dialing
Press 1
A campaign style where a recorded message asks the person to press 1 to connect to an agent, instead of dialing live agents directly.
A Press 1 campaign plays a recorded message to whoever answers and asks them to press a key — usually 1 — to be connected to a live person. People who don't press anything are left alone or hung up on. Only the ones who press are routed to an agent, so the system fills agents with people who've already shown interest.
It's a cousin of broadcast dialing, where VICIdial blasts a recording to a list without any agents involved. The difference is the menu: Press 1 keeps a path to a human, broadcast usually doesn't. Both lean on automation rather than agents dialing one number at a time.
Why it matters: Press 1 can move a lot of leads with very few agents, because the recording does the filtering. The people who reach an agent land in an ingroup just like an inbound caller would, so your queueing and routing stay the same. You set the recording and the key options on the campaign.
Be careful with compliance. A recorded message that auto-dials is exactly the kind of call rules tighten around, and it overlaps heavily with robo dialing. If a call connects but no agent is free, you may owe a safe harbor message so the person knows who called and why. Treat Press 1 as a regulated activity, not a shortcut.
Related terms
Agent
An agent is a person who talks to your customers on the phone, logged into VICIdial through a browser screen that VICIdial drives for them.
Broadcast dialing
Broadcast dialing places calls with no agents involved and plays a recorded message to whoever answers, often with a press-1 option to connect.
Campaign
A campaign is the container that ties together your lead lists, dialing rules, agents, and disposition options for one outbound calling effort.
Ingroup
An inbound group in VICIdial that routes incoming calls to a pool of agents, the inbound counterpart to an outbound campaign.
Robo-dialing
Automatically dialing numbers and playing a recorded message with little or no live agent involvement — heavily regulated and easy to misuse.
Safe Harbor message
A recorded notice played when a dialer connects a call but no agent is free, identifying who called and why, to limit liability for the dropped call.