If you've set up a phone banking action and gotten users involved (on web or mobile), it's time to track your phone banking results! This article details the types of data you can gather from a phone bank, where to find performance statistics, how to export phone banking data, how to sync phone banking data to third-party systems like VAN/EveryAction, and more.
Gathering Data from Phone Banks
There are three types of data that you can gather from a phone bank:
Basic data, like the fact that a certain contact received a call at a certain date/time, and what the call outcome was
Data gathered from within the script, i.e. a contact's responses to the questions asked of them in the script
Additional data gathered during or after the call, like call notes or additional desired tags/custom fields
Basic Data
Impactive generates basic data about the phone bank automatically; you do not need to take any steps for this data to be automatically gathered. This includes:
Last Called At: This default custom field stores when a contact was last called at (date and time)
Call Outcome: This default custom field stores the outcome of a call. Some call outcomes are auto-generated by Impactive, while others are reported by users based on what they experienced when they were connected to a call:
Call outcomes auto-generated by Impactive:
Answering Machine: If Answering Machine Detection is turned on (see info on setting up a phone bank here) and Impactive recognizes an answering machine and therefore prevents the call from being connected to a user.
Failed: If the call fails to be connected for some reason - an invalid number, etc.
Dropped: If the call goes through and reaches a contact, but there is not a user ready to be connected to the call (and thus the contact does not speak to anyone). A small percentage of dropped calls are a normal side effect of predictive dialing.
Opt-Out: A contact that has the Opt Out (Call) tag, and therefore the call was not attempted.
Frequent Calling Protection: A contact that was already called within the last six hours, and therefore the call was not attempted (if the Frequent Calling Protection setting is turned ON in Campaign Settings > Phone Banking.)
Call outcomes reported by users - this means that the user did connect to the call and either spoke to a person (successfully, or with some other outcome listed below) or reached an answering machine.
Completed: The "success" outcome from phone banking, meaning that the user was connected to the correct contact and they had a conversation according to the script.
Answering Machine: If a user was connected to an answering machine, which happens only rarely if Answering Machine Detection is turned on, but frequently if Answering Machine Detection is turned off.
Busy: The user learns that the contact is busy and can't talk right now.
Not Home: The user learns that the contact is not home and can't talk right now.
Wrong Number: The user learns that the desired contact is not reachable at this number.
Deceased: The user learns that the desired contact is deceased.
Refused: The user learns that the contact refuses to speak.
No language in common: The user learns that they cannot speak a common language with the contact.
Call outcomes are not customizable. You do not need to take any steps to make sure that call outcomes are reported, whether automatically by Impactive or by users at the end of calls.
Data Gathered from Within the Script
When writing a phone banking script, you'll create script blocks with responses - those responses are the contact's answers to the questions posed to them in the script.
Sometimes, you might not need to store the responses from a certain script block - it might be an in-between question to get to another part of the script, etc. But in many cases, you want to store the responses that contacts give you. In that case, you need to link the script block to a custom field.
Use the Custom Field drop-down on the right-hand side of the script block to select your desired custom field for this script block; selecting a custom field will pre-fill the Responses for that script block with the various response options for that custom field. (If linked to custom field responses, phone banking script responses cannot be edited; you can edit the custom field responses directly under Data > Custom Fields if you'd like to add, delete, or rephrase the options.) If responses are linked to a custom field, it means that those custom fields will automatically be saved to the contact (and synced to other systems, if sync instructions are set up) when users click the buttons as they move through the script.
Additional Data Gathered During or After the Call
In many cases, the data you're interested in gathering will be surfaced through the script itself (see above). However, if there are additional tags or custom fields that you want users to report on, outside of what's in the script, you can add those desired tags and custom fields to the phone banking Report Settings (when setting up the action).
Tags and custom fields added to Report Settings for a phone banking action can be reported on in two ways by users: the report is available during the call (it's another "tab" of the user interface, next to the script tab), and it also appears after the call in the few screens that the user clicks through at the end of each call.
Because the report is accessible both during and after the call, it's common to add a Notes custom field to the report settings, so users can take notes in the middle of the call. This is just one of many reasons why you may want to gather additional tags and custom fields beyond just what's in the phone banking script.
Monitoring Phone Banking Results
Results from a phone banking action, like all other actions on Impactive, can be monitored from the action's results page. You can find the results page either from the action's individual page:
Or from the results link for that action within the All Actions or all phone banking actions list pages:
Live Phone Banking Results
If a phone bank is currently active (has been started by an administrator, using the Start Phone Bank button at the top-right of the results page), you'll see a Live results section, indicated with green section headers, at the top of the results page:
Calls Remaining: The number of contacts on the designated contact list for this phone banking action that have not had calls attempted yet.
Calls Placed: The number of calls attempted so far for this action.
Total Connections: The number of calls that have successfully connected to a contact, whether they were connected to a user or not (Dropped).
Average Wait Time: The average wait time for users between connected calls.
Canvassed: The number of calls with the successful Completed outcome - these are calls that were successfully connected between user and contact, and they had a conversation according to the script.
Dropped Calls: The number of calls that went through and reached a contact, but there was not a user ready to be connected to the call (and thus the contact did not speak to anyone). A small percentage of dropped calls are a normal side effect of predictive dialing.
Volunteers On: The number of users currently connected to the phone bank.
Volunteers Active: The number of users currently on a call or in the queue to wait for another call.
Volunteers Idle: The opposite of Volunteers Active, the number of users NOT currently on a call or in the queue to wait for another call.
Volunteers In-Call: A subset of Volunteers Active, the number of users currently on a call.
