Power Dialer vs. Progressive Dialer vs. Predictive Dialer – Which Auto Dialer is Right for My Team?

The dialer you choose can make or break your campaign. Beyond your skilled team of agents, it is the most important factor in maximizing efficiency while balancing your campaign goals. For example, using a preview dialer for a high-volume, outbound, leads acquisition campaign is like trying to eat soup with a fork – you can do it, but it’ll lead to frustration and take forever. On the flip side, using a progressive dialer for a low-volume, high answer rate upsell campaign is like trying to eat soup with a ladle – also possible, but it’ll cause you to spill over the sides and make a mess. Understanding the differences between each dialer and the scenarios where each excels can help you select the right one and crush your campaign goals.

Overview of Outbound Auto Dialers

Outbound auto dialers automatically place outbound calls to contacts based on predefined or dynamic rules, without agents having to manually look up and select a contact to dial. 

There are 4 types of auto dialers used by teams of human agents:

Preview Dialer: In this type of dialing, the agent gets a preview of the call, including relevant customer context like profile information and campaign goal, before deciding to place the call. Agents have time to prepare before the conversation. 

Power Dialer: With power dialing, agents are automatically connected to the call as it starts dialing. As soon as an agent is available, the system will place the next call and connect them to it immediately. This gives agents little to no time to prep for the call.

Progressive Dialer: With progressive dialers, a preconfigured number of calls (e.g., 2 calls per agent) are placed on behalf of each available agent, and an automated machine detection algorithm (AMD) is used to categorize calls as answered or unanswered by a human. Answered calls are automatically connected to agents whereas unanswered calls are completed by the system and bypass agents entirely. Human-answered calls that cannot be connected to an agent contribute to the campaign’s abandon rate which is subject to regulatory restrictions.

Predictive Dialer: Predictive dialers are advanced progressive dialers that dynamically predict the number of calls placed per agent in real time. This number optimizes for agents being available to connect with contacts not necessarily when the call is placed, but by the time the contact picks up, and is determined by historical call data such as answer rate, abandon rate, and staffing. 

There are 2 additional types of outbound campaigns that are sometimes included in the conversation about dialers, although they are less about dialing method and more about who is having the conversation:

Agentless: Agentless campaigns connect contacts to a bot that plays a pre-recorded message, rather than a human agent, upon pickup. They are commonly used for sending appointment reminders or personalized notifications. While contacts may have the option to connect to an agent, most agentless dials are one-sided and fully managed by the system.

AI Agents: Dialers that support AI Agents can place a nearly unlimited number of calls on behalf of each AI Agent. Contacts are connected to an AI Agent trained with the company mission and campaign goals, and can be given the option to be transferred to a human agent once qualified or upon request. Calls that are not answered by the contact are handled by the system.

*This is clearly not legal advice, but we don’t believe our dialer to be an ATDS as defined under the TCPA.

Dialer Superlatives: Where Does Each Dialer Excel?

Best customer experience: Preview Dialer

Preview dialers are optimized for lower-volume, personalized conversations. Since agents have an opportunity before the call to review contact details and history, ensure they are the best person to handle the conversation, and craft an effective talk track, contacts are guaranteed to connect with agents who understand their custom needs and are ready to support them. However, the time required for preparation means that agents can only complete a handful of calls per hour, and low answer rates can result in hours of wasted time. 

If your team is doing repetitive calls for the same campaign, and advanced review of the customer context is nonessential, use a Power Dialer. 

Most efficient: Predictive Dialer 

With the same staffing and in the same timeframe, predictive dialers can complete more calls and generate more conversations than any other dialer. The secret to their efficiency lies in their ability to automate handling of machine calls (which constitute the majority of calls) and place multiple calls on behalf of agents so that an agent is available as soon as a contact picks up. While these dialers take abandon rate into account, their consideration of various factors when determining how many calls to place can make them less predictable and consequently higher-maintenance. They require minimum team sizes of 50 to 100 agents, calls of consistent and predictable length, and a very tight distribution of answer rates to accurately predict when and how many calls to place. 

