Optimize your reputation for outbound calling in Amazon Connect

In the contact center industry one of the most difficult tasks is understanding why customers don't answer calls when you dial out. Is the customer deliberately not answering, or are they busy on a work call or answering the door? For contact centers it's impossible to know but there are things you can do about it.

This topic provides recommended steps you can take to improve your call answer rates for outbound calling.

Step 1: Know your customer's preferred contact method

One of the biggest mistakes that contact centers make is not knowing whether the customer wants to be contacted by telephone call. When the customer engaged with you, did you check whether they want to be reached by phone, e-mail, or text?

Businesses with multi-channel engagement outperform 70% on average compared to business without multi-channel engagement.

Step 2: Brand your calls

By using call branding solutions, you can provide enhanced call displays that include your business name, logos, reason for the call, and your service. Branding your calls increases the call answer rate by 30%.

Amazon Connect partners with solutions providers like First Orion and Neustar to offer branded calling services.

Step 3: Select caller IDs that mean something to your customer

Not every contact center is the same. What works for some might not work for others. But there are correlations in how successful outbound campaigns are based on your caller ID. Following are a few suggestions to try creating meaningful caller IDs:

Step 4: Make sure your campaign is calling valid numbers

Maintaining accurate customer contact information is essential for successful outbound calling operations. Amazon Connect's detailed disconnect reasons help identify invalid phone numbers in your contact lists. If more than 0.5% of your calls are failing due to invalid numbers, we recommend implementing regular contact list maintenance through update campaigns or using services like Amazon Pinpoint for phone number validation.

Step 5: Make outbound calls at optimal times

Another strategy for outbound call campaigns is making sure that calls are placed at the best times. It is critical to never harass your customers or prospects—no one wants to be contacted multiple times by the same company. Generally speaking, it is never a good idea to call before 10:00AM or after 5:00PM as people are at their busiest or need their quiet time. Customers should be called when it's a good for them, depending on their profile. This may mean that one customer should be called around noon, while another is more accessible in the afternoon.

In addition, there are regulations such as TCPA (in the US) and OFCOM (in the UK) that provide guidance on when not to call end customers. We strongly recommend that you abide by such regulations.

Step 6: Manage and monitor the reputation of your caller IDs

For US-based operations, registering your business numbers with services like Free Caller Registry is essential for managing your caller ID reputation. Amazon Connect's Contact Trace Record disconnect reasons help you identify when your numbers are experiencing carrier-level blocking.

We recommend assigning dedicated resources to monitor your number reputation and address blocking issues from carriers or third-party websites. Consider these important factors:

If your caller ID has been flagged, switching to a new phone number is typically the fastest way to restore connectivity.

Step 7: Use multiple numbers as a callerID

Today, outbound contact centers typically embrace an intelligent, more efficient manner of dialing.

For example, one method is to use multiple phone numbers when placing outbound calls. Customers are more likely to answer a call if they feel that they are not being called repeatedly by the same number. In fact, using the same phone number repeatedly is a sure way to annoy customers and prospects who may feel they are being contacted too often.

Step 8: Engage with App Vendors

Apps that provide on-device call blocking are common across all major handsets. Many apps use blocking services from other commercial entities, some allow users to crowdsource spam numbers, and others partner with major carriers. Unblocking your numbers across geographies and app providers is often challenging and sometimes requires payment of fees. Some providers offer free business registration programs, while others provide no opportunities for redress. You might need to research the common apps in your region or those used by your customer base and work with these services directly.

Step 9: Add messaging to your outreach strategy to let customers know who you are

It's inevitable that you'll end up with a list of unanswered calls that you weren't able to connect. There are a variety of creative ways to use SMS with prospects. Here are some ideas to increase answer rates with your prospects.

Step 10: Validate your outbound calling strategy

Data-driven decisions and continuous improvement are key to delivering business value through your outbound calling strategy. Treat each operational change as an experiment, ensuring you can measure and compare its effectiveness.

We recommend creating custom reports that track both customer reachability and specific business outcomes. You can combine Contact Trace Record data with your own metrics using Amazon Connect's data lake or AWS services like QuickSight. Once you establish a baseline, you can evaluate changes and optimize for success.