Create an outbound campaign - Amazon Connect

Create an outbound campaign

  1. Open the Amazon Connect Outbound campaigns page from the Amazon Connect admin website.

    The Outbound campaigns option on the left navigation pane.
  2. From the Campaign management page, choose Create Campaign.

    The Campaign management page, the Create campaign button.
  3. Enter a campaign Name.

    Note

    You can also use your own recipient list or campaign management tool by choosing Host external campaign. For more information on setting up a campaign with your own resources, see the High Volume Outbound Communication with Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns blog post.

    Host external campaign link.
    The Campaign set up page, the Name section.
  4. Select a Customer Segment to use for this campaign.  Recipients for the campaign will be determined at the campaign's scheduled start time using the chosen segment. 

  5. Choose the Channel for the main communication of the campaign. The supported channels include Agent assisted voice, Automated voice, Email, and SMS.

    The supported communication channels.
Note

Recipients with incorrect or invalid endpoints are dropped from the communication. For example, for an Email campaign, a recipient with email address "jane.doe@abc!com" is not valid and will not be processed.

Outbound campaigns channel configurations

Email
  1. Select an Outgoing email address to send the email from.  This address must be one already added to your Amazon Connect Instance.

  2. Optionally enter a Friendly Sender Name.  This is the name that the recipients' email client will display.

  3. Select an Email Message Template to use when sending.  

  4. Select the Template Alias or Version number to use with the campaign.  If an alias is selected, then the contents of emails sent by the campaign may change when the alias is updated to point to a new template version. If a version is selected, the campaign will always send the exact same content for the life of the campaign.

    The outgoing email address, friendly sender name, email message template, and template alias/version fields.
Agent Assisted Voice
  1. Select the Contact Flow to use for the outbound call.  If you want reattempts, call classification, or waiting for a prompt, then the flow must contain a Check call progress block.

  2. Select an Agent Queue to use for the outbound calls.  Any call originating from the campaign is routed to agents assigned to this queue.

  3. Select a Source Phone Number.  This is a phone number associated with the Amazon Connect instance.

Important
  • You must use a phone number that has been ported to your Amazon Connect instance, or claimed from Amazon Connect.

  • Telecom regulations in certain countries dictate use of phone numbers from specific carriers for outbound calling. For more information, see the Amazon Connect Telecoms Country Coverage Guide to learn more.

  • Select the dialing mode.  See Best practices for Outbound Campaigns for more information on the dialing modes.

  • Enable call classification and waiting for a prompt.

  • Input the desired Dialing Capacity Allocation.  The dialing capacity of an instance represents the total number of calls can be made in a span of time.  The dialing capacity allocation of a campaign is a weight assigned to this campaign and used to balance the amount of calls being made by this campaign along with other campaigns.  Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns will always try to maximize the usage of the instance's dialing capacity.

  • Enter the desired Agent Allocation.  This allocation is a weight assigned to this campaign and used to determine the total number of available agents belonging to the provided queue for which an outbound call should be placed.  This allocation is converted to a percentage based on the allocation provided to all other campaigns using the same queue.

Note
  • To reduce call connection latency between your customers and available agents we recommend disabling the use of call classification.

  • If you disable call classification, and if your flow includes the Check call progress block, the contact is routed down the Error branch.

  • Ensure Enable wait for prompt is selected. If it is not selected, the ML-powered call classifier won't listen for a voicemail prompt, and instead the next block in the flow will be triggered immediately.

    Amazon Connect communication settings interface with delivery mode, contact flow, and call options.
Automated Voice
  1. Select the Contact Flow to use for the outbound call.  If Reattempts, call classification, or waiting for a prompt is desired, then the Flow must contain a Check call progress block.

  2. Select a Source Phone Number.  This is a phone number associated with the Connect Instance.

Important
  • You must use a phone number that has been ported to your Amazon Connect instance, or claimed from Amazon Connect.

  • Telecom regulations in certain countries dictate use of phone numbers from specific carriers for outbound calling. For more information, see the Amazon Connect Telecoms Country Coverage Guide to learn more.

  • Enable call classification if desired.

    Campaign set up interface with fields for name, recipients, communication, and additional options.
SMS
  1. Select an Originator.  This is the phone number used to send the text messages. Add a hyperlink to Golden or Pinpoint SMS

  2. Select an SMS Message Template to use when sending.  

  3. Select the Template alias or version number to use with the campaign.  If an alias is selected, then the contents of SMS sent by the campaign may change when the alias is updated to point to a new template version.  On the other hand, if a Version is selected, the campaign will always send the exact same content for the life of the campaign.

    Campaign set up form with fields for name, recipients, and communication settings.

Outbound campaigns attempts

Communications per recipient

Add the total number of communications allowed in a given time frame for each recipient in your campaign. If a recipient has received the provided number of communications in the given time frame, Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns will not communicate with that recipient and they will be dropped from the campaign. For example, using the limits provided below, if a recipient has six or more communications in the past two days OR six or more communications in the past two weeks, then they will not receive a communication from this Campaign.

Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns considers any time a recipient has been contacted, regardless of the recipients interaction with the message, as a communication.  For example, a phone call ending in a voicemail is still considered a communication.  Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns will adjust the count of communications if it can determine that the message never reached the end user, and will always err on the side of over-counting.  Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns counts all messages sent by any Campaign on any channel as communications.