For teams that don't meet that criteria, you can achieve similar efficiency and more predictability around the number of calls placed by using a Progressive Dialer. 

‍Cheapest: Agentless

The most expensive line item when running a phone campaign is agent headcount. Agentless dialers remove this line item, enabling you to reach customers with pre-recorded appointment reminders, survey questions, and payment notices without requiring a human or AI agent to intelligently handle the contacts’ response. Not needing an agent allows you to target contacts exactly at the time they want to be called, even if it's outside your teams’ business hours or no agents are available. Agentless calls are as cheap as they come, but you get what you pay for – they are very limited in the types of outreach they can execute. Due to their one-sided nature, these calls do little to build customer trust or advance leads through the sales funnel. 

For lower cost savings, but higher quality customer conversations, use AI Agents.

Most Cost-effective: AI Agents

AI Agents offer the biggest bang for your buck. While not as cheap as Agentless campaigns, they are much more powerful, with an ability to engage contacts in personalized, revenue-generating conversations. Unlike progressive or predictive dialers where each contact is connected to a human agent, contacts are first connected to AI Agents then transferred to a human agent only when necessary. This reduces staffing and training costs, as AI agents can be trained via editable text prompts and historical data, improving over time. While AI provides high-quality care, it doesn’t build relationships as effectively as humans and can make mistakes or lack insight. For this reason, AI Agents are best used for simple conversations – to qualify customers or reschedule appointments – with human agents available for more complex interactions or upon request.

For next-best efficiency with higher costs, use a Predictive Dialer. 

Choosing a Dialer 

Consider the following factors to determine which dialer is best suited to your campaign:

Campaign Strategy

Your campaign strategy – whether it be high-volume lead acquisition or targeted nurturing – is crucial in picking an appropriate outbound dialer. Progressive and predictive dialers are built for high volume sales campaigns with low answer rates due to their efficiency in reaching many leads quickly. These campaigns require the most oversight since they have minimum staffing requirements and are subject to additional FTC regulations. For retention campaigns, or low to medium volume sales campaigns with higher answer rates, the efficiency of these dialers doesn’t justify the maintenance. In these cases, using a preview or power dialer is more effective. 

Lead Value & Complexity

With high-value leads, the cost of abandoning a lead is significant. Preview dialers are best suited for these leads as they benefit from personalized conversations that require agent preparation. For medium-value leads, a power dialer is more suitable, as it eliminates the possibility of abandoned calls and requires minimal prep time, allowing agents to complete more calls per hour. For low-value leads with low intent, the risk of abandoned calls and less personalized conversations is worth the reward of greater reach. Progressive, predictive, and AI dialers are built to reach as many of these contacts as possible to maximize the chance that some will convert into higher-intent leads or paying customers. 

Agent Workflow

Agent workflows vary drastically by dialer type. In preview call campaigns, agents have preparation time before connecting with contacts. Since they have control over which calls they accept, they’re able to handle multiple call types (e.g., scheduled callbacks, inbound calls) and asynchronous tasks (e.g., sending SMS, updating CRM) while staffing the campaign. Conversely, in progressive and predictive campaigns, agents are automatically connected to contacts and must handle conversations without prep time. For maximum efficiency, agents are served outbound calls back-to-back, making progressive and predictive dialer campaigns best suited for teams that can focus exclusively on campaign calls for a dedicated shift.

Team Size

If you’re just starting your outbound efforts and don’t have a large team of agents, it’s easiest to get started with a preview or power dialer, as these have no minimum staffing needs and require little maintenance. Progressive and predictive dialers necessitate at least 10 or 50 agents, respectively, to be managed successfully and keep risk for abandoned calls low. For simple calls, such as booking appointments, leverage AI Agents to multiply the reach of every human agent on your team.  

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Make The Call Today

With easy-to-set-up A/B tests in journeys, the Regal Platform allows you to quickly experiment with different dialers to inform your business decision of which dialer is best suited for each of your campaigns.

Ready to get started? Request a demo today.

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