Campaign Calling Hours and Test Calls
Campaigns only call people during permitted calling hours in the person's own local time. A contact outside those hours shows as waiting, with the time calling opens. You don't need to do anything, because the campaign calls them automatically when their window opens.
The calling window
Every outbound call is checked against the called person’s local time, worked out from their phone number (area code in North America, country code elsewhere):
| Day | Permitted hours (their local time) |
|---|---|
| Monday – Friday | 09:00 – 21:30 |
| Saturday – Sunday | 10:00 – 18:00 |
This applies on top of the Call hours you set on the campaign. Turning on Call immediately skips your campaign’s own hours, but not the called person’s calling window.
Toll-free numbers
Toll-free numbers (1-800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877 and 888) aren’t tied to a place. To decide their calling window, the campaign uses the business’s address from your contact list, if there is one (for example, a BC address uses Pacific time). If there’s no address, it uses the campaign’s own time zone.
Skip toll-free numbers
Toll-free numbers often reach a central reservations line rather than the business itself. To leave them out:
- Open the campaign and go to the Settings tab.
- Under Call Order, tick Skip toll-free numbers.
Toll-free contacts that haven’t been called yet are then marked Skipped and never dialled. Untick the box to call them again; contacts that were already skipped stay skipped.
Reading a contact’s status
- pending: queued, and inside their calling window, so they’ll be called as soon as the campaign gets to them.
- waiting · 09:00: queued but outside their calling window. The line under the phone number shows their local time and when calling opens, for example “It is 08:44 for this number (Asia/Tokyo)… Calls from 09:00 (in 16 min).”
A waiting contact doesn’t hold up the rest of the list: the campaign moves on and calls whoever is inside their window.
If every remaining contact is outside their window, the campaign page shows a Not calling right now banner saying when calling resumes.
When you place the calls yourself
In campaigns where you place each call from the app (AI In-the-Loop and VoIP calling), the next contact you’re offered is always someone inside their calling window. Anyone outside their window is passed over for now. They stay in the list, and you’re offered them again once their window opens.
If nobody left on the list can be called yet, you won’t be offered a call until the first window opens. If you try to call a number outside its window, the message says what time calling opens in that person’s local time.
Test Now
For AI campaigns, Test Now next to a contact calls that person immediately with the campaign’s agent. It’s handy for hearing your agent before the campaign runs, usually on your own phone.
- Click Test Now next to the contact.
- Check the name and number, then click Call now.
If the person is outside their calling window, the dialog says so. To call anyway, tick Call anyway. Only do this when the number is your own, or the person has agreed to a call at that time. Each override is recorded against your account.
A number on the do-not-call list (someone who asked not to be called) can’t be called, with or without an override.
A test call doesn’t take the contact out of the queue. If the campaign is running, it will still call them when their window opens.