Key takeaways
- A browser call to a US number costs $0.0140 a minute on the phone leg plus $0.0040 on the browser leg, rounded up to whole minutes.
- Three reps at about 1,000 billed minutes each pay about $64.95 a month to Twilio and $15 for seats; ten pay $216.50 and $50.
- Connecting needs a paid Twilio account with at least one voice number, plus its Account SID and Auth Token.
- Telemarketing calls to US consumers are limited to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the called person’s local time.
What Twilio’s Voice API leaves you to build
- Twilio’s Voice API places calls, but there is no call list, agent screen or outcome tracking until someone builds it.
- Every rule a sales team needs, such as calling hours, a Do Not Call list and retries, is another piece of custom code to maintain.
- Call status events have to be stored and joined to leads before anyone can report on connect rates.
- Developers who build the first version are rarely around to maintain it when Twilio’s APIs change.
Outbound calling in Rapidialer, step by step
Connect Twilio
Paste your Account SID and Auth Token and sync the numbers you call from.
Import and set rules
Upload a CSV list, then set calling hours in the contact’s time zone and retry rules for unanswered calls.
Call
Reps work the list in the browser with Power Dial, a talk track on screen and your Do Not Call list enforced on every dial.
Review
Analytics, call history and recordings show what happened, by rep and by list.
What does Twilio provide, and what does a dialer add?
Twilio provides the phone numbers, the connection to the phone network, recordings and status events. A Twilio dialer adds the people side: who to call next, what to say, what happened, and when to try again.
- From Twilio: numbers, outbound and inbound voice, call recording, and status for every call leg.
- From Rapidialer: CSV lists and queues, the browser softphone, Power Dial, talk tracks, outcomes, follow-ups, a Do Not Call list, calling hours, a lead pipeline and analytics.
What do outbound calls cost on Twilio?
At Twilio’s published US rates, a call from the browser to a US number costs $0.0140 per minute for the phone leg plus $0.0040 for the browser leg, and partial minutes round up. Cold calling has another line to plan for: a possible surcharge on unanswered and very short calls. The guide to Twilio calling costs walks through a full month.
A quick month for one rep with 1,000 billed minutes: $14 for the phone leg, $4 for the browser leg, $2.50 for recording and $1.15 for a local number comes to $21.65 on your Twilio bill, plus the $5 Rapidialer seat. Three reps on the same pattern pay about $64.95 to Twilio and $15 for seats, $79.95 in all; ten reps pay $216.50 and $50, or $266.50 (Twilio US voice pricing). The Twilio call cost calculator runs your own numbers.
How do you prepare a Twilio account for outbound calls?
Upgrade from trial, own a voice number, allow the countries you call and copy two credentials, all in the Twilio Console. Then Save & provision on Rapidialer’s Telephony page creates one API key and one TwiML app and points each synced number’s voice webhook at Rapidialer; nothing else in the account changes.
- Upgrade from trial. A trial account can only call numbers you have verified (Twilio trial limits).
- Own at least one voice number. Rapidialer will not provision an account with no numbers. Buy a local number in the area code you call most.
- Allow the countries you call. Voice geographic permissions decide which destinations your account can reach (Twilio geo permissions).
- Copy the Account SID and Auth Token from the Console. Anyone holding both has full access to the account, so paste them only into Rapidialer’s Telephony page, which only owners and admins can open (Twilio Help Center).
Why won’t the first outbound call go through?
First calls usually fail on unsaved credentials, a missing default number, geo permissions or the microphone. The fix for each:
- The Telephony page says “Setup needed.” Credentials were not saved. Paste them again and press Save & provision; an account with no numbers is refused with “No Twilio phone numbers were found in this account.”
- The rep hears “No outbound phone number is configured.” Set a default number on the Telephony page or give the rep a line on the Team page.
- International calls fail. The country is not allowed in your geo permissions; Twilio logs warning 13227 for these calls (Twilio error 13227).
- The browser asks for the microphone, or nobody hears the rep. Allow mic access in the browser’s site settings and pick the headset as the input.
Why are outbound Twilio calls going to spam, and does Voice Integrity help?
Outbound sales calls get a “Spam Likely” label when carrier analytics vendors see a number place many short or unanswered calls. Twilio Voice Integrity is the fix Twilio offers: you register your US numbers in Trust Hub, under Registrations → Voice Integrity, and Twilio submits them to the carriers’ analytics vendors, who review them and may update the label (Twilio Voice Integrity docs). It needs a Trust Hub business profile first. A2P 10DLC, by contrast, is a texting registration that numbers used only for calls don’t need (register it if you also text from Rapidialer), as the guide to Twilio numbers for cold calling explains.
