On one day of a real Tamil-language campaign, about half the calls never connected, and because retries were switched off, those contacts were never called again. The causes were the usual mix: invalid numbers, landlines, DND-registered numbers, phones switched off, and, that day, a temporary gap in call-status updates from the telephony provider. None of it was unusual. What made it costly was having no retries. This post breaks down why campaign calls fail and gives a checklist to recover most of them. See the full story in Tamil AI calls for insurance sales.
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Where failed calls come from
| Cause | What happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Invalid number | Wrong digits, typos | Validate before upload |
| Landline | Many campaigns target mobiles only | Filter by number type |
| Switched off / out of coverage | Call fails now, works later | Retry at a different time |
| Busy / no answer | Person couldn't pick up | Retry after a few hours |
| DND-registered | Promotional calls restricted | Respect DND; call only with consent or a service reason |
| Duplicate | Same person called twice | De-duplicate before upload |
| Opted out | Asked not to be called | Remove permanently |
| Provider issue | Temporary telephony problem | Retries recover them automatically |
Lesson 1: retries on, by default
A number that is busy at 11 am is often free at 6 pm. A phone switched off today is on tomorrow. With retries by outcome, a campaign recovers a large share of first-attempt failures at no extra effort.
A sensible default:
- Retry: no-answer and busy.
- How many: 2 more attempts.
- When: 3-4 hours later, then the next day at a different time.
- Never retry: answered calls, wrong numbers, opt-outs.
On Edesy, you choose which outcomes are retried and on what schedule, per campaign.
Lesson 2: clean the list first
Before every upload:
- Remove duplicates. Paste the number column into a remove duplicate lines tool to drop repeats.
- Check digits: 10-digit Indian mobiles; remove anything else if you only call mobiles.
- Remove opt-outs from earlier campaigns.
- Respect DND for promotional calls; see TRAI and DND rules for AI calling.
- Prefer people you have a relationship with. Existing customers answer far more than cold lists.
Lesson 3: expect short calls, and design for them
In the same campaign, the median call was around 30 seconds, and many people hung up right after the greeting. Your first sentence must say who is calling and why, and ask a question within 10 seconds. A list with good connect rates is wasted by a slow opening.
Lesson 4: call when people answer
- Avoid early mornings and late evenings.
- For business contacts, mid-morning and mid-afternoon.
- For consumers, early evening often works better.
Test two windows on your pilot and compare.
Lesson 5: watch the first day closely
On a new campaign, check after the first hour:
- Connect rate by hour.
- Share of very short calls (possible silence or a bad opening line). See how to fix dead air.
- Any sudden drop in connects, which may be a list or provider issue, not your script.
You don't pay for failures
On Edesy, calls are billed per started minute at Rs 4-6 per minute depending on your prepaid top-up, and unanswered calls are not charged. Retries cost only when they connect.
The checklist
- List de-duplicated and validated
- Opt-outs and DND handled
- Retries on for no-answer and busy (2 attempts, different times)
- Opening line under 10 seconds with a question
- Calling window set
- First-hour metrics reviewed
Try it
Create a free account, upload a cleaned list of 200 contacts with retries on, and compare the connect rate with your last campaign. For the full setup, see the 10,000-contact campaign playbook.