Auto dialer: HOW DO I KNOW THE MESSAGE IS LEFT ON THE ANSWERING MACHINE

Posted on August 3, 2007 | By Voicent News

From previous postings, we know that there is no 100% accuracy in detecting answering machine vs live human pickup.

With answering machine, there will be no touch tone confirmation. Since with answering machine, the system does get more time to analyze the audio stream, there will be fewer mistakes. But it is hard to know what is going on exactly.

There are two options you can set to control the situation. One is to fail a call if the system detects an answering machine, but fails to detect a beep sound. This situation usually arises when an answering machine has a weak volume or a lot of static, or a voice mail system that has complicated prompts. So if the system plays the message, it might be too early or too late. If this option is set, the system will not try to play the message and the call status will be marked failed.

Another option can make the system not even try to leave the message for answering machines. You can have the system disconnect the call as soon as it detects an answering machine. (This option has other uses. For example, it can speed up the predictive dialing for AgentDialer). Combined with the live human confirmation, you can design a system that has guaranteed message delivery. The system makes an outbound call, if it predicts it as an answering machine, the system will disconnect immediately. So no message will be left on the answering machine. If the system mistakes a live human pickup as an answering machine, the system will disconnect too. (Of cause, this is an annoyance). But in any case, these calls will be marked disconnected and you can try the calls again. If the system predicts a live human pickup, it will play the message and ask for the confirmation. If it does not get the confirmation, it will mark call success but no confirmation. You can then try to call again till it gets a confirmation.

These two options can be set by selecting Setup > Options… from the gateway main menu, then select the Advanced tab.