Outbound Campaigns

Outbound campaigns schedule and place calls through an agent’s outbound flow. The campaign supplies the contacts, phone numbers, calling hours, and source data; the selected flow controls what happens during and after each call.

​

Choose a campaign type

Open Outbound and select New campaign at the top right, then choose how contacts enter the campaign: After choosing the type, enter a campaign name and select the use case that best describes it. The use case is more than a label: it sets how the outbound dial queue prioritizes the campaign’s calls, such as fresh-lead urgency, reminder timing, callback treatment, or standard pacing. The picker explains what each choice means for dialing. You can change the use case later from the campaign’s Settings, and the new selection is saved with the campaign.

​

Complete campaign setup

Work through the setup wizard, reviewing each step before continuing:

1. Name: Name the campaign and choose its use case.
2. Call initiation: Choose how people are added — webhook, Google Sheets, or Zapier for a continuous campaign, or a CSV upload for a batch campaign.
3. Source setup: Set up the chosen source. The webhook step listens for a live test request so you can confirm the fields it sends. See Webhook Triggers and Upload Contacts by CSV.
4. Phone numbers: Add the Twilio numbers the campaign can call from. If your Twilio account is not connected yet, an inline connect step links it without leaving setup.
5. Number routing: Choose how each call picks a number. This step appears only when two or more numbers are switched on.
6. Calling hours: Choose the days, time ranges, timezone, maximum calls per hour, and any do-not-dial days.
7. Call flow: Pick a published outbound flow, or create one and land in the flow editor with Ask AI open.
8. Variables: Review how source fields map to the flow’s variables. Use Ignore this variable to leave one unmapped.
9. Compliance: Review and accept the required compliance and Do Not Call acknowledgements.
10. Review and start: Check the summary and start the campaign.

The campaign remains a draft until you complete setup and select Start campaign. If you choose Exit setup, confirming Discard deletes the draft campaign.

​

Change settings after setup

A created campaign has a Settings tab on the campaign page. A section nav on the left switches between Campaign, Call initiation, Numbers, Calling hours, Outbound call flow, and an End or delete panel, and a single save bar applies your changes.

​

Configure calling hours

Enable the days when calls may run and add one or more time ranges to each day. Calls Per Hour limits how many calls Phonely can place in an hour. Calling hours are evaluated in each contact’s scheduling timezone. Phonely uses the agent timezone unless the campaign maps a timezone field or is configured to infer the timezone from the contact’s phone number. The editor warns when a configured range falls outside 8:00 AM–9:00 PM. This warning does not replace your own compliance review.

​

Give a contact its own calling window

In the Calling hours step, open Days and hours, turn on per-person calling hours, and choose the source field containing each contact’s window. For an existing campaign, open Settings > Calling hours to change that mapping. Write each window as a daily time range such as 09:00-17:00, and separate multiple ranges with a semicolon: 09:00-12:00;13:00-17:00. Each window is evaluated in that contact’s own timezone. A contact’s window can only narrow the campaign’s calling hours, never extend them. If a contact’s window never overlaps the campaign’s hours, that call is held rather than dialed.

​

Set do-not-dial days

Open Days off in the Calling hours step to keep a campaign from placing calls on specific dates, such as holidays. Add dates in either of two ways:

• Select the US federal holidays preset to add its upcoming dates at once.
• Select individual dates on the year calendar.

Review the dates before selecting Start campaign during setup. For an existing campaign, apply date edits with Save changes in Settings. An active campaign waits on its days off and resumes when its calling schedule allows. Do-not-dial days do not replace the calling-hours, consent, and suppression rules that apply to each contact and jurisdiction.

​

Select a flow

A campaign uses one published outbound flow. In the Call flow step you can select an existing flow or create a new one and land in the flow editor with Ask AI open. Map the fields from the campaign source to the variables the flow needs in the Variables step before launching the campaign. See Outbound Flows for the flow requirements.

​

Launch and monitor the campaign

On Review and start, select Start campaign to save and start the campaign. If the campaign is saved but cannot start, correct the reported problem and use the start action on its detail page. A running campaign reads Active; campaigns also appear as Paused or Completed, and a draft reads Not set up. The campaign page shows the queue as a Call History style list: four tiles that double as filters, rows grouped by queue state and day, selection with Analyze with AI and export, the number each call was dialed from, and next-try times on waiting calls.

• Pause a campaign to stop new calls temporarily.
• Resume a paused campaign when it is ready to continue.
• Open the campaign to review its queued and completed calls.

The four tiles are Queued, In progress, Completed, and Failed. Queued includes calls waiting to dial and scheduled redials; In progress includes calls being dialed and active calls. Select a tile to filter the list, then select it again to show all calls. If counts are unavailable, the tiles show a dash rather than zero. Use the back arrow beside the campaign name to return to that agent’s campaign list. A queued call shows why it has not been dialed yet: Hover a held call to see the reason. A call goes on hold when the contact’s calling window no longer overlaps the campaign’s hours, when that window could not be read, or when the campaign’s calling hours are misconfigured. Widen the campaign’s hours or correct the contact data to release it.

​

Manage queued calls

Open a campaign to review the calls waiting in its queue. From the calls table you can adjust individual calls before they are dialed, and clear the queue while the campaign is running or paused:

• Edit a queued call to change its variables and settings before it is dialed. Editing is available while a call is still Queued, Queueing, or scheduled for redial.
• Remove from queue cancels the queued calls for a contact’s number. Calls already in progress finish; queued attempts are cancelled.
• Clear queue asks for confirmation before cancelling the campaign’s queued calls, including records still marked Queued that are no longer waiting to dial. Review the preview counts; when scheduled redials are included, those are cancelled too. Calls already dialing finish.

The result reports cancelled calls and any scheduled redials. A call record can take a moment to update. Failed cancellations are reported separately: a scheduled redial that could not be cancelled may still dial. Retry Clear queue when the result reports a failure, and contact support if it keeps failing. The campaign overview badge stays in sync with the queue as calls are added, dialed, or cancelled. Before using production contacts, test the selected flow and campaign mappings with contact data and phone numbers you control.