Recommended Settings for Welcome Calling

This guide walks you through configuring Evergiving's welcome calling features to maximise your first call contact rate. Donors are contacted at the time they agreed to, on a number they recognise, and the dialler and other configurations mop up the rest.

When set up correctly, you can expect to reach around >90% of new donors on the first attempt. This saves on call costs and agent hours. It means verified, higher-quality donors for a better return on your fundraising investment.

Schedule welcome calls on the campaign form

Add a welcome call scheduler to the Campaign Form. Set the minimum and maximum time from sign up according to your business rules, increments to your preference, and the calling period to match your agent availability.

This ensures donors are called at the time agreed at the point of sign-up.

Tip

For a full explanation of how welcome call scheduling works, see Welcome calls.

Enable a vCard for the campaign

Set up a vCard so that donors see a recognisable name and image when you call. Go to the campaign and enable the vCard, entering the charity name and a logo that represents the brand.

When agents send the vCard to the donor's phone at sign-up, your call center number is saved as a known contact. This significantly increases the chance the donor will answer. Consider using a face that represents the brand in the logo field. That's what will display when you call, along with the name of the charity.

Tip

For step-by-step instructions on configuring a vCard, see Configure a vCard.

Prepare your face-to-face fundraisers

Train your field fundraisers on two things: scheduling welcome calls at a time the donor confirms they will be available, and helping donors save the vCard to their phone during sign-up.

Both of these steps happen in the field and have a significant impact on whether the donor answers the first call. Consider introducing incentives around vCard sharing, first call connection rate and overall connection rate to reinforce this behaviour. You can track all of these via Evergiving.

Tip

Contact us if you would like help setting up leaderboards or charts to track connection rates across your teams.

Configure the first call attempt in the Power Dialler

In the Power Dialler settings, set the dial time for Call attempt 1 to 20 seconds. This gives the donor enough time to answer, and the voicemail to kick in if not.

Set a prerecorded voicemail for this attempt with a message along the lines of:

"I'm very sorry to have missed you. I was just calling at the agreed time to say a big thank you and to check your details. I will call you again in 10 minutes, but feel free to call me back any time on this number."

Set the Minimum time before next call to 10 minutes. You might not normally schedule a second attempt so close to the first, but remember, the date and time was agreed to, requested, and so this is very normal and not unexpected behaviour.

Add an SMS template for use after the first attempt

Go to SMS Templates and create a Donor Comms SMS. Use a message similar to the voicemail, for example:

"I was calling you at the agreed time to say a big thank you and to check your details. I will call you again in 10 minutes, but feel free to call me back any time on this number."

Agents can send this SMS immediately after a missed first call to give the donor another prompt to expect the next attempt.

Configure follow-up call attempts in the Power Dialler

In the Power Dialler settings, set the dial time for Call attempts 2 onwards to 10 seconds, and set the final call attempt to 20 seconds.

The shorter dial time on middle attempts means the auto-dialler will disconnect before hitting voicemail, automatically starting the next call, keeping the process efficient. With this configuration you can make 5-6 unanswered call attempts per minute instead of 2-3. This is acceptable due to the combination of saved contact card, voicemail (SMS) and inbound service that means any accessibility user knows exactly who is calling and can return the call. The longer final attempt allows the voicemail to be reached intentionally.

Configure the final call attempt for uncontacted donors

For the small number of donors you cannot reach, set an automatic voicemail on the final call attempt with a closing message. Set a Final call outcome so the donor is moved out of the active call list.

Set a Voicemail on the Campaign

You will get more inbound calls. You might not be able to answer all of them. It is important to set up a voicemail greeting for each Campaign that will be played to the caller if an agent is not available (or if the caller has suppressed their number). Your Admin Agents will be able to mop these up.

Assign callers as Admin Agents

Make at least one agent on the team an Admin Agent. Admin Agents can monitor inbound calls and follow up any missed inbound calls immediately, so donors who call back are not left waiting.

Tip

For more on agent roles, see Agents.

Create a call list for the campaign

Create a call list for the campaign and set the filter to Calling Type is Welcome or Verification follow up call.

Tip

For more on how call lists work, see Call lists.

Create a call center team

Create a call center team and assign your agents and the call list from the previous step. Apply the following settings:

Setting	Value
Auto-Dial	Yes
Allow Inbound Calls	Yes
Outbound Number	The vCard number for the campaign

Warning

If the team calls more than one campaign, do not set any phone numbers to All Campaigns. Each campaign must have its own dedicated number linked to its own vCard. This ensures the donor always sees the saved contact card when you call.

Follow the Dialler

Agents should trust in the dialler, either using 'Next Lead' at the top of any page or the next call button. The dialler will:

1. Automatically serve records at the time they were scheduled by the fundraiser. Since these are call backs the auto-dialler will pause and the agent will (quickly read any notes and) press the call button.
2. Display any inbound calls with a big blue indicator, automatically bringing the record up
3. Efficiently make any other call attempts on auto-dial, avoiding voicemails and cycling through calls and records quickly and automatically.
4. Automatically log maxed out contacts, remove them from the dialler and automatically leave a final voicemail where required.