How do I set up an AI outbound calling campaign with retries and a text before the call?

Outbound AI calling is built from two connected workflows on an AI agent: one that places the calls and one that runs when the person picks up. You can build them by hand in a few minutes, or tell the AI assistant what you want and it builds them for you.

AI calling requires opt-in. The people you call must have agreed to be contacted and expect your call. You cannot load a list of cold or scraped numbers (for example from a CSV file) and have the AI call them. The same applies to SMS.

1. Create the call answered workflow, for example named Call answered. Add a Conversation node with the opening line the AI says as soon as the phone is picked up. Type a slash to insert variables such as the contact's first name, and say why you are calling, for example: Hi (first name), this is (your name) calling about your quote request. Do not open with how can I help you. After this line the agent's prompt takes over, so you do not have to build more, although you can add more Conversation nodes for a structured script. If you give this workflow the Conversation started trigger, it also runs when a contact replies to one of your text messages, which gives you one script for whenever somebody responds.
2. Create the outbound workflow, for example named Outbound call drip. Leave the trigger as Manual if you want to add people yourself, or use a trigger such as Form submitted and pick your lead magnet form so every new lead is called straight away.
3. Recommended: add an SMS step before the call. Most people do not answer numbers they do not recognize, so text a heads up such as: It is (your name) with (business), I see you just submitted the form on our website and I am about to give you a call. Send it from the same number you will call from, and wait one minute at most before calling (or call with no wait) to keep speed to lead. Sending SMS requires your 10DLC (A2P) registration to be approved.
4. Add a Call step and choose Outbound call (not call forwarding). Choose the number you are calling from (the caller ID) and choose the Call answered workflow as what runs when the customer picks up.
5. When the conversation ends, whether the caller or the AI hangs up, the outbound workflow resumes and goes down one of four branches: Answered, No answer, Voicemail or Failed.
6. Answered: nothing more to do, do not connect another call. No answer or Voicemail: add a Wait and call again by duplicating the call step. For a brand new hot lead keep the waits short, for example 15 minutes to an hour, and call more often at the start and less later. For other uses a longer wait, such as a day, can fit. Three or four attempts is a good number. Do not give up after one attempt.
7. Failed: the phone number is probably bad, so add a step that turns on Do Not Disturb for calls and text messages (leave email on if you do not know that the email is bad). Do Not Disturb is set per contact, not per phone number.
8. Click auto arrange to tidy the layout, and save.

Most outbound sequences mix steps, such as call, wait, call, wait, SMS, call, with email in between. You can also add a text to yourself telling you a new lead came in.

To run a campaign with a Manual trigger: go to Contacts, filter the people you want (for example Last call date is not set), select them, choose Assign to agents, pick the workflow and set the pace, for example 30 per hour, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Click Schedule campaign and the agent starts calling. You can raise or lower the pace later. To limit how many people pass through any workflow, use the Drip mode step, which lets only a set number through per minute, hour or day.

Every call appears in the activity section, where you can listen to the recording and read the transcript. Listen to the first calls to see where people were interested or dropped off, and improve the script. You can use this for yourself or for clients, for speed to lead and database reactivation, and save it in a snapshot to offer as a service. A widely cited study found that calling a lead within the first couple of minutes raises the close rate by 391 percent.