VICIdial: How to Set Up a Voicemail Drop

A. What Is a Voicemail Drop?

In the predictive dial method, the moment a call goes to voicemail, the Voicemail Drop system automatically “drops” a pre-recorded audio message — without connecting to an agent — and then immediately moves on to the next call.

In the manual dial method, this occurs when an agent reaches an answering machine and clicks the envelope button in the Transfer/Conference options within the agent interface.

In a high-volume call center environment, reps can leave up to 150 voicemails in a single day. With the Voicemail Drop tool, agents reclaim much of that time — keeping them focused on live conversations.

B. Allowed Audio Formats

VICIdial recognizes only two specific audio formats — whether for voicemail drops, hold music, or IVR prompts:

• .wav files — PCM Mono, 16-bit, 8 kHz
• .gsm files — 8-bit, 8 kHz

Make sure your audio file matches one of these formats before uploading.

C. Upload Your Audio File to the Audio Store

Once your audio file is properly formatted, upload it to the dialer:

1. Log in to the Admin Dashboard.
2. Click Admin in the navigation menu.
3. Select Audio Store and upload your file.

D. How to Set Up Your Voicemail Drop

1. From the Admin Dashboard, go to Campaigns.
2. Click Campaigns Main and select the campaign you want to configure.
3. Scroll to the AMD, Voicemail & IVR section and configure the following settings:
   1. Answering Machine Detection (AMD): Enable this to activate the automatic voicemail drop. Note: this setting applies only to the predictive dialing method.
   2. AMD Send to Action: Set this to Y.
   3. Answering Machine Message: Click Audio Chooser. A pop-up box will appear — select the audio file you uploaded in step C.
   4. Wait For Silence Options: Enter 2000,2 (no spaces).
      • The first value (2000) is how long to detect silence, in milliseconds.
      • The second value (2) is how many times silence must be detected before the message plays.

      This is the recommended default value.

4. Click Save Changes.