How to create and manage outbound call campaigns in Five9 step by step

If you’re tasked with running outbound call campaigns and your company uses Five9, this guide is for you. Whether you’re a team lead, ops manager, or just the person who drew the short straw, I’ll walk you through the process, step by step. No fluff. Just the real-world stuff you need to get calls out the door without losing your mind.

Let’s get you from “uhhh, what’s a campaign?” to actually dialing.

Step 1: Get Your Data and Goals Straight

Before you even log in to Five9, stop and think: what’s your campaign for, and who are you calling?

  • Define your goal. Are you selling something? Collecting surveys? Nurturing leads? Be specific.
  • Get your contact list ready. Five9 needs a list—usually a CSV file with columns like name, number, and whatever else your agents need.
    • Pro tip: Clean your data. Nothing kills a campaign like bad numbers and duplicates.
  • Decide on campaign rules. How many times will you retry a number? What’s your compliance situation (TCPA, DNC lists, etc.)?

If you skip this prep, you’ll waste a lot of time cleaning up later.

Step 2: Log in and Find “Campaigns” in Five9

Once you’ve got your plan and data:

  1. Log in to Five9 as an admin.
  2. Go to the “Admin” or “Campaigns” section. (Labeling might look different depending on your Five9 version, but it’s always there.)
  3. Click “Campaigns” or “Outbound Campaigns.”

If you can’t find it, you might not have permissions. Get your admin to sort that out before you bother with the rest.

Step 3: Create a New Campaign

Let’s make this real:

  1. Click “Create New Campaign.”
  2. Choose your campaign type:
    • Preview: Agents see info before dialing. Good for sensitive or complex calls.
    • Progressive: Five9 auto-dials when an agent is ready.
    • Predictive: Five9 dials ahead and routes live calls to agents, maximizing talk time. Great for high-volume, but can annoy customers if you’re not careful.
    • Power: Somewhere between progressive and predictive; dials in batches.
  3. Name your campaign and add a description. Be clear—no one cares about “Q2 Initiative Alpha.” Call it “Spring 2024 Lead Follow-Up” or whatever makes sense.
  4. Set the calling hours—don’t accidentally ping prospects at 8 PM.
  5. Set your time zone. Don’t trust defaults. Double-check.

What works: Get specific with naming. You’ll thank yourself later when you’re juggling five campaigns at once.

Step 4: Upload Your Calling List

  1. Go to “Lists” or “Calling Lists” in the campaign setup.
  2. Click “Import” or “Upload.”
  3. Choose your CSV file.
  4. Map your fields: Five9 will try to match columns in your file to its own. Don’t just hit “Next”—make sure “Phone Number” is actually mapped to the right field.
  5. Validate. Five9 will usually check for obvious errors, but don't trust it blindly.

Pro tip: If you have multiple numbers per contact (cell, work, home), decide which one to call first—or if you want Five9 to try all of them in a sequence.

Step 5: Set Up Dialing Rules and Compliance

This is where campaigns go bad if you’re sloppy.

  • Retry rules: How many attempts per contact? Do you want to space them out?
  • DNC (Do Not Call) checks: Make sure you’re scrubbing your list. Five9 can do this, but you’ve got to set it up.
  • Abandon rate: Predictive dialing means sometimes a customer answers and no agent is ready. Set your max abandon rate (legally, in the U.S., it can’t exceed 3%).
  • Call recording: Decide if and when you want calls recorded. You might need to inform contacts, depending on your state/country.

What doesn’t work: Ignoring compliance. Seriously, fines add up fast.

Step 6: Assign Agents and Scripts

  1. Assign agents (Five9 calls them “users” or “resources”) to the campaign.
    • You can pick individuals or whole teams/skill groups.
  2. Attach a script if you’ve got one. Five9’s script builder is… okay. It works, but don’t get lost trying to make it perfect.
    • If you don’t have a script, agents will wing it—sometimes that’s fine, sometimes it’s a mess.
  3. If you want, set up dispositions (call outcomes like “No Answer,” “Sale,” “Callback Needed”). You’ll want this data later.

Pro tip: Don’t overcomplicate scripts. Keep them short and let agents adapt as needed.

Step 7: Configure Call Routing and Caller ID

  • Caller ID: Set the number that shows up on recipients’ phones. This matters—a local number gets more pickups, but don’t spoof numbers or you’ll get flagged.
  • Call routing: Decide what happens if all agents are busy. (Voicemail? Hold queue? Drop the call?)
  • Time zone calling: If your list spans time zones, make sure you’re not calling people at weird hours. Five9 can handle this, but only if your data’s clean.

Step 8: Test Before You Go Live

This is the step most folks skip—and regret.

  • Set the campaign to “Test” or “Preview” mode.
  • Load a handful of internal numbers (your own, your team’s, that one guy who always volunteers).
  • Run a few test calls. Check:
    • Does the script pop up?
    • Are numbers being dialed correctly?
    • Are calls routed to the right agents?
    • Are dispositions working?
  • If something’s off, fix it now. It’s way easier than fixing mid-campaign.

Step 9: Launch the Campaign

If tests look good, it’s go time:

  1. Set your campaign status to “Active” or “Start.”
  2. Monitor the dashboard. Five9 gives you real-time stats: calls made, connects, agent status, etc.
  3. Check in with agents. Is the pacing right? Are they getting slammed? Is the dialer too aggressive or too slow?

What works: Start small. Run with a subset of your list, see what happens, then scale up.

Step 10: Monitor, Report, and Tweak

No campaign runs perfectly out of the gate. Keep an eye on:

  • Call connect rates: Are people actually picking up?
  • Agent idle time: Too much means you could dial faster. Too little and agents burn out.
  • Disposition data: Are you getting the right outcomes? If not, adjust your approach.
  • Compliance alerts: Five9 will flag issues, but you need to pay attention.

Download reports, but don’t drown in them. Focus on what matters: Are you hitting your goals? If not, why?

What doesn’t work: Ignoring feedback from agents. They know what’s happening on the front lines.

Step 11: Pause, Stop, or Edit the Campaign

Things change. Maybe your list is exhausted, or you need to tweak your script.

  • To pause: Hit “Pause” in the campaign dashboard. Calls in progress will finish, but no new calls will start.
  • To stop: Set status to “Inactive.” This is a hard stop.
  • To edit: Tweak lists, scripts, or settings. Keep in mind that big changes mid-campaign can cause weird data or reporting gaps.

What to Ignore (Most of the Time)

  • Fancy automations: Five9 has a lot of automation bells and whistles. Don’t waste hours unless you really need them.
  • Overly granular reporting: If you’re spending more time slicing data than making calls, you’re missing the point.
  • Script “optimization” traps: Don’t tinker endlessly. Get feedback, make simple tweaks, and move on.

Keep It Simple, Iterate, and Don’t Panic

Outbound campaigns in Five9 aren’t rocket science, but there are pitfalls. Focus on clean data, clear goals, and simple processes. Start small, test, and adjust. The more you mess with fancy settings, the more likely something will break.

When in doubt, keep it basic and build from there. The best campaigns aren’t the fanciest—they’re the ones that actually work.