---
title: "Create a Proactive Voice Campaign"
slug: "create-a-proactive-voice-campaign"
description: "Create a Proactive Voice Campaign to automatically call your Customers and provide updates through your Voice Channel."
updated: 2026-03-24T22:00:32Z
published: 2026-03-24T22:00:32Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.gladly.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Create a Proactive Voice Campaign

| **REQUIRED USER ROLE** Administrator | **PERMISSION OVERVIEW** [View permissions by role](https://help.gladly.com/docs/managing-users-and-roles#roles-and-responsibilities) |
| --- | --- |

Create a Proactive Voice Campaign to automatically call your Customers and provide updates through your Voice Channel.

## Before you start

Before you configure a Proactive Voice Campaign, we recommend that you first review the following:

- Read what [Proactive Voice](https://help.gladly.com/docs/what-is-proactive-voice) is.
- Understand [how Proactive Voice works](https://help.gladly.com/docs/how-proactive-voice-works).
- Have the recording/message ready for the Campaign's IVR. This is the message your recipients will hear.
- Three main parts make up a Proactive Voice Campaign:
  1. The IVR used for a Campaign.
  2. The Campaign (the subject or reason for your outreach).
  3. The outreach made (recipients called) for each Campaign.

## Create a Proactive Voice IVR Campaign

[configure_a_proactive_voice_campaign (720p) Video](https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/tkn22b2qc5?seo=false&videoFoam=false)

This is the IVR that the Campaign will use to relay your recording/message to the Customer. If you have multiple Campaigns, each should have its own IVR setup.

1. Click ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/hamburger-menu-icon(2).svg) on the top left corner of the screen.
2. Click **Settings**.
3. Under the **Channels** category, click **IVR**.
4. Click **Create New IVR**and enter a name for the IVR. Use a name that will help you relate the Proactive Voice Campaign to the IVR, then click **Create**.
5. From the blank IVR page, click **Start Building**.
6. From the modal, click the **Proactive Voice**template****under the **Templates** section, which automatically populates the IVR with the standard nodes for Proactive Voice
7. Edit the following nodes:
  - **Variable Match –** Do not update this node. It's already configured to detect if an answering machine or person answers the call.
  - **Message (Voicemail Message) –**This node kicks in if an answering machine/voicemail is detected.
    - Click on this node to open the node-specific settings on the right side. Scroll down to the **Message** section and choose to use *Text to Speech* or *Recording*.
      - **Text to Speech –**On the **Text** field, enter the text you want the system to read as a message and leave it as a voicemail.
      - **Recording –**Click **Select Recording** to upload an mp3 audio of the message you want to leave as a voicemail.
  - **Message (Hang up) –** You don’t need to edit this node. This ensures the call ends once the Campaign leaves the voicemail message.
  - **Message (Greeting) –** Might be named "Greeting," This is the node that kicks in if the **Variable Match**node detects that a person picked up the call.
    - Click on this node to open the node-specific settings on the right side. Scroll down to the **Message** section and choose to use *Text to Speech* or *Recording*.
      - **Text to Speech –**On the **Text** field, enter the text you want the system to read as a message for the person that picked up the call.
      - **Voice –**The voice type (Man, Woman, Alice, *Custom) that will read the provided text.
        - *Custom Voice – Appears if Custom is selected as Voice. Add the Voice Name on the field as shown in this [table](https://www.twilio.com/docs/voice/twiml/say/text-speech#available-voices-and-languages). For example, to use a Standard Type, Male, English (US), you can enter "Polly.Joey."
      - **Recording –**Click **Select Recording** to upload an mp3 audio of the message for the person that picked up the call.
  - **Menu (Menu) –**Once the message (Text to Speech or Recording) is played to the Customer, this node notifies the Customer that they can *press 1* to speak to an Agent.

> [!NOTE]
> Remove nodes you don’t need
> 
> - If you only want to play a message and not give additional options (e.g., to connect with an Agent), then you can delete the **Menu** and **Exit** node.
> - You can give Customers the option to [connect with you via SMS](https://help.gladly.com/docs/how-do-i-add-sms-support-in-our-ivr/#h-add-sms-support-in-the-ivr) by adding the **SMS** node after the **Menu** node.
  - **Exit –**If the Customer presses 1 in the **Menu (Menu)**node, the call is routed to an Inbox.
    - **Tip –**You can find the **_dial** on the Entry Points page and determine if you need to create an [exception](https://help.gladly.com/docs/entry-points-settings-overview/#h-entry-point-exceptions) to send the call to the appropriate Inbox.
8. Click **Publish.**
9. Provide a short description of the changes that you made, then click **OK**.

> [!NOTE]
> How Proactive Voice call ends
> 
> Proactive Voice automatically terminates the call or "hangs up" after delivering a message via the Message node, unless the Customer answers and selects the option (Menu node) to connect with an Agent.

Once your IVR is created, next, you will need to create the Proactive Voice Campaign.

## Create a Proactive Voice Campaign

Set up the reason for the Campaign along with the settings required to begin the outreach to recipients.