Note
  • The total count of messages across campaigns will not necessarily be incremented immediately, but will eventually be accurate. For example, if two campaigns target the same user at the same moment in time, the first campaign's communication may not be reflected in the total communication count by the time the second campaign checks.

  • All communications across all campaigns in the active state are considered when determining if a recipient has breached their limits.

  • Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns measures a day as a rolling 24 hour window from the current moment.

Amazon Connect campaign creation interface showing attempts configuration settings.

Outbound campaigns reattempt rules

Outcomes for communication result in disposition codes. You can select a subset of those disposition codes for which you would like to re-attempt a communication.  The Dispositions dropdown will be pre-populated with possible codes to use.

  • Retry: Select the channel on which to retry.  Once the channel is selected, possible additional configuration will appear.

  • Start: Select an optional wait prior to a re-attempt.

Amazon Connect campaign setup interface showing communication limits and reattempt rules.
Reattempt rules interface for configuring email retry settings after a bounce.
Reattempt rules interface for configuring retry options when emails bounce, with SMS as retry method.

Communication Time

You can specify valid times to attempt to contact your end users.  The Active communication time specifies those valid times, based on the day of the week.  Exceptions to communication time, an optional setting, specifies specific days of the year during which you want no communications sent, even if that day happens to fall in an active communication time.

Time zone

In order for the Campaign to determine appropriate time to attempt communication with a particular recipient, you need to provide a Time Zone.  You may either select a Standard time zone, which will be used for all recipients, or you may specify the Recipient's local time zone. Recipients with no time zone specified are excluded from message deliveries. 

  • Standard time zone:

    The time zone selected will be used for all recipients.  Select this option if you know the time zone of all recipients in your segment or if you want all communications sent at the same moment in time.

  • Recipient's local time zone:

    Amazon Connect Outbound Campaigns use the provided Address and/or the area code from the Phone Number to infer the recipients time zone. If the time zone cannot be determined (for example, if either the Address and/or Phone Number is missing or is invalid), the recipient will be dropped from the Campaign. Select this option if it's important to send communications to recipients only during their specific local times.

Amazon Connect campaign creation interface showing communication time settings.

Active communication time

The Active communication time represents the times during which Amazon Connect Outbound campaigns may send communications for this campaign. To add active communication times:

  1. Select the channel. Alternatively, select Apply to all channels to apply the active communication times to each channel.

  2. Select the day of the week to configure. You can add multiple active communication times for each day, if desired.

  3. Select the time frame during which Amazon Connect Outbound campaigns can send communications on the given day.

Note
  • Amazon Connect Outbound campaigns will evaluate the From and To times relative to either the Standard time zone or the Recipient's local time zone, whichever is specified.

  • If no Active communication timeActive communication time is provided, communications to intended recipients will be attempted as soon as the campaign is published.

Email communication schedule interface with day, time, and exception settings.

Exceptions to communication time - (optional)

Exceptions to communication time is an optional set of specific calendar days for which you do not want communications sent.  If exceptions are included in the Campaign, then active communication times must also be specified.  To add exceptions to communication time:

  1. Select the Channel.  Alternatively, select apply to all channels to apply the active communication times to each Channel.

  2. Add a Name for the exception.  This name is only for informational purposes and does not affect the running of the campaign.

  3. Select the Time period for the exception.

Calendar interface showing October and November 2024 with options to set active communication time.

Review and publish

Take a moment to review your campaign prior to publishing.

Important

These settings cannot be changed once your campaign has been published.

Once you have reviewed you campaign, choose Publish to Schedule your campaign.

Review and publish page for Amazon Connect campaign setup with configuration details.

Schedule campaign

Specify when you want your campaign to begin:

  • Start now: Start the campaign right away.

  • Start later: Select the specific day and time for the campaign to begin.

  • Expiry Date and Time: The date and time at which Amazon Connect Outbound campaigns should end the campaign. An expired campaign appears with a Completed status a few moments after expiry time.

Schedule Campaign interface with options to start now or later, set expiry date and time.

Repeats

If you want your campaign to repeat running, select the Repeats radio button and choose a Frequency.  Amazon Connect Outbound campaigns will then refresh profiles in the segment specified for this campaign at the same frequency you select.  For example, if you schedule your campaign to start at 7:03AM EST and use a Daily Frequency, then profiles will be refreshed in the segment daily at 7:03AM EST.

Note

A recipient may be active only in a campaign once at any given time.  So if they are still waiting to exit the campaign when the next Segment Snapshot is created, and are a member of that Snapshot, they are allowed to enter the campaign as a part of the second Snapshot.

Important

If a recipient is a part of a segment Snapshot and is not currently in the campaign, they will be allowed to enter, regardless of whether or not they have previously gone through the campaign.

Publish

Choose Publish to schedule your campaign.

Schedule Campaign interface with options to start now or later, set frequency, and specify expiry date and time.

Campaign states

Campaign management interface showing a successfully created campaign with details and action options.

After a campaign is running, you can stop it. You can also delete a campaign at any time. 

Following is a description of each campaign state:

  • Draft: The campaign is being developed and hasn't been published yet.

  • Active: The campaign has been developed and published. Depending on the campaign's schedule, the campaign may currently be running or scheduled to start running at a later time.

  • Stopped: The campaign is stopped. You can't resume a campaign that is stopped.

  • Error: An error state caused the campaign to fail.

  • Completed: The campaign has finished running. All participants have entered the campaign and no participants are waiting to complete the campaign.

Amazon Connect campaign details page showing schedule, settings, and email configuration.