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Campaign playbooks

A campaign playbook is a type of outbound campaign that your agency builds once and gives to clients, such as “Appointment reminders” or “Win back old leads”. The playbook decides the channel, the details each contact needs, how many tries, the calling hours and the pace. Your client only chooses who to contact and when, so every campaign they launch follows the rules you set.

From playbook to campaign
  1. You

    Build the playbook

    Channel, contact details, tries, hours and limits.

  2. You

    Assign it to a client

    Choose that client's agent and numbers, or WhatsApp template.

  3. Voice AI Portal

    Checks it is ready

    Names anything missing before a client can use it.

  4. You

    Client launches it

    They pick contacts and a start time in the campaign builder.

Who can build playbooks?

Section titled “Who can build playbooks?”

Agency owners and admins. Open Campaign playbooks in the agency sidebar. A platform admin viewing your agency sees the page read only. Team members see “Campaign playbooks are available to agency owners and admins.”

What can a playbook do?

Section titled “What can a playbook do?”

Each playbook runs on one of seven channels:

Channel What happens for each contact Guide
Phone call The client’s agent calls the contact. Run an outbound campaign
WhatsApp message A WhatsApp template message is sent; replies go to the agent. WhatsApp campaigns
WhatsApp call The agent calls the contact on WhatsApp. WhatsApp campaigns
Call, then WhatsApp if no answer A phone call first; contacts who don’t answer get a WhatsApp message. Multichannel sequences
WhatsApp, then call if no reply A WhatsApp message first; contacts who don’t reply get a call. Multichannel sequences
SMS A Retell AI chat agent texts the contact. SMS campaigns
Email An email from your own sending domain, with an unsubscribe link. Email campaigns

Build a playbook

Section titled “Build a playbook”

  1. Start a playbook

    In Campaign playbooks, select New playbook.

  2. Name it and choose the channel

    Enter a Name that your clients will recognise, for example Appointment reminders, and choose the Channel. Add a Description for clients: it is what clients read when they choose a campaign type, for example “Calls everyone booked for next week to confirm their appointment.”

  3. List the details each contact needs

    Under Details each contact needs, select Add a detail for each value your agent, template or email uses, such as meeting_date, and tick Required if a contact can’t be contacted without it. Name, phone and email are always available, so you don’t add those. Contacts missing a required detail are skipped with the reason shown, for example “Missing meeting_date”.

  4. Set the tries

    Choose Tries per contact, from 1 (no retry) to 5, and the Time between tries: 1 hour, 4 hours, 1 day, 2 days, 3 days or 1 week. Contacts who don’t answer, are busy, reach voicemail or fail are tried again until they are reached or the tries run out.

  5. Set the calling hours

    Choose From and Until times, the days of the week, and the Time zone: Each contact’s (worked out from each phone number, so a contact in New York is called in New York hours) or The client’s.

  6. Set the pace and limits

    • Calls an hour (or Messages an hour): how fast the campaign works through its contacts.
    • Tries per contact per day, across the client’s other campaigns: stops one person being contacted by several of the client’s campaigns on the same day. A contact over the limit waits an hour and is tried again. A campaign’s own retries follow its tries and time between tries.
    • What success is called: the label clients see on their results, for example Booked or Confirmed.

  7. Set compliance

    • AI disclosure: a sentence such as “This call is from an AI assistant on behalf of Acme Dental.” It reaches the agent as {{ai_disclosure}}; use it in the agent’s first message.
    • Clients confirm their contacts agreed to be contacted before launching: on by default. Clients tick a box before every launch, and the portal records who confirmed and when. See Opt-outs, consent and AI disclosure.

  8. Choose what clients may change

    Both are off by default. Narrow the calling hours and days (never wider than yours) lets clients start later, finish earlier or skip days. Use fewer tries or a different gap between them lets them reduce the tries. Anything else always comes from the playbook.

  9. Save

    Select Save playbook. Now assign it to the clients who should use it.

