Blocks for phone banking

Run your phone banks using Blocks. Create your phone bank scripts, manage multiple calling agents and track responses in one place.

Phone bank types

Blocks offers a thoughtfully integrated workflow for running phone banks that crosses over with many other features across the app. People records can be updated and enriched with data tracking about your interactions with your donors, Lists allow you to create complex call lists that filter segments based on that data, and in turn be added to a phone bank for targeted outreach.

Each phone bank has a fully customizable script that can be used to collect the data you need, give instructions to your agents and account for complex paths based on participant responses.

There are three different phone bank types available: Manual Dialer, Web Dialer and Power Dialer. We will describe each type briefly, and focus on the Power Dialer for the remainder of this document.

Manual Dialer

Allows phone bank agents to call using an external calling method, such as their own phones. The phone number to call is displayed alongside the call script where the agent can submit participant responses.

Web Dialer

Allows phone bank agents to call directly from their browser. Agents are still required to call one at a time.

Power Dialer

Allows a phone bank operator to initiate multiple calls, which get routed to individual agents when a participant answers the phone. More on power dialers below.

Power dialer

A Phone Bank Power Dialer is a type of phone bank that allows a single operator to issue many calls in rapid succession that can be routed to available agents. Operators control how many outgoing calls are made and can see how many agents are currently on a call with a participant, ready to take their next call or waiting idly. It is the responsibility of the operator to ensure that the amount of calls initiated does not outpace the agent capacity, yet is high enough to keep a steady pace that does not keep agents waiting too long in between calls. The right amount of calls to initiate depends on how many agents are available in the session, the average contact rate and other variables that are presented to the operator in a live dashboard.

Meanwhile, individual phone bank agents simply mark themselves as “ready” when they are prepared to speak to participants. Agents get connected to the participant as soon as they answer the phone, and can conduct the call by reading and filling out the answers to the script included in the phone bank. When the participant is connected to an agent, the agent can see details about the participant that are available in the Blocks Person record.

Phone Bank Scripts

Scripts are a central feature of Phone Banks and are the way we can define what information gets collected during a phone bank. Creating scripts is easy, powerful and flexible in Blocks.

Users have the ability to add different types of script items–each with a different purpose. Sections allow you to break up the script, which is often useful when you have multiple paths you want agents to take depending on how participants responded to questions. Instructions are clearly demarcated to include directions for your agents that are not meant to be read to the participant. Dialog is for simple dialog to be read out to the participant and finally, questions are the most important script item, because this is where we set what the agent should ask the participant.

Quality control

Organizations can optionally take their forms through a rigorous quality control process. Users can review each petition signature entry and check for completion and accuracy to ensure your organization has an accurate count of valid petitions.

Questions can be open ended, single-choice or multiple choice.

Interpolation

The “add interpolation” option on a script question allows the creator of the script to insert dynamic values to the script that will correspond to each participant. This feature can be used to insert things like the participant’s name or district into the script language.

Tagging questions

The “add tag” option allows you to include a tag on a question, which can later be used to group several questions across multiple different phone banks. This is a useful feature if you want to capture a group of users who gave a certain answer to a question that is in multiple phone bank scripts, even if the wording is not exactly the same.

Regulation compliant

Our Power Dialer emphasizes the operator role as the central actor who is initiating each and every call in an effort to comply with SHAKEN/STIR, TCPA regulations and relevant court rulings around mass communication over VOIP to ensure that our entire workflow meets the latest standards and regulations around telecommunications.

Regulation compliant

Opt-outs

Anytime a participant does not participate on a call, agents are offered a variety of options to select as to why. While in many cases, this could be that the participant was not home or busy, we always display an option for the agent to report that the participant chose to no longer be called. Anytime a participant is marked as having opted out, they will no longer be included in any phone bank. Opt-outs can only be reversed manually by a user with the appropriate permissions.

List building

An essential part of a phone bank is of course the call list. Knowing who to target and building an accurate list based on precise parameters can be crucial to the success of a phone banking campaign. Fortunately, you can create your lists straight within Blocks.

The Blocks list builder allows for an intuitive process of defining which people in your Blocks database should be included in your list simply by dragging and dropping filters to build your criteria.