Estimated reading time: 8 minutes | Target users: Everyone

When contacted, potential customers can ask agents to be opted-out from the ongoing telemarketing campaign, meaning that they do not wish to receive unsolicited calls, product offers or service information. The contact information of those who have asked to be opted out is stored on a list called the Robinson list. The Robinson lists at VCC Live contain 3 types of information for each entry: Identifier (the client’s phone number), Added by (name of the user who added a number to the Robinson list – they can be an agent or supervisor) and Date added (the date when the entry was added to the Robinson list).

Global Robinson lists exist in many countries, with users being able to sign up to such lists in order to avoid unsolicited contact. In addition to this, VCC Live operates with its own Robinson list: when an agent terminates a call with a Robinson disposition, the number is added to the specific VCC Live project’s Robinson list (which can be your Global Robinson list as well). When an agent attempts to call a record that is on the Robinson list, the system, depending on your settings, terminates the call with a Discard (Robinson) disposition. In addition to the default Robinson list of a project, it is also possible to add numbers manually to the projects’s Robinson list.

In this lesson you will learn how to:

• Select a Project’s Default Robinson list
• Add or Remove Numbers to the Default Outbound Robinson List
• Create a New Robinson List
• View all entries in a Robinson List
• Allow Agents to Call Robinson List Records

1. To Select a Project’s Default Robinson list

VCC Live can handle several Robinson lists, which can be assigned to one or more projects. When creating a new project, you can set a Robinson list as a default for your project. To do this, just follow the below steps:

1. Select a project from the project list, then select channels.menu.label > voice.menu.label > outbound_menu.menu.label.
2. Select an option from the selectRobinsonList.label list drop-down list. This will be the project’s default Robinson list.
3. Press field_change.button.label.

2. To Add or Remove Numbers to the Default Outbound Robinson List

If you want to update your global / default Robinson list with further contacts who don’t want to be called, you can easily add more phone numbers to your existing Default Outbound Robinson List by following the steps below:

1. From the productname.label menu, select call_center.menu.label > settings.menu.label.
2. On the robinsonList.tab.label tab, select Default Phone Out (on the upper-left side of the window).
3. In the manageRobinsonList.label list pane, enter phone numbers in the personalIdentifiers.label field.
4. Press addIdentifiers.button.label. The dialer will not dial these phone numbers.

If you want to make a phone number callable again, you can also remove a phone number from the Robinson List by entering a phone number, and then pressing removeIdentifiers.button.label.

Note: Phone numbers should be entered in the following format, without spaces: country code + area code + local number. Example for a phone number in Budapest, Hungary: 361123456

Tip: It is also possible to clear all entries from a Robinson list, so you can build it up again from scratch. In order to do this, simply press the removeAllIdentifiers.button.label button.

3. To Create a New Robinson List

If, besides your default Robinson list, you need another list with specific phone numbers, you can also create a new Robinson list from scratch.

1. From the productname.label, select call_center.menu.label > settings.menu.label.
2. On the robinsonList.tab.label tab, select createNewList.button.label (on the left side of the window).
3. Enter a name for your list, then press save.button.label.
4. In the {base/call_center/settings:manageRobinsonList.label}} pane, enter phone numbers in the personalIdentifiers.label field. Press addIdentifiers.button.label. The dialer will not dial these phone numbers.
5. Once set, this new Robinson list will be then listed and can be selected in the Robinson list drop-down list, as described in To Select a Project Default Robinson list above.

4. To view all entries in a Robinson List

After adding or removing entries from a Robinson list, you can also view which specific phone numbers the list contains. To access the list, simply do the following:

1. From the productname.label, select call_center.menu.label > settings.menu.label.
2. On the robinsonList.tab.label tab (on the left), select the Robinson list you want to verify.
3. In the manageRobinsonList.label pane, press the export.button.label button. A list of all entries in the selected Robinson list is then downloaded to your computer, which you can access by clicking on the Open button in the window that appears in VCC Live.

5. To Allow Agents to Call Robinson List Records

It is possible to allow your agents to be able to call phone numbers that are on Robinson lists. In such cases, when an agent attempts to call a number that is present on a Robinson list, a warning message will still appear for the agent, stating that the phone number is added to the Robinson list. However, after this warning, the agent can decide whether to call the phone number or not. In order to allow your agents to call numbers from Robinson lists, follow the steps below:

1. Select a project from the project list, then select channels.menu.label > voice.menu.label > outbound_menu.menu.label.
2. In the dialing.caption.label pane, mark or unmark the allow_robinson_call.label checkbox.
3. Press field_change.button.label.

• If, after the warning message, the agent decides not to call the phone number, the Discard (Robinson) disposition is given to the record.
• If, on the other hand, the agent decides to call the phone number, the record receives a disposition defined by the agent.

Note: By default, not marking this checkbox means that your agents are not authorized to call numbers from the Robinson list.