How to lower your VICIdial drop rate

If you're seeing your drop rate creep above 3%, you're not alone — it's the most common complaint from new VICIdial users, and it has a simple fix.

A drop is when someone answers your outbound call and no agent is available to talk to them. The TCPA caps you at 3% drops per campaign, per month. Go over that and you're outside the safe harbor.

The setting that controls this is called Auto Dial Level, and nine times out of ten, it's the only knob you need to touch.

What auto dial level actually does

Auto dial level is the number of calls VICIdial places per available agent. At 1.0, it calls one number per free agent. At 3.0, it calls three numbers, betting that two of them won't pick up — busy signals, voicemail, no answer.

When the bet goes wrong — when too many people answer at the same time — the extras become drops. So if your drop rate is high, your dial level is too aggressive for the list you're calling.

The fix

In your campaign settings, lower the Auto Dial Level by half a point and save. That's it.

• If you're at 3.0, try 2.5.
• If you're at 2.5, try 2.0.
• If you're at 2.0, try 1.5.

Then wait an hour. Drop rate is calculated against a rolling window, so the number on your manager screen won't budge for the first 10 minutes. Give it a full hour before deciding whether to adjust again.

What you're trading

Lower dial level means agents wait a little longer between calls. Roughly, every 0.5 you drop costs you about 10% in throughput — fewer dials per hour, but cleaner ones. For most campaigns, that's the right trade. A few extra seconds of agent wait time is cheaper than a TCPA complaint.

What to check after the change

Watch the manager screen for an hour. Two things should happen:

1. Drop percentage falls. If it doesn't, your list quality is the problem, not the dial level — people who never pick up inflate the math.
2. Agent idle time rises slightly. That's expected. If it jumps more than 15%, you've gone too conservative — bump the dial level back up by 0.25.

Want a VICIdial setup where the dial level is already tuned for your list type? VICIfast ships campaigns with defaults that stay under 3% drops from the first call.