Register before a cold-calling campaign rather than after the first complaint, because a label is slower to remove than to avoid. Then use local numbers with a local presence dialer and keep the volume per number reasonable. Rapidialer’s Caller ID health view flags numbers whose answer rate drops far below the team’s, and optional caller-ID rotation spreads unmatched calls across your numbers while skipping flagged ones; if labels appear anyway, work through why Twilio calls show as Spam Likely.
Rapidialer calls only from numbers bought in or ported into your Twilio account. It can’t use Twilio Verified Caller IDs, so a personal mobile you verified in the Console will not appear as a caller ID option.
The calling rules that apply to sales calls
Twilio connects the call; the rules about who you call, and when, are yours to follow. For telemarketing calls to US consumers, the basics come from the FTC’s Telemarketing Sales Rule and the FCC’s TCPA rules in 47 CFR 64.1200, and many states add their own. This is general information, not legal advice:
- Calling hours: no telemarketing calls before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the called person’s local time (16 CFR 310.4). Some states set narrower windows or limit weekend calls.
- Do-not-call: check consumer lists against the National Do Not Call Registry, and keep an internal list of everyone who asks you to stop calling.
- Caller ID: show a number you own, one that people can call back to ask not to be called. Carriers sign it under the FCC’s STIR/SHAKEN framework.
- Recorded voices: telemarketing calls that play a prerecorded or artificial voice need the person’s prior express written consent. Rapidialer only connects live reps.
How Rapidialer supports those rules
You can switch on calling hours by time zone for each list, starting from a 9:00 to 20:00, Monday-to-Friday window that you can change, and Rapidialer checks it in each contact’s time zone. The Do Not Call list blocks listed numbers when a call is placed and again when Twilio asks for call instructions. National registry scrubbing is not built in, so scrub consumer lists before you import them.
The features behind it
- Power DialSequential power dialing: the next contact is dialed after each wrap-up and a five-second countdown.
- Call outcomesCall dispositions in one click, with custom outcome buttons that can move a lead to a pipeline stage.
- Calling hoursPer-list calling windows checked in each contact’s own time zone.
- Do Not Call listAn organization-wide internal Do Not Call list that blocks outbound calls to listed numbers.
Teams that use it this way
- Small businessesHow owners, solo sellers and small teams set up outbound calling in Rapidialer.
- Insurance agentsHow insurance agents and agencies work fresh and aged leads, callbacks and quotes in Rapidialer.
Twilio outbound calling: questions and answers
Do I need a developer to make outbound calls with Twilio?
Not with Rapidialer. You connect your account with two credentials and work entirely in the browser. You only need code if you want to build your own dialer on Twilio’s APIs; how to make outbound calls with Twilio compares the three approaches.
Can I call international numbers?
Rapidialer can dial international numbers in E.164 format, and reps working from outside the US can call US numbers from the browser at the US destination rate. Whether the call connects depends on your Twilio account’s voice geographic permissions, which you control in the Twilio Console. Twilio bills each country at its own per-minute rate, often higher than the US rate, so check Twilio’s pricing page for the destination before a campaign.
Is cold calling allowed on Twilio?
Cold calling on Twilio is subject to both Twilio’s acceptable use policy and the law where you call. For US consumers that means the TCPA and the Telemarketing Sales Rule: honor do-not-call requests, call between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time, and get consent where the rules require it. This is general information; ask counsel if you are unsure.
How long does it take to start outbound calling on Twilio with Rapidialer?
With an upgraded Twilio account that already owns a voice number, setup takes minutes: an owner pastes the Account SID and Auth Token on the Telephony page, presses Save & provision, and imports a CSV. Reps can call from the browser as soon as they sign in. Buying a number or registering it in Trust Hub can add time on the Twilio side.
Does Rapidialer add a markup to Twilio outbound minutes?
No. Rapidialer runs on your own Twilio account, so Twilio bills every outbound minute, number and recording to you directly at its published rates. Rapidialer charges only for seats: $5 per seat a month or $49 per seat a year, with a 14-day free trial and no card required.
Can Rapidialer make outbound calls from several numbers?
Yes. Rapidialer syncs up to 200 voice numbers from your Twilio account. Each call goes out from the caller ID the rep picked, a number sharing the lead’s area code when local presence is on, the rep’s assigned line, or the organization’s default number, in that order.