Outbound interaction plans
Provisioned feature
The feature described on this page may not be enabled for all accounts. Access depends on your current license level or specific account configuration.
Overview
An outbound interaction plan runs between the time an agent dials a number and the moment the call connects to the customer.
There are two types of outbound interaction plans:
Default Outbound for voice interactions.
Message Outbound for digital interactions.
Using an outbound interaction plan, you can:
Perform a data dip into a CRM system.
Check against a no-dial list.
Set the outbound caller ID.
Configure call recording.
Configure a post-call survey that the customer is rerouted to once the call ends.
For information about outbound interaction plan types, see Interaction plans in Interaction Plans Manager.
Prerequisites
Before creating an outbound interaction plan, ensure the following:
Prerequisite | Description |
|---|---|
Outbound interaction plans enabled | Outbound interaction plans must be enabled for your account. |
Alert Contact applet | The Alert Contact applet must be added to your outbound interaction plan. This applet triggers the outbound dial to the customer. For more information, see the Alert Contact applet. |
Intelligent Workspace or Salesforce BYoC-CCaaS (Message Outbound plans only) | To create and use Message Outbound plan types, your account must have either Intelligent Workspace or Salesforce BYoC-CCaaS enabled. Contact your Account Manager for more information. |
Data sources
When an outbound interaction starts, Vonage Contact Center (VCC) automatically populates the following data sources. These are available for use within the outbound interaction plan, for example, in the Alert Contact applet.
Data source | Description |
|---|---|
| The number dialed by the agent. |
| The ID of the agent that makes the call. |
| The outbound number the customers see. |
| The origin of the outbound interaction. For supported values, see the $(InitiatedBy) origin values section below. |
To use these data sources in an applet, type $ to retrieve them. You can also create custom data sources within the plan using the Set Data Source applet. For more information, see the Set Data Source applet.
$(InitiatedBy) origin values
Use $(InitiatedBy) to route outbound interactions based on how they were initiated, for example, to apply compliance messages for dialler calls or skip them for agent-initiated calls.
The following origin values are supported:
Value | Description |
|---|---|
| The interaction was triggered by a callback request. |
| The interaction was started directly by an agent. |
| The interaction was triggered from an external system, such as a CRM, via a click or tap. Applies to both voice and digital interactions. |
| The interaction was triggered automatically by VCC's Connect Dialer in Salesforce. |
Applet availability
Configuring an outbound interaction plan is similar to configuring an inbound interaction plan, with the following differences:
Queueing applets are not available, for example, Skill Tagger and Set SLA.
Customer-facing applets are not available, for example, Take Message and Voicemail.
The full list of available applets depends on whether a Default Outbound or Message Outbound plan type is selected. For a full breakdown, see Interaction plans in Interaction Plans Manager.
Default Outbound configuration
Navigate to Interaction Plans > Manager.
Click Create New > Interaction plan.
Select Default Outbound as the Interaction plan type.
Continue creating the interaction plan as normal.
Legacy configuration
If your account was set up before the Default Outbound plan type was introduced, you may have an existing outbound interaction plan identified by the reporting group value OutboundIVRExternalParty.
This was a legacy configuration method. It has been replaced by the ability to assign an outbound interaction plan to individual agents in User Admin. To configure this:
Navigate to User Admin.
Locate the agent.
Under Agent Settings > Outbound interaction plans, select the appropriate Voice and/or Digital plan from the drop-downs.
For more information on configuring agents, see Configuring individual users.
Message Outbound configuration
In Interaction Plans Manager, go to the Interaction plans tab.
Click Create new and select Interaction plan.
Select Message Outbound as the Interaction plan type.
Complete the remaining fields and click Save interaction plan.
Digital channel filtering
A Message Outbound plan cannot be filtered to a single digital channel type. Use the Data Router and Data Connector applets to direct different digital interaction types along the correct path within the plan.