How to set a callback from the agent screen

Setting a callback in VICIdial is one of the most common things an agent does on a live call. The customer asks you to ring back tomorrow afternoon, and you need that lead to come back at the right moment instead of getting lost. The good news is that the whole thing happens on the agent screen, with no admin help required, as long as the feature is switched on for the campaign and the user.

Before you start: the feature has to be on

A callback is a lead that an Agent has marked to be contacted again at a specific date and time in the future. For an agent to do that, two switches need to be on: the campaign must allow scheduled callbacks, and the agent's own VICIdial user options must allow them too. If both are set, a callback option appears as part of the disposition step. If you do not see it, that is almost always one of those two switches being off rather than anything you did wrong.

For the wider picture of how this fits into your dialing strategy, read our full guide to scheduled callbacks.

The steps on the agent screen

When you are ready to wrap up the call, the flow is short and predictable.

1. Finish the conversation and hang up the customer, just as you would for any call.
2. At the disposition step, choose the CALLBK Status (lead status) instead of a final outcome like SALE or NI.
3. A calendar and time picker appears. Choose the future date and time the customer asked for.
4. Decide whether this callback is yours alone or open to the whole team, then submit.

Picking the CALLBK Disposition is what tells the system this lead is not finished. The date and time you choose is when the Lead becomes eligible to be contacted again. If you leave it open to the team, the lead goes back into the Hopper for the campaign once its time arrives. If you reserve it for yourself, only you can dial it.

The set-callback flow

flowchart TD
  A[Call ends] --> B[Open disposition step]
  B --> C{Need a callback}
  C -- No --> D[Pick final disposition]
  C -- Yes --> E[Choose CALLBK status]
  E --> F[Pick date and time]
  F --> G{Reserve for me}
  G -- Yes --> H[USERONLY callback]
  G -- No --> I[ANYONE callback to hopper]
  H --> J[Submit and move on]
  I --> J

Yours alone or open to the team

The choice you make at submit time matters more than people expect. A team-wide callback rejoins the Campaign flow and can be dialed by whoever is next in line, which is great for general follow-ups. A callback reserved for you keeps your relationship with the customer intact, so the person who built the rapport is the one who calls back. If you want a deeper look at that toggle, see what the My Callback checkbox does.

One small habit pays off: confirm the date and time back to the customer before you hang up. A clear, agreed time means your follow-up lands when they expect it, which lifts your contact rate and keeps your pipeline honest.

Run it on infrastructure built for the floor

Scheduled callbacks only help if the agent screen is fast and the dialer is reliable. VICIfast provisions a dedicated, secured VICIdial server in under 40 seconds so your agents get a responsive interface from day one. See our pricing to get a server running.