Primary Phone Banking Results
Regardless of whether the phone bank is currently live or not, the results page will display the following metrics for the phone bank:
Volunteers Who Dialed: The total number of volunteers who have participated in this phone banking action.
Calls Attempted: The number of calls attempted so far for this action.
Calls Failed: The number of calls that failed for any reason, including invalid numbers, preventions for opt-outs and Frequent Calling Protection, etc.
Calls Remaining: The number of contacts on the designated contact list for this phone banking action that have not had calls attempted yet.
Total Connections: The number of calls that were successfully connected to a contact, whether they were connected to a user or not (Dropped).
Conversations with Humans: The number of calls that were connected between a contact and a user; this includes calls with the successful Completed outcome, but also other outcomes like Wrong Number, Refused, etc.
Canvassed: The number of calls with the successful Completed outcome - these are calls that were successfully connected between user and contact, and they had a conversation according to the script.
Busy: The number of calls with the Busy outcome - these are calls that were successfully connected between user and contact, and the user reported that the contact was busy and couldn't talk.
Wrong Number: The number of calls with the Wrong Number outcome - these are calls that were successfully connected between user and contact, and the user reported that the desired contact is not reachable at this number.
Not Home: The number of calls with the Not Home outcome - these are calls that were successfully connected between user and contact, and the user reported that the desired contact was not home and couldn't talk.
Refused: The number of calls with the Refused outcome - these are calls that were successfully connected between user and contact, and the user reported that the desired contact was not home and couldn't talk.
Total Call Time: The total amount of time that users spent on connected calls with contacts.
Total Wait Time: The total amount of time that users spent queued between calls.
Wait Time per Connection: The average amount of time that users waited between connected calls (regardless of specific outcome).
Wait Time per Conversation: The average amount of time that users waited between calls with the Completed (successful) outcome.
Exporting Phone Banking Data
As with all Impactive action types, there are two places where you can generate CSV exports of data from a certain phone bank, and multiple types of exports that are available in those two places.
Where to Export Phone Banking Data
You can generate CSV exports from either:
The action's results page: scroll to the bottom of the results page and find several buttons to Export Reports, Export Users, etc.
Under Data > Exports > + New Export: select an export type, and optionally filter that export for a certain phone banking action and/or for certain dates.
Types of Phone Banking Data to Export
Read our overall article on export types in Impactive here for a full description of various export types. But for phone banking specifically, there are a few export types that are most relevant. These export types are available from either of the two locations described above.
Calls: Export a CSV of every call attempted, including its outcome.
Reports: Export a CSV of every "report" filled by a user throughout the phone bank, including both the data (custom fields) gathered within the script, and any additional tags/custom fields added in Report Settings for the during/post-call report.
User Activity: Export a CSV of the users that participated in the phone bank and their key stats, like number of calls completed, etc.
Syncing Phone Banking Data to Third-Party CRMs (VAN/EveryAction, etc.)
Syncing data to third-party CRMs, like VAN/EveryAction, works the same for phone banking as it does for all other action types across Impactive. Read more about how to set up integrations, including how to set up sync instructions to map specific data fields between Impactive and a third-party CRM.
Head to Data > Integrations > + New Sync Instruction to set up sync instructions in order to send phone banking data to VAN/EveryAction and other CRMs. Recommended setup for the two phone banking-specific custom fields (Last Called At and Call Outcome) are described below; for any other tags and custom fields gathered during the phone bank, whether within the script or in the during/post-call report, set up sync instructions in the standard format used across all action types.
Syncing Last Called At for VAN/EveryAction
Our recommended sync instruction format for syncing the default Last Called At custom field (which is a timestamp, date and time) to VAN/EveryAction is:
Instructions For: NGP VAN
Instruction Name: [write a clear name]
Target State: [typically Any, unless this sync should be filtered for only contacts in a certain state]
Instructions for: Custom Field
For Custom Field: Last Called At
Target Value: Any
Sync CustomField with Integration: [select the correct API key]
Database Mode: [either My Campaign or My Voters, depending on your VAN setup]
Type: Canvasser Response
Object: Phone Call
Result Code: [VAN result code of your choice]
Note that the Last Called At field is appended to a contact any time the contact is attempted to be called (regardless of call outcome - Completed, Answering Machine, etc.).
Syncing Call Outcome for VAN/EveryAction
Our recommended sync instruction format for syncing the default Call Outcome field (with its default outcomes that cannot be customized) to VAN/EveryAction is below.
You will need to create a separate sync instruction for each individual option within Call Outcome (assuming you would like to sync each outcome to VAN), as is standard for creating sync instructions for all Impactive custom fields.
The following setup applies to all Call Outcome sync instructions:
Instructions For: NGP VAN
Instruction Name: [write a clear name]
Target State: [typically Any, unless this sync should be filtered for only contacts in a certain state]
Instructions for: Custom Field
For Custom Field: Call Outcome
These values can apply to each individual sync instruction for individual Call Outcome option:
Target Value: [the call outcome in question - Completed, Not Home, Wrong Number, etc.]
Sync CustomField with Integration: [select the correct API key]
Database Mode: [either My Campaign or My Voters, depending on your VAN setup]
Target Value | Type | Object | Result Code |
Completed | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Canvassed |
No language in common | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Other Language |
Wrong number | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Wrong Number |
Refused | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Refused |
Deceased | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Deceased |
Answering machine | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Not Home |
No answer | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Not Home |
Busy | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Not Home |
Not home | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Not Home |
Moved | Canvasser Response | Auto Dial | Moved |