What is a preview dialer?

What is preview dialer?

In a manual preview, the call waits until the agent presses Call, so a rep can spend as long as they need reading the account. In a timed preview, sometimes called progressive dialing, the dialer places the call automatically after a set number of seconds, which keeps the pace up while still giving a moment to read.

Preview dialing fits calls where context changes the conversation: high-value B2B accounts, renewals, warm callbacks and any list where the rep should mention something specific. It is also the most conservative mode from a compliance point of view, because a call is only placed when a person chooses to place it.

A useful preview is short. Show the fields a rep will actually use in the first sentence: the contact’s name and company, the last outcome and when it happened, the notes from the previous call, and the contact’s local time. Anything else, such as a full activity history, belongs one click away, or reps spend the hour reading.

Common mistakes. Using preview mode on a cold list of thousands, where there is nothing to read and the pause only costs dials. Letting the preview turn into research, so a rep spends four minutes on a company before a call that lasts twenty seconds. And previewing without a plan: if the notes say the lead asked about pricing, the opener should mention pricing. A simple rule helps: read the notes, pick the first line, press Call.

How does a preview dialer work step by step?

A preview dialer runs the same loop for every contact: take the next record from the queue, show it, wait for the agent, place the call, then record the result. The difference from other modes is the wait in the middle, which the agent ends.

The queue step matters on a team. When two reps work the same list, the dialer has to hand each contact to one rep only. Rapidialer claims the contact for the rep who loaded it, and the rep’s Dialer checks in every 30 seconds; a claim with no check-in for 5 minutes is released back to the queue, so a closed laptop does not strand a lead.

• Load: the next callable contact, skipping anyone on the Do Not Call list or outside calling hours.
• Preview: the lead card and, if one is attached, the talk track.
• Call: the rep presses Call, or the countdown ends in power mode.
• Wrap up: an outcome (required), notes, a follow-up time and lead temperature.

Preview dialer vs power dialer: when should you use each?

Use preview mode when the record changes what you will say, and power mode when it does not. A list of 40 warm callbacks, where each lead asked a question last time, rewards 30 seconds of reading per contact: that is 20 minutes of preparation across the session, and each call opens with the answer to the lead’s question.

A cold list of 300 homeowners with only a name and a number is the opposite. Thirty seconds of reading per row would add two and a half hours to the session for no change in the opener. There, power dialing and its five-second countdown is enough preview, and a rep can still cancel the countdown when a record needs a closer look.

Is preview dialing manual dialing under the TCPA?

The TCPA rules have no “manual dialing” category, but preview dialing sits furthest from the autodialer definition, because a person decides to place each call. The Supreme Court read that definition narrowly in Facebook v. Duguid, as equipment that uses a random or sequential number generator. That does not make every call lawful. The rules about who you call and when apply whatever the dialing mode.

Under the FCC’s rules, telemarketing calls to residential numbers are limited to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time, numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry are off limits without an exemption, and requests to stop calling must be honored (47 CFR 64.1200). This is general information, not legal advice.

If the Dialer has no contact to preview

An empty queue in Rapidialer says why it is empty, and each message points to a setting.

• “Everyone left is waiting for a retry”: the list’s retry rules hold No answer and Voicemail contacts for their delay, 4 and 24 hours by default.
• “Remaining contacts are outside this list’s calling hours”: change the window under List settings, Dialing rules, or come back later.
• “No follow-ups are due right now”: the follow-up queue only shows callbacks whose time has come.
• “No more callable contacts in this list”: every contact has been called, closed or blocked; import more contacts to keep going.

Preview dialer in Rapidialer

With Power Dial switched off, Rapidialer works as a preview dialer: it loads the next contact and waits for you to press Call. With power dialing on, a five-second countdown gives a brief preview before each call, which you can cancel or skip. Either way the lead card shows the contact’s name and company, last outcome, last attempt, last notes, local time and recent calls, and a talk track can pull the name, company and last notes into the opener. The Power dial checkbox sits in the Dialer, so a rep can untick it to preview a short list of warm callbacks, then tick it again for a cold list. Contacts outside the list’s calling hours are held back in both modes.

Related terms

• Predictive dialerA dialer that calls several numbers per available agent, predicting when agents will be free.
• Progressive dialerA dialer that places the next call automatically when an agent becomes free, one line per agent.
• Call dispositionThe label recorded when a call ends, such as connected, no answer or callback.

Preview dialer: questions and answers