How Proactive Voice Works

Proactive Voice leverages the IVR to make outbound phone calls automatically. Depending on your reason for creating a Proactive Voice Campaign, a relevant message/recording is saved in your IVR via the Message and Menu node. The IVR is configured to detect if a person picks up the call and play your message and even give the option to speak to an Agent. If a voicemail picks up, it can leave a message as well.

This is accomplished simply by using the Proactive Voice IVR template.

Sample IVR for a Proactive Voice Campaign

In the figure below, the following happens when a call is made to the Customer utilizing the Proactive Voice IVR template.

IVR checks if a human or machine/voicemail picks up.

Machine – If no answer is detected, but it detects (Match) that a machine/voicemail answers, the IVR will play the recorded message configured in the Message Node.
Human – If the call is answered, the IVR is configured to play the recorded message to the Customer. It also gives the option to the Customer to press 1 to speak to an Agent.

Flowchart illustrating IVR process for incoming calls and message handling.

Each Campaign serves a single purpose, and an IVR is explicitly created for each Proactive Voice Campaign.

IVR Exit node

The Exit node dictates where calls are routed if the recipient chooses to speak with an Agent. If you build an IVR for your Proactive Voice Campaign with multiple Exit nodes, each Exit node must point to the Inbox to which you want calls routed.

Standard workflow for creating a Proactive Voice Campaign

Create	Schedule and Send	Report and Manage
Create a recording/message for the IVR specific to the Campaign. Create the IVR to be used for the Campaign. Create and set up a voice Campaign. Upload a list of recipients for each Campaign.	Schedule when outbound calls should begin for each Campaign. Click Send to start the Campaign.	Review report of Campaign progress. Option to cancel calling a particular recipient list or delete an entire Campaign.

Unique messages for a Proactive Voice Campaign

By default, Proactive Voice Campaigns won’t call Customers and provide unique or Customer-specific messages. For example, it won’t call and say this:

Hi {CUSTOMER_NAME} your order is due to be delivered on {DATE} between {TIMES}.”

Personalizing greetings requires data dips in the IVR used for the Proactive Voice Campaign and configured to read variables, like {CUSTOMER_NAME}. Contact Gladly Support if you need additional support.

When you add recipients to a Campaign, ensure that the recipients are specific to the Campaign. For instance, If the Campaign is about a delivery confirmation message between 8 AM and 1 PM, only add recipients/Customers with an 8 AM and 1 PM delivery window. You must create a separate Campaign and IVR for recipients/Customers with a delivery window of 2 PM to 6 PM, and so on.