During Step 3 of the campaign creation process, you’ll write and build the script of your calling campaign.


This is the script your callers will read while having conversations with the contacts they are calling. It is also the place where your callers record the contacts’ responses.


If you’ve set up an NGP VAN integration to use with this call campaign (see Step 2), then you will also set up NGP VAN mapping throughout your script to sync results back to NGP VAN. Please read the guide to “Using Your NGP VAN Integration” for detailed instructions on how to set up this mapping, or, select from the individual “Question Types” guides below to learn how to map results back to NGP VAN for a particular question type.


Writing a script in the Scale to Win Dialer centers around “Questions.” You can add as many or as few questions as you’d like. You can think of each question as a de facto script block. 


Note that all script blocks must be written out in the form of a question. If, for example, you want your callers to read out a set script without collecting information, you could set up a “Single Choice” question with a single answer choice that allows your caller to advance to the next question in your script.


An example of what a Question will look like for your callers.


The Starting Question


When creating a new call campaign, the first question of your script will follow a standardized format with eight default response options. To learn more about this question and its uses, view our guide on the new Standardized First Question Format.


Elements of a ‘Question’


When writing your script, there are five elements to each question you write: the title, the script (i.e., the text of the question itself), the question type, the answer/response options, and the actions that correspond to each answer/response option. Below is a primer on each of these important building blocks of script writing in the Scale to Win Dialer:


Question Title

The Question Title is the place to name your question. This title is displayed to your callers in their script interface (directly above the response options for that question) and also used for your reference as you’re building your script. We recommend making your Question Title short, easy to understand, clearly differentiated from the other questions’ titles, and the exact question you want your caller to answer E.g. your question title might be, “Candidate Support Level?”


Name your question by writing the Question Title.


Question Script

The Question Script element is the field where you’ll write out what you want your callers to say during that section of your script. It should include any information you want the callers to share and the question(s) you want the callers to ask the contact with whom they’re speaking.


You can choose to insert a “Contact Field” — such as “First Name,” meaning the first name of the person you’re calling — into any question in your script. To insert a Contact Field, click the rounded, dark blue buttons below the Question Script. This will cause that field to appear in the script, as shown below.

Write the text of your script in the Question Script box and select any Contact Fields you’d like to insert.


You may also create new contact fields while writing your script by clicking the “+ New Contact Field” button as outlined below.


Note that for every question type, the called contact’s first name will display in the top left corner, in addition to anywhere you’ve used that contact field within the script, based on the contact list you uploaded. 


This is what this looks like to your callers when they’re in a conversation with a contact:

Example of how an auto-populating Contact Field (in this example, “First Name”) fills in the called contact’s personalized information for the caller reading the script.


New Contact Fields 

As outlined above, you can insert auto-populating Contact Fields like “First Name” into your call script by clicking the rounded, dark blue buttons below the Question Script. The Scale to Win Dialer offers 12 default Contact Field options (i.e., the dark blue buttons) that you can insert into your script with the click of a button.


In addition, if the default Contact Field options aren’t sufficient for your calling campaign, you can add your own custom Contact Fields as you’re writing your script. You might do this to add details like age, voter registration status, or volunteering history. To do so, click the “+ NEW CONTACT FIELD” button.

The button to add a new Contact Field when writing your Question Script.


You’ll then be prompted to type in your desired Contact Field. Then click “SAVE.” 

The place to fill in the name of your new Contact Field, using “Age” as an example.


Your new custom, auto-populating Contact Field will now appear among the list of rounded buttons below the Question Script box. Just like the other Contact Fields listed there, you can click this button to insert this field into any part(s) of your script you wish.

Custom contact fields are available to use in any question throughout your calling campaign.

The new Contact Field — “Age” — showing up in the list of available Contact Fields.


You will be required to map all contact fields, custom or otherwise, that you have added to your script. For more information on how to map contacts, read the “Step 4: Add Contacts” guide. 


If you have already started your calling campaign and wish to edit your script to include additional contact fields, you will be required to first map these additional Contact Fields to their corresponding CSV column in Step 4 before you will be able to return to this step (Step 3) and insert these Contact Fields into your script. Once a campaign is launched, all non mapped contact fields will appear grayed out and not available for selection, until you map these contacts in Step 4, at which point they will be available.


Question Types

For each question in your script, you must select which “question type” (i.e., question format) you’d like to use. There are many question type  options:

The dropdown menu of options for Question Types


To learn more about each question type, click on the guides below:



You should select which question type to use based on the type of data you want your callers to collect or action you’d like your callers to take during that part of your question script.


Answers

You can add as many or as few answers as you want to each single-choice and Checkbox questions. Click “+ Add Answer” to create an answer option. Type the answer you want to appear as a choice for your callers. Click “+ Add Answer” again to add another.


An example of multiple answers in a Single Choice question type, and the button to add an additional answer.


To delete one of the answer options you added, simply click the trashcan icon in the right-hand corner of that question’s box.


Actions

The Action field dictates what happens when the caller selects a particular answer. Different answer options can point to different actions. 


For example, you can design your script so that a ‘strong support’ answer in one of your questions leads to a question asking whether the person will volunteer with your campaign or organization, while a ‘strong oppose’ answer leads to the End Call screen. 


Choose the ‘Action’ for where in the script a caller should be directed next after selecting each answer.


To fill the Action field, you can choose another question you’ve already written, “End Call” if the answer means the call should be over, or you can create a new question, as shown below. 


An example of the dropdown menu to select an ‘Action’ after selecting a specific answer.


Note that, if you choose to create a new question from this Action field dropdown menu, you will automatically link this Answer to the new question you’re creating. This means that callers who select this Answer will be directed to your newly-created question, unless you update the Action to point elsewhere.


An Action can point to an earlier question in the script, too, if you wish. For example, you could set up a certain response option in Question 5 to send the caller back to Question 2.


All script branching is controlled via the “Action” dropdown and, after the first question, not the order of the questions themselves. 


“Question 2” might contain answers linking to “Questions 3 / 4 / 5,” and “Question 7” might contain answers linking back to “Question 3.” 



The “End Call” Action will direct callers to the “Caller Wrap Up Page” to review their answers. Selecting an answer containing the “End Call” action will not end the call automatically. If the call has not yet ended, callers will still have to select the “End Call” button in the top right corner to end the call. 


An example of the Wrap Up Page after a caller has finished the call script before.


Since this review page isn’t customizable by script writers, in many cases, script writers will want to add a “Single Choice” question to provider callers with instructions to wrap up the call. E.g. a “Single Choice” question with a script that thanks the callee for their time and contains a single answer (e.g. “Continue”) that links to an “End Call” action.



Add New Questions

In addition to creating new questions via the Action dropdown menu, you may also add additional questions to your script by going to the top of the page and clicking “Question 1.” A dropdown menu will appear, with the option to “+ Add New Question.” Click this button. 


The Questions dropdown menu where you can choose to ‘+ Add New Question.’


A new question creation screen will appear and allow you to create your new question here.


As explained in the “Actions” section above, you should set up your script so that different answer options point to different destinations. Use “Actions” to connect or ‘link’ together the individual questions in your script in the way that makes sense for the conversation flow you want your callers to have. “Actions” allows you to link any answer option to any other question.


Tips and Reminders for Building Your Script


  • You will only see one question at time when building your script, and callers will only see one question at a time when making calls. Make sure that the script, title, and answers provide all the information a caller would need to ask that question.


  • You can create an introduction, talking points, or “wrap-up” section by adding a single choice-type question that has only one answer: “Next.” To do so, create a single choice-type question, write your talking points in its Question Script section, and provide only one answer option to the question. In this way, the caller isn’t collecting data, but just using the answer button to advance to the next section of the script. Make sure to point the Action to where it should go next in the script.

  • You can preview your script to make sure you’ve written your questions correctly and linked all of your answers to the appropriate next steps by using the “Preview Script” function after you’ve launched your calling campaign. And while we recommend double checking your script before giving the link to your callers, if you notice a mistake while your callers are calling, you can always edit your script while your calling campaign is active and callers will see your updated script at the start of their next call.


Once you’ve written your call script, it’s time to add your contacts!