Call Flow
A clear picture of every stage of an AI voice call, from the first dial to the final outcome.
Overview
Understanding how a call moves through the system helps you configure your campaigns effectively and interpret your results accurately. Every call follows a predictable lifecycle: Volume Reach dials the number, something happens on the other end, and the system records an outcome. Connected minutes — the basis for billing — are tracked from the moment a live person answers until the call ends.
The Call Lifecycle
Stage 1 — The System Dials the Number
When a campaign is running, Volume Reach pulls the next contact from your list and places the call. A dial attempt is recorded at this point. This happens regardless of whether anyone answers.
The phone on the contact's end begins ringing.
Stage 2 — Waiting for an Answer
The system listens for what happens next. Three things can occur:
- Someone answers — the call moves to Stage 3.
- Voicemail is detected — the call moves to Stage 4.
- No answer, busy signal, or connection failure — the call moves to Stage 5.
Stage 3 — Live Conversation (Someone Answered)
The moment the contact answers, the AI agent begins. The billing clock starts here — connected minutes are measured from when the contact answers, not from when the phone started ringing.
The agent delivers its opening greeting and the conversation begins. From this point, the agent:
- Listens and responds naturally in real time
- Follows the instructions in its system prompt
- Handles objections, answers questions, and guides the conversation
- Listens for signals that indicate the contact's intent (interested, not interested, wants a callback, etc.)
When the conversation ends — either because the contact hangs up or the agent concludes the call — the connected minutes are calculated and the billing clock stops. The agent then classifies the outcome.
Stage 4 — Voicemail Detected
If the system determines the call reached a voicemail box rather than a live person, it waits for the beep. If you have a voicemail template configured for the campaign, the pre-recorded message is automatically played and left as a voicemail. The outcome is recorded as Voicemail.
No connected minutes are billed for voicemail calls since no live conversation took place. Each dropped voicemail counts as one Voicemail Drop credit. See Voicemail Detection for more detail.
Stage 5 — No Answer, Busy, or Failed
If the contact does not answer, is busy, or the call cannot connect for technical reasons, the system records the appropriate outcome:
- Ring No Answer — the phone rang but no one picked up
- Busy — the line was busy
- Failed — the number could not be reached (disconnected number, carrier error, etc.)
- Call Screener — an automated screening service intercepted the call
No connected minutes are billed for any of these outcomes. Contacts in these categories can be retried in future runs depending on your campaign retry settings.
Stage 6 — Outcome Classification
Every call ends with an outcome. The AI automatically classifies the call based on what happened:
- Live conversations are classified as Interested, Not Interested, Callback Requested, or Do Not Call based on the contact's responses.
- Non-answer calls are classified as Ring No Answer, Busy, Failed, or Call Screener.
- Voicemail calls are classified as Voicemail.
Outcomes are recorded instantly and visible in your campaign dashboard in real time. Interested contacts flow to Opportunities, and Callback Requested contacts are scheduled for follow-up. See Call Outcomes for a full description of each outcome.
Billing Summary
| What happened | What is billed |
|---|---|
| Dial placed (any result) | 1 Dial Attempt |
| Live person answered | AI Connected Minutes (from answer to hang-up) |
| Voicemail drop | 1 Voicemail Drop credit |
| No answer / Busy / Failed / Screener | Dial Attempt only (no connected minutes) |
Connected minutes are rounded up to the nearest full minute. See Usage Rates for current rates.
Tips & Best Practices
- Call during high-answer-rate windows. For most B2C outreach, late morning and early evening on weekdays produce the highest live answer rates.
- Keep conversations focused. The shorter the path from greeting to outcome, the lower your connected minutes cost and the less time you occupy on the contact's end.
- Configure voicemail drop for every campaign. Even if your primary goal is live conversations, leaving a voicemail on unanswered calls maximizes your contact rate with no extra effort.
- Monitor Failed outcomes. A high failure rate often means your contact list contains stale data. Cleaning your list before a campaign run saves dial attempts and improves overall campaign efficiency.
- Review your answer rate by time of day. Use campaign outcome data over several runs to identify when your contacts are most likely to pick up, then schedule your campaigns accordingly.