How to Create Outbound Call Campaigns in Kalimna

Welcome to this comprehensive guide on creating and running outbound call campaigns in Kalimna. Outbound campaigns allow you to scale your outreach by having your AI phone agents call lists of leads automatically—perfect for lead qualification, sales follow-ups, appointment reminders, and customer engagement.

Unlike inbound calling where customers call you, outbound campaigns let your Arabic and English AI phone agents proactively reach out to prospects and customers. Whether you're in Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, or Oman, outbound campaigns help you connect with more people faster—qualifying real estate leads in Dubai, booking medical appointments in Riyadh, confirming restaurant reservations in Kuwait City, or following up on e-commerce orders across the Gulf.

This guide will walk you through setting up campaigns with parallel dialing, calling windows, retry rules, voicemail handling, and bulk lead import. You'll also learn how to monitor campaign performance using list and Kanban views.

Watch the Full Outbound Campaigns Tutorial

Follow along with this comprehensive video walkthrough presented by Salma from Kalimna AI:

💡 Tip: Watch the video while following the written steps below for the best learning experience.

What You Need Before You Start

Before creating your first outbound campaign, make sure you have:

• An AI assistant configured for outbound calls: You should have already created and tested an assistant with the call direction set to "Outbound" (see the Create Your First AI Phone Agent guide).
• A verified phone number: Your assistant needs a phone number to call from (see the Use Your Own Phone Number guide).
• Clear campaign objective: Know what you want to achieve (qualify leads, book appointments, