Set up a Voice Broadcast campaign

Call a large list of contacts at once with a pre-recorded or text-to-speech message, let them press a digit to transfer or opt out, and schedule the calls for the right time in each contact's day.

Before you start

• Have your contact list uploaded to CallHub. You cannot change the list after setup, so double-check it now.
• Have your audio ready, or plan to type your message and use Text To Speech. To record or upload audio, see How to upload and record audio in CallHub.
• Have at least one validated phone number to use as your Caller ID (you can add one during setup).
• Setting up a campaign takes about 10–15 minutes.

Create the campaign

Live Answer is the message the system plays when a person answers the call.

1. On the Live Answer section, choose one of two options:
   • Play Audio — select a pre-recorded or uploaded audio file to play to your contacts. To add new audio, see How to upload and record audio in CallHub.
   • Text To Speech — type a message that a text-to-speech engine reads to the contact when the call connects.
2. If you use Text To Speech, add merge tags to personalize the message with each contact's details. See How to personalize conversations in CallHub.
3. In your message, mention the transfer and opt-out digits the contact can press, so they know their options.

Set up Press-1 / Transfer

Transfers let a contact press a digit (1 to 8) to reach your team, leave a message, or complete a quick survey.

1. On the Press-1/Transfer section, click Add Transfer.
2. Set your transfer message with Play Audio or Text to Speech. This message should confirm the key press — for example: "Thank you. Please hold while your call is transferred to one of our representatives."
3. Under Transfer Digit, select a digit from the dropdown (digits 1 to 8 are available).
4. Choose one of the four transfer options:
   • Transfer to Phone number — sends the call to a specific number. Add multiple numbers separated by commas. To reach an extension, add a semicolon and the extension after the number — for example, to transfer to 14158745962 and to extension 5 on 13158838817, enter 14158745962, 13158838817;5.
   • Record Message — lets the contact record a message after pressing the digit.
   • Record Message and Create Transcript — records the contact's message and creates a transcript, which you can review in the transfer results.
   • Hang up Immediately — ends the call after the transfer message plays. Best suited for surveys.

ⓘ Transcription is charged at $0.69 per minute. Choose Record Message without a transcript if you don't need one.

Set up Do Not Call

Give contacts a digit to opt out of future calls and texts.

1. On the Do Not Call section, click Enable Do Not Call.
2. Select the DNC digit.
3. Set the confirmation message that plays when the digit is pressed — for example: "Thank you. Your number will be removed from our list."

Contacts who press the DNC digit are automatically added to your Do Not Call list, and the system will not call or text them in any future campaign.

Set up the Answering Machine option

Voice Broadcast supports Answering Machine Detection (AMD). With AMD on, the system can drop a voicemail automatically when a machine picks up.

1. On the Answering Machine section, click Enable Answering Machine Detection.
2. Choose what happens when a machine answers:
   • Play Audio — select the audio you want left as the voicemail.
   • Hang up Immediately — ends the call without leaving a message.

How AMD works, and why voicemails can sound cut off. After a call is answered, CallHub listens for 5 seconds to detect whether a human or an answering machine picked up. If it detects a machine, it waits for 2 seconds of silence — the sign that the machine's greeting has finished and it is ready to record — and then plays your audio. If a machine has a long or unusual greeting, part of your message can end up recorded over the greeting, which is why some voicemails sound truncated.

ⓘ Answering machine detection is about 60–70% accurate — it is not 100%. Failure rates are higher on landlines whose greeting is shorter than 5 seconds, and on cell phones, where the telecom carrier handles voicemail. Voice Broadcast works best for calls where you expect contacts to answer directly.

Assign contact lists

1. On the contact list section, select the list of contacts you want to call. You can add multiple lists.
2. Choose the DNC settings for the campaign. Learn more about the DNC feature.

Select one or more contact lists and set DNC options. (reuse attachment 14767614406809)

⚠ You cannot change the contact list after you finish setting up the campaign. If you picked the wrong list or want to add another, duplicate the campaign with the Duplicate button instead — see how to duplicate a campaign.

Configure General Settings

1. On the General Settings section, enter a name for the campaign.
2. Select a Caller ID — the number your contacts see when the call comes in. You can pick any of your validated numbers.
3. To validate a new number, click Add beside the Caller ID dropdown.
4. To show contacts a local number instead of one fixed Caller ID, use Dynamic Caller ID. A local number raises the chance your contacts pick up.

Configure Dialer Settings

On the Dialer Settings section, set:

• Frequency — the number of calls placed per minute. The default is 60.
• Max Retries per contact — how many times an unanswered contact is retried. The default is 0; you can set up to 10.
• Time delay between Retries — the delay, in seconds, before the same contact is retried.
• Max Call Duration — the maximum time a call can stay active on the campaign.

Schedule the campaign

1. On the Schedule section, set the start and finish dates for the campaign.
2. Select the daily operational hours — the window during which calls go out each day.
3. Choose which days to call: weekdays, weekends, or specific days of the week.
4. Select the campaign's timezone. The daily start and stop times are calculated in this timezone. If you don't select one, your account's timezone is used.

Call people in their timezone (US only)

The US spans multiple timezones, and some states have two. To make sure each contact is called at the right local time, on the Schedule section, toggle Call people in their timezone.

For example, if you set operational hours of 9 am to 11 am, contacts on the East Coast are called between 9 and 11 am EST, and contacts on the West Coast between 9 and 11 am PST — each contact hears from you at the same local time.

The system determines each contact's timezone from, in order:

1. The contact's zipcode; if not available,
2. The contact's State; if not available,
3. The area code of the contact's phone number.

Zipcode and State are read from the contact's record in your contact list, if added.

ⓘ Call people in their timezone is available only for contacts in the US.

Finish and start

1. Click Finish.
2. Click Start to begin making calls, or leave the campaign to start automatically at its scheduled time.

Notes & limits

⚠ The contact list is locked once setup is complete. To change it, duplicate the campaign — the original list cannot be edited or swapped.

ⓘ Answering machine detection is roughly 60–70% accurate, and voicemails can sound truncated on machines with long greetings. Plan your message for live answers first.

ⓘ Transcription for Record Message and Create Transcript costs $0.69 per minute.

ⓘ Timezone-based calling works only for US contacts. For other countries, all calls follow the campaign timezone.

FAQs

Why does my answering machine message sound cut off? 
After a machine is detected, CallHub waits for 2 seconds of silence before playing your audio. On machines with long or unusual greetings, the message can start before the machine begins recording, so the recording sounds truncated. Detection is also only about 60–70% accurate, and less reliable on landline greetings shorter than 5 seconds and on cell phone carrier voicemail.

Can I change the contact list after starting the campaign? 
No. The contact list cannot be changed once setup is complete. Duplicate the campaign and select the correct list.

How do retries work? 
If a contact doesn't answer, the campaign retries them up to your Max Retries per contact setting (default 0, maximum 10), waiting the Time delay between Retries (in seconds) before each attempt.

Do I have to start the campaign manually? 
No. Once you finish setup and start the campaign, calls go out automatically within the scheduled dates and daily operational hours you set.