Predictive vs Progressive Dialer: Differences You Need To Know 

The main types of dialers include progressive dialer, predictive dialer, power dialer, and finally, preview dialers. All of them have their unique advantages and features that make them more suitable for different purposes and types of outbound call campaigns. Nonetheless, many people don’t want to buy all four types of automatic dialers, but only one that will fully cover their business needs and requirements. 

So, we think that the most dramatic battle is the predictive vs progressive dialer, as these two are the most popular and the most effective auto dialers for telemarketing, and these auto dialers are designed to generate real sales. And the main question is - what is the difference between the predictive and progressive dialer, and what is more suitable for your business - predictive dialer vs progressive dialer?

So, here we go.

What are outbound call center dialers?

Outbound dialers for the call center are automated software tools that use different algorithms to automate and optimize the processes concerning outbound calling, including telemarketing campaigns, lead generation, old contact lists updating, debt collection, customer feedback collection, and so on. In other words, an auto dialer is a tool that eliminates the need to dial customer phone numbers manually, which means that the overall performance of sales teams and the entire outbound calling campaign is greatly improved. 

Outbound dialers, as we have already mentioned, differ in four main types. Every single type of dialer has its own name - Progressive dialer, Power dialer, Predictive dialer, and Preview dialer. There is such a difference between them because of the need to use different dialing ratios (a number of phone numbers called at the same time) and dialing algorithms to deal with different tasks. 

Before we will begin discussing each of these auto dialers, let’s focus on a few vital things: all auto dialers can identify unsuccessful calls (unanswered calls) and invalid calls (out of the zone, busy signals, answering machines, users who put you in a black list, and so on), all auto dialers have integrated call scripts, all of them can run a few calling campaigns at the same time, and all of these tools can generate and provide detailed real-time dashboards with important statistics about the campaign performance. 

Let us describe each auto dialer separately. 

Preview dialer

Preview dialer is known as the “slowest” auto dialer available, but this is not the right point to focus on. By the way, the main goal of the preview dialer isn’t to perform outbound calls as fast as possible, it is designed to serve absolutely distinct purposes. The main advantage of the preview dialer is to provide as client-oriented and personalized service as possible, and here is why it is so - preview dialer offers an option to check a customer card with all data about previous transactions, customer interactions, purchase history, feedback history, and other info to let agent prepare well for each conversation. So, the preview dialer works in the following way: you import a contact list, involve one agent in a calling campaign, and the system starts dialing each phone number from the list in order with an option for an agent to choose whether to call or not every single contact. Additionally, there is a simple explanation why the preview dialer can’t be used for telemarketing purposes - it is used for warm bases, especially in niches where the quality of the service and customer experience, and customer service personalization play the primary role in generating cross sales, resolving conflict situations and customer issues, and convincing clients to make a final positive decision about buying a product or service. Preview dialer can perform over 50 dials per hour, with over 50% of success rate if low or mid-quality contact lists are used. Nonetheless, in most cases, the preview dialer is used for high-quality lead bases (because of obvious reasons we have already described above), so the answer rate may reach even higher than 75%. Moreover, the pace of dialing 50 dials per hour is still faster than manual dialing with an average calling speed of 30-35 dials per hour.

Power dialer

Power dialer has a slightly similar algorithm to a preview dialer - it also calls each single phone number from the pre-uploaded contact list, but the agent can’t bypass any contacts from the list as they are dialed automatically. The power dialer doesn’t also show customer cards, even though agents can check them without exiting the interface of the power dialer if it is integrated with a contact center solution and the CRM system. Anyhow, the power dialer has another objective - it is a perfect solution for processing warm bases where the goal is to reach out to as many customers as possible. The power dialer has a stable dialing ratio - 1:1 - which means it dials only one phone number at a time, and it starts dialing only when the agent is free (has no active calls or post-call activities). The average dialing speed of a power dialer is around 75 dials per minute with a success rate from 50 to 75% depending on the quality of the contact list. 

Predictive dialer

Predictive dialer is the fastest auto dialer ever, and that’s why when people start discussing auto dialers, most of them mean predictive algorithm under the word “auto dialer”. It is also the truth that predictive dialers are the most popular outbound dialers in the world, especially in the US. The reason is clear - as we have already stated, it is the fastest dialing mode.

Nonetheless, let’s make it clear - why did the predictive dialing solutions get their name? Well, the word “predictive” perfectly explains the nature of the predictive dialer algorithm - when the campaign is active, the system monitors the average duration of calls handled by agents, and starts dialing new contacts even when agents are involved in ongoing calls - the system chooses the moment for initiating a new dial to get a new active call exactly when the previous call is over, so that’s also the reason why predictive dialing mode provides agents with almost 85% of occupancy rate (which is almost similar to contact center agent talk time) and reduces the idle time between calls. The dialing ratio of such a dialer is flexible and changes based on many factors: number of active agents, average call duration, etc. 

The average calling speed of a predictive dialer is over 100 dials per hour with a 75% of success rate. It is insane, but there are also a few facts to take into consideration: predictive dialer needs at least five agents involved to work appropriately, and it can also cause high call abandonment rates if configured badly, which can lead to fines and other sanctions in some countries, including the USA. Nonetheless, a predictive dialer is the best choice for telemarketing and lead generation campaigns. 

Progressive dialer

Progressive dialer meaning can be defined as a kind of “power dialer v.2.0” because it uses almost the same algorithm as a power dialer does, but it has a different dialing ratio - 2:1, 3:1, and it can be customized based on your needs. What does it mean? First of all, it means that the average speed of contact list processing is decreased due to the use of a “faster” calling ratio, and this also means that you have to use more than one agent as it is in the case of a power dialer. Anyhow, the average calling speed is also higher than the power dialer provides, but it depends on many factors, including the probability of an answer, dialing ratio, agent availability, and so on. In fact, progressive dialing systems have an updated power dialer, and this means it is more suitable for bigger contact lists or contact lists that haven’t been filtered and may contain tons of invalid phone numbers (regular busy tones, out-of-the-zone, etc).  

Progressive vs Predictive dialer: pros and cons

First of all, let’s define why both predictive and progressive dialer are great solutions if you want to enhance the productivity of your outbound marketing. Both predictive and progressive dialer can be used to generate sales, but they do it in different ways - predictive dialer is perfect for outbound calls (outgoing calls), while progressive dialing is ideal for warm bases, even though it can also be used to process cold lists. The answer to the question “Who will win - progressive dialer vs predictive dialing?” can be found only in a detailed comparison of the pros and cons of the predictive and progressive dialer. 

Pros and cons of Predictive dialer

Pros

• Fastest dialing speed compared to all other auto dialers;
• Flexible dialing ratio that is chosen by the system itself;
• Highest success rate due to the use of advanced algorithms;
• Highest productivity for lead generation;
• The best tool for telemarketing purposes;
• The best solution for processing cold contact lists;
• Perfectly suits for updating old lead bases;
• Simple in use for even inexperienced call center agents;
• An option to identify invalid phone numbers;
• Flexible redialing rules to reach out to prospects who didn’t answer the first calling attempt;
• Detailed statistics are provided by the system in real-time mode;
• Call scripts are integrated with the system;
• The high agent occupancy rate, which reduces agent idle time and boosts agent efficiency and agent productivity;
• Improved conversion rates by 2,5% compared to 1% in other modes and manually.

Cons

• Needs a few agents to work properly, at least five;
• Can cause abandoned calls which can lead to a fine;
• Wrong settings may lead to massively dropped calls - abandon rates over 5% are illegal in some countries -  or poor performance;
• Provides very high agent occupancy, so can be difficult to work with on a daily basis.

Pros and cons of Progressive dialer

Pros

• Provides faster dialing speed than Power dialer does;
• Perfect instrument for processing warm bases;
• Can be used for cold calling too;
• Doesn’t need many agents;
• Can’t cause abandoned calls;
• Has the option to leave voicemail drops;
• Has the option to customize the dialing ratio;
  Simple in use for even inexperienced agents;
• An option to identify invalid phone numbers;
• Flexible redialing rules to reach out to prospects who didn’t answer the first calling attempt;
• Detailed statistics are provided by the system in real-time mode;
• Call scripts are integrated with the system.

Cons

• Lower agent occupancy that predictive outbound dialing mode provides, so agent idle time would be higher;
• Slower dialing speed than the predictive outbound dialing mode provides;
• Can’t be as effective as predictive outbound dialing modern for telemarketing and lead generation purposes;
• The dialing ratio is chosen manually;
• The success rate isn’t always similar to the success rate provided by predictive outbound dialing mode.

What is the better choice  - predictive vs progressive dialer?

As you can see, both predictive and progressive dialing mode is a great solution if you want to automate outbound campaigns and get higher performance rates, as well as provide your agents with real customer conversations instead of useless manual dialing that is neither effective nor motivative for employees. Nonetheless, the predictive and progressive dialer is the solutions that are different and are designed to serve different purposes. 

While predictive automatic dialing is an all-in-one telemarketing solution that is perfect for lead generation, telemarketing, and sales, a progressive dialer is a solution that is designed to process warm bases as fast as possible. And, as it is clear enough, warm bases aren’t the contact lists that are processed in the same way as cold contact lists. While doing cold calls, you are trying to acquire new customers or at least find new qualified leads (potential customers) for further work. While doing warm calls, you talk to already existing customers who can either make another purchase or, for instance, provide you with feedback, or complaint, and ask for help or additional information. In other words, these two auto dialers, predictive and progressive dialer, are from two different galaxies, and even though progressive dialer can be used for telemarketing purposes, as well as you can use predictive dialing methods for warm bass handling, they will never show expected productivity when used not for their main purpose. 

Thus, if you need to do cold sales and acquire new leads from the cold base you bought or generated, a predictive dialer will be the best solution available. If you want to improve communication with current customers, increase customer satisfaction, and boost the number of up-sales and cross-sales, as well as the average customer lifetime value, a progressive dialer has no alternative. 

What can we offer in this case?

Voiptime Cloud offers all four auto dialer solutions in one pack, but you can get even more - the all-in-one blended call center software solution with numerous features besides the above-mentioned outbound dialer capabilities!

Features include:

• Multichannel communication - web chats, social media, messengers, and emails;
• Call monitoring with various monitoring modes;
• Call recording;
• Third-party software integrations via API, including CRM and payment system (and almost everything else);
• IVR system with automated calling feature;
• ACD system with different modes, including smart call routing;
• Automatically generated real-time reports;
• Internal communication chat;
• Workforce management instruments;
• Quality assurance tools;
• Dynamic call scripting;
• Opportunities for remote work;
• And many more!

Get the most out of your call center with our professional solution that can cover all your business needs!

FAQ

What is a predictive dialer?

It is a kind of auto dialer that uses a special algorithm that measures average call duration and starts calling the next clients from the list even before agents are done with previous calls. Thus, this is the fastest auto dialer with over 100 dials per hour and that is why it is perfect for telemarketing and any other cold calling purposes. 

What is a progressive dialer?

A progressive dialer is a type of outbound dialer that calls contacts from the list based on a customizable dialing ratio that can be 3:1, for example. This means that the dialer calls three contacts at the same time and links the successful dial to an agent. This makes the progressive dialer the most effective solution for processing warm bases and working with current customers. 

What is better - predictive vs progressive dialer?

In short, it is a wrong question. Both of them are effective solutions for outbound call center, but they are designed to solve different problems. Thus, the progressive dialing mode is perfect for working with existing clients, and the predictive system is ideal for cold calls.

What is the price for progressive or predictive solutions?

The price we offer depends only on the number of accounts (for agents and managers) you need. One subscription starts from 70$ monthly or 63$ monthly if you purchase an annual subscription, and if you need 10 or more accounts, the price is 63$ monthly or 57 monthly with an annual subscription. If you have 25 accounts, the annual price per month is 50$, and if purchase a monthly subscription, it is 56$. In short, the more accounts you buy, the cheaper price becomes.