1. Click ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/hamburger-menu-icon(2).svg) on the top left corner of the screen.
2. Click **Settings**.
3. Under the **Proactive Conversations**category, click **Proactive Voice.** The Proactive Voice page will list the Campaign(s) that have been created.
4. From the Proactive Voice page, click **Create Campaign**.
5. Enter the following information about the Campaign: ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/Add-Campaign.gif)
  - **Name –** Enter a name that helps you identify what the Campaign is for.
  - **Description –** Provide a brief description of what the Campaign is for.
  - **Phone Number –** Select the "from" phone number the Campaign will use to make the automated outbound calls.
  - **IVR –** Select the IVR you built specifically for the Campaign.
  - **Simultaneous Calls –**Indicate how many calls you want to make simultaneously. The maximum number of calls the system can make simultaneously is 30.
    - **Tip –**Because a Campaign could encourage Customers to ask additional questions, keep a level number to prevent overwhelming your team with questions about a Campaign.
    - **Tip –** You can change the number of simultaneous calls while a Campaign is [in progress](https://help.gladly.com/docs/track-proactive-voice-campaign-status/#campaign-recipient-outreach-status). Do note that the system can only make up to 30 calls every five minutes until all the recipients have been contacted.
  - **Campaign Schedule –**Enter a time frame when Campaign outreach calls are allowed to occur. If the **Outreach Date and Time**(configured in the Recipients page) of a Campaign fall outside the Campaign Schedule, then outreach will begin on the next calling window.
    - **Closed checkbox –**Check the **Closed** box if you don't want emails sent on a particular day. The Closed is checked by default, so uncheck the Closed box to allow emails to be sent on a particular day.
6. Click **Create Campaign**. This will take you back to the Proactive Voice page where you'll find the Campaign you just created.

Once your Campaign is created, next, you'll need to add the recipients that will be contacted as part of the outreach for the Campaign.

## Add Recipients

Add recipients that will be part of your Campaign's outreach.

1. To the right of the Campaign you created, click![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/kebab-icon-vertical.svg), then select **Add/Edit Recipients**. ![Overview of Proactive Voice campaigns with options to edit and manage recipients.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/PA-1.png)
2. From the Campaign outreach status page, click **Add Recipients**and add the following information:
  - **Campaign Details –** This section shows the details of the Campaign.
  - **Recipients –** Click **CSV Template** on the description****to download a CSV template to add your recipients. The template is pre-populated with five sample rows with sample timezones and phone numbers in the correct format.
    - **Edit the CSV template:**
      - **Edit the CSV template:**
        - Enter the recipient’s **timezone*** in column A based on their primary location.
        - Enter the recipient's **phone number (1+area code+number)** in column B.
        - Enter the recipient's **name**in column C.
          - For column A/timezones, use the TZ database name found [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones).
          - For column C/name, the name is used to create a new Profile if one doesn't exist.
    - Save the CSV as**Comma Separated Values.csv**or**CSV UTF-8** only and use a name that allows you to easily identify the recipient list.
3. Once your CSV is saved, click **Upload CSV**to upload****your recipient list (CSV).
4. **Outreach Date/Time –**Because you can create a Campaign ahead of time, you can select a date/time when you want your Proactive Voice Campaign to begin. For example, If you are setting up your Campaign on the 3rd of the month but want to start the automated calls on the 15th of the month, select the 15th as the start date. You can choose a time and any month in the future.
  - **Should outreach end on a certain date/time?** – Check this box If you want the Campaign to end on a specific date/time. Without an end date/time, a Campaign will be marked as **"Completed"** once it goes through the entire recipient list.
  - **Note –** If the **Outreach Date/Time** falls outside the Campaign Schedule, outreach will begin on the next window. A Campaign could also end without contacting all the recipients if the recipient list is too large and the Campaign ends before the list is contacted.
5. Click **Send**. The outreach will begin on the Start Date/Time you selected.

> [!CAUTION]
> Specify the correct timezone on the CSV
> 
> When entering the timezone on the CSV, use the TZ database name found here. The default timezone used to call Customers is set by your organization's time. Because the Customers you call may be in different time zones, you will need to specify a timezone for each recipient on your list. Know where your Customers are to avoid calling them at odd hours. For example, if your organization's timezone is America/New_York (EST) and your Calling Hours begin at 9 AM, if you have Customers on your recipient list that lives in Los Angeles (America/Los_Angeles) AND you don't enter their timezone as America/Los_Angeles, you'll be calling them at 6 AM.

> [!NOTE]
> **You can have multiple outreach lists for each Campaign**
> 
> A Campaign can contain one or multiple recipient outreach lists. For example, you may create multiple lists to group recipients so they are contacted on different days.

## CSV upload error

If your CSV cannot be uploaded due to an error, you may see an error message with a link to download the error log. Click **Download error log** to view the CSV log. ![Error message indicating issues with the uploaded CSV file and options to download logs.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/7047b671-c4f2-4df0-bb0a-b9b511fd2452/Images/Documentation/Error-Log.png)

Look under **column A** in the error log to see what caused your upload to fail.

### **Invalid Timezone**

- Make sure you are using the correct timezone format using the [TZ database](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones).

### **Wrong Number of Fields**

- There should only be two columns in your CSV **–timezone,** and **phone_number**. Remove any extra columns.
- Make sure your phone number has the correct format **–**1+area code+number.
- Save the CSV as**Comma Separated Values.csv**or**CSV UTF-8** only.

> [!WARNING]
> Upload errors with no download log
> 
> For errors without a downloadable error log, the most common reasons include:
> 
> - **Improper CSV format** - make sure to follow the format on the downloadable template.
> - **Exceeding the maximum number of recipients per CSV -**Make your recipient list is under 3,500 contacts or less.