What is Outbound Dialer (Predictive, Progressive, Power)?
An outbound dialer automatically places calls from a contact list. Power and progressive dialers call one number per free agent; predictive dialers call more numbers than agents available, trading talk time for abandoned-call risk.
Also known as: auto dialer, predictive dialer, progressive dialer, power dialer
The three modes
Progressive dialing places the next call only when an agent is free, so every answer meets a human. Power dialing is similar but can dial several lines per agent at a fixed ratio. Predictive dialing uses statistics to dial ahead of agents becoming free, which maximises talk time but sometimes connects a person when nobody is available, creating an abandoned call.
What changes with AI agents
When the 'agent' is software, availability is no longer the bottleneck, because an AI agent can take many calls at once. The pacing question becomes telephony capacity, retry rules and legal limits instead. Abandoned-call rules still matter: in the US, FCC rules cap abandoned calls for predictive dialers, and in India outbound commercial calls carry registration and scrubbing duties.
Common mistake
Retrying unanswered numbers too aggressively. Repeated calls in a short window hurt answer rates, can breach contact-frequency limits and may get your numbers flagged as spam. Space retries across different times of day.
Primary sources
Regulations change. Check the current text before relying on a detail. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Where this shows up at Vaami
Vaami's outbound product runs campaigns of AI-agent calls, with DLT-registered sender ID support and template scrubbing for outbound campaigns to Indian numbers.
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Hear how a Vaami voice agent handles this on a live conversation in your language and your use case.