For the two sequence channels you also choose how long to wait before the second step. See Multichannel sequences.

Defaults

Section titled “Defaults”
Setting Default Range
Tries per contact 3 1 to 5
Time between tries 1 day 1 hour to 1 week
Calling hours 09:00 to 17:00, Monday to Friday Any window on any days
Time zone Each contact’s Each contact’s or the client’s
Calls an hour 15 1 to 1,000
Tries per contact per day, across other campaigns 1 1 to 10
What success is called Successful Up to 60 characters
Consent before launch On On or off

Assign a playbook to a client

Section titled “Assign a playbook to a client”

  1. Open the client list

    On the playbook, select the clients button (for example 0 clients). Every client of your agency is listed as Not assigned, Ready, or with the problems to fix.

  2. Assign

    Select Assign on the client’s row. The setup window asks only for what this channel needs:

    Channel You choose
    Phone call Agent that makes the calls and Numbers to call from (one or more)
    WhatsApp message or call The saved WhatsApp template (or Call permission template)
    Sequences The agent, numbers and WhatsApp template
    SMS SMS number and Retell chat agent ID
    Email Subject and Email text

    You can also set Most contacts per campaign and switch Available to this client off to hide the playbook from this client for a while.

  3. Save

    Select Save. The row shows Ready, or what is missing.

Agents and numbers come from the client’s Agents & numbers selection, synced when you save Client settings with outbound calling on. WhatsApp templates are the ones saved for the client under Chat channels. See Configure outbound calling and WhatsApp campaigns.

What the readiness check looks at

Section titled “What the readiness check looks at”
Check Shown when it fails
Outbound calling is on for the client “Outbound calling is off for this client”
The agent still exists (calls) “Choose the agent that makes the calls”
At least one number (calls) “Choose a number to call from”
WhatsApp is on for the client (WhatsApp) “WhatsApp & web chat is off for this client”
The saved template still exists (WhatsApp) “Choose a saved WhatsApp template”
A Retell AI client with an SMS number and chat agent (SMS) “SMS campaigns need a Retell client” or “Enter the SMS number and the chat agent”
The email is written and your sending domain is verified (email) “Write the email’s subject and text” or “Verify your sending domain in Settings → Email Hub first”
The agent’s first message uses your AI disclosure (calls) “The agent’s first message doesn’t include {{ai_disclosure}}” (a warning; it doesn’t block launches)

Clients only see playbooks that are ready. A playbook that isn’t ready shows to clients as “Not available right now. Your agency is finishing its setup.”

Test as client

Section titled “Test as client”

On a Ready row, select Test as client to open the client’s campaign builder with this playbook chosen. You see exactly what your client sees, and Call me or Send me a test reaches your own phone or inbox.

Change or archive a playbook

Section titled “Change or archive a playbook”

Select Edit, change what you need and select Save playbook: “Playbook saved. New campaigns use the change; running ones keep their settings.” The channel can’t change while clients have the playbook; remove it from them first, or make a new playbook.

Select the bin icon to archive a playbook. Clients no longer see it, and campaigns already running carry on.

What happened to bundles and call templates?

Section titled “What happened to bundles and call templates?”

Your existing calling setups (bundles) and saved WhatsApp templates became playbooks automatically, each assigned to the same clients, with the details from its call template. Campaigns started before playbooks keep running exactly as before. Older call templates stay available under the link at the bottom of Campaign playbooks.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”
Problem What to do
The client can’t see the playbook Check the client’s row shows Ready and Available to this client is on.
“This client has no outbound agents yet.” (or numbers) in the setup window Select the agent and number for the client in Agents & numbers, turn on outbound calling and save Client settings.
“No saved templates of this kind for this client” Save the WhatsApp template under Client settings → Chat channels.
“Remove it from its clients before changing the channel, or make a new playbook.” The channel is fixed while clients use it.
A contact was skipped with “Missing …” The contact list has no value for a required detail. Add it to the list, or set a value for empty cells when importing. See Manage lead lists.
Section titled “Related”