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Glossary · Dialing

What is Connect rate?

  • Also called: call connect rate, live answer rate

Reviewed by Sujan ThapaliyaLast updated

Definition

Connect rate is the share of dialled calls answered by a live human. It is the outbound metric that actually predicts pipeline, and it is routinely confused with contact rate, which counts reaching the right person rather than reaching anyone.
The three STIR/SHAKEN attestation levels, which underpin how connect rate behaves in practice: A asserts both that the carrier knows the customer and that the customer may use the calling number, B asserts the customer only, and C asserts neither. A shared number pool can reach B at best, which is why number ownership keeps recurring in these definitions.
Attestation is the backdrop to most caller-ID and deliverability terms, connect rate included.

In practice

How connect rate actually works

Dialing faster multiplies whatever connect rate you already have. A dialer that doubles dial volume on a list connecting at 3% produces twice as many conversations with people who are not the decision-maker.

The levers that move it are mostly outside the dialer: number reputation, whether the call displays a name, the time of day in the recipient's own time zone, and the quality of the list.

Track it per number as well as per campaign. A collapsing connect rate on one number is a reputation problem; a collapsing rate across all of them is a list problem.

Connect rate also decays predictably as a list is worked, which is worth expecting rather than diagnosing. The reachable people answer early; what remains after four attempts is disproportionately wrong numbers and people who never answer, so a falling rate late in a campaign is the list emptying rather than deliverability failing.

Worked example

1,200 dials producing 84 live answers is a 7% connect rate. If only 31 of those were the decision-maker, the contact rate is 2.6%, and that is the number the forecast depends on.

Connect rate: common questions

What is a good connect rate for cold calling?
Between 3% and 10% on cold B2B lists, depending on seniority, industry and number reputation. Warm and inbound-sourced lists run considerably higher, which is why blended averages mislead.
What is the difference between connect rate and contact rate?
Connect rate counts any human answering. Contact rate counts reaching the person you actually needed. The gap between them is gatekeepers, wrong numbers and colleagues.
How do you improve connect rate?
Fix number reputation first, then caller identity, then timing. Dialing speed changes the number of attempts, not the share of them that connect.

Sources

  1. Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication — Federal Communications CommissionThe STIR/SHAKEN framework, the attestation levels carriers sign calls with, and the mandate requiring providers to authenticate caller ID.
  2. 47 U.S.C. § 227 — Restrictions on the use of telephone equipment — Cornell Legal Information InstituteThe Telephone Consumer Protection Act itself — the consent requirements, calling-hours limits, and private right of action.
  3. ITU-T Recommendation E.164 — The international public telecommunication numbering plan — International Telecommunication UnionThe international number format, the 15-digit maximum, and how country codes and national numbers compose.

See connect rate in the product

A power dialer places one outbound call at a time from a loaded list, automatically dialling the next contact the moment the previous call ends. It removes manual dialling and hold time without the connection delay that makes predictive dialling feel robotic to the person who answers.

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