Waiting in the Call Queue
Once you click the “Start calling” button, you’ll be placed in the “call queue.” This means that you are waiting to be connected to a contact who answers your call.
The call queue screen that you’ll see while waiting to be connected to a call.
Keep your eyes on the screen while waiting to get connected to a call. When the Dialer connects you with a contact who’s picked up the phone, a few visual and auditory cues will simultaneously occur:
The status bar at the top of your screen will turn green and say, “YOU ARE SPEAKING TO [NAME].”
The call queue screen will transition to now show the first page of the call script.
You will hear a light beep (a high-pitched “plink” sound).
**IMPORTANT: As soon as you hear the “beep,” you should immediately start talking! You should assume that the contact has already said “hello.”** Our system works to only connect you with people who have answered the call, so there’s a one-second delay between them picking up and you getting connected to them. By that time, they’ve probably already said hello and are waiting for your response. |
The beginning of a script that you’ll see once connected to a call.
Following the Script and Recording Answers
As you speak with the contact with whom you’ve been connected, follow the call script, ask them the questions written in the script, and click the buttons to record their answers and progress through the script.
Each time you click a button to record their answer, it will bring you to the next part of the script. Not all buttons lead to the same part of the script, so it’s important that you click the appropriate response based on what the contact has shared with you.
You can always go back to the previous question and change the answer if you need to, by clicking “Change previous answers” in the upper left corner of your screen. Clicking this will take you to the most recent question you filled in.
The ‘Change previous answers’ button lets you correct or change a previously selected answer.
While many questions you answer in the script will be multiple choice, some questions will have a text box for you to fill in an answer. If you come to one of these types of questions, click “Submit” when you’re ready to move to the next part of the script. If the contact does not have an answer, you can simply leave the text box blank and click “Submit” to move on to the next part of the script.
Example of a text box-type question with the ‘Submit’ button at the bottom.
Some questions in the call script may be populated with personalized information about the contact with whom you are speaking. For example, the campaign or organization you’re calling with may set up their script so that the first name of the contact is automatically populated into the question “Hi, is [first name] available?”, as shown below.
Example of a question in the script populating with the contact’s personalized information (in this case, their first name).
Your campaign or organization may have other information about the contact automatically populate in other parts of the script too, such as the contact’s city of residence, polling place location, or voter registration status.
Ending a Call
When you arrive at the end of the script and conclude your phone conversation, you will see an overview of all the questions and answers you recorded during your call. Take a look to make sure you chose the right answers. If there are any you need to adjust, you have the option to “Change previous answers.”
The script review page you’ll see after completing the questions in the script, if the call has not yet ended.
If the person you’re speaking with hasn’t hung up yet, you also have the option to click the red “End call” button in the top right corner of your screen, to disconnect from them.
Note: if you’re using the “Call with this device + phone for audio” option, you should not end the call on your phone at the end of your conversation, as this will disconnect you from the Dialer system and require you to call in again. Instead, use the red “End call” button on your screen to disconnect from the conversation.
If the contact you’re speaking with hangs up during your conversation, or if you end the call using the “End call” button anytime after the first script question, you will see the option to “End survey” in the top right corner of your screen. This button will bring you to the review screen, to double check the responses you recorded and get ready for your next call.
The ‘End survey’ button that you can click if the contact hangs up before you’ve completed the questions in the script.
Once the call has ended, either from the contact hanging up or you clicking the red “End Call” button, the status bar towards the top of your screen will be updated to say, “THE CALL HAS ENDED.”
The survey review page you’ll see after completing the questions and the call has ended.
Continue Calling
At the end of each call, you will be paused until you click the blue “Continue Calling” button on your screen, which will place you back in the call queue. This is the time to take a sip of water, stretch your legs, and get ready for your next call. Click “Continue Calling” when you’re ready to keep going and take your next call!
Finish Calling
You can also choose to “End Session” at this time, which means you are done calling for now.
Clicking “End Session” will bring you back to the Dialer home screen (pictured below) where you can preview the script again if you want to get more familiar with it, jump back in to make more calls, switch if needed from “Call with this device” to “Call with this device + phone for audio” mode or vice versa, or simply close your internet browser window to be done with calling for now.
The screen you’ll be brought to after ending your calling session.
Thank you for your efforts to have these important conversations! Happy dialing.