for the full set of reports.
What does each connect cost on Twilio?
Count every dial, not only the conversations, because unanswered calls can cost money too. Take 1,000 dials at a 12% connect rate: 120 conversations averaging three billed minutes, 300 voicemail greetings at one billed minute each, and 580 calls that ring out. That is 660 billed minutes at $0.0140 for the phone leg, $0.0040 for the browser leg and $0.0025 for recording (Twilio voice pricing), or about $13.53.
The 580 unanswered calls are 58% of the month’s dials, well past the 20% threshold in Twilio’s North America terms, so Twilio may add $0.015 on each, about $8.70 (Twilio terms). If Twilio applies it, the Twilio cost is about $22.23, or roughly 19 cents per conversation, plus the $5 per seat a month Rapidialer charges. A better connect rate lowers both lines; the call cost calculator runs the minutes for your own volume.
Connect rate in Rapidialer
Rapidialer reports this as reach rate: calls logged Connected or Callback, divided by all calls, for each rep on the team leaderboard. List funnels also count a Not interested answer as reaching the contact, since someone picked up. See call analytics. Because the figures come from the outcome a rep saves in wrap-up, and Power Dial does not start the next call until an outcome is saved, every call made through the Dialer lands in the denominator.
Related terms
- Call dispositionThe label recorded when a call ends, such as connected, no answer or callback.
- Local presence dialingShowing a caller ID with the same area code as the person being called.
- Parallel dialerA dialer that rings several numbers at once for one rep and connects the first person who answers.
Connect rate: questions and answers
What is a good connect rate for cold calls?
A good connect rate for cold calls varies widely with the list, the industry and how numbers were sourced, so published benchmarks rarely transfer, and connect rate benchmarks differ in what they count. Track your own rate by list and by caller ID, and judge changes against your own baseline over the same number of days.
What is the difference between connect rate and answer rate?
Answer rate counts any call that was picked up, including voicemail greetings and automated attendants. Connect rate counts only calls that reached a live person, and some teams count only the right person. Answer rate is therefore higher, and a gap between the two shows how much of the list goes to voicemail rather than unanswered.
Does a voicemail count as a connect?
A voicemail does not count as a connect in most definitions, because no live person was reached. In Rapidialer the Voicemail outcome is counted as neither a connect nor a reached contact, and with retry rules on the contact comes back after 24 hours by default for another attempt at a live conversation.
How many dials does it take to get one conversation?
Divide one by your connect rate. At a 10% connect rate a rep needs about 10 dials per conversation; at 5% it takes about 20. Plan daily volume from that figure: a rep who needs 8 conversations a day at a 10% connect rate needs about 80 dials, plus time for the conversations themselves.
Does a parallel dialer raise the connect rate?
A parallel dialer raises conversations per hour, not the connect rate per dial. It rings several numbers per rep at once, so the rep waits less, but each dial is still answered at the same rate, and people who answer while the rep is busy are dropped. Rapidialer dials one line per rep, so its rate is per call placed.
Why is my reach rate lower than my list funnel’s Reached share?
Rapidialer’s Reach rate counts calls, with only Connected and Callback as reached, while list funnels count contacts and also treat Not interested as reached. A contact dialed three times and reached once adds three calls to the denominator of Reach rate but one contact to the funnel, so the two figures answer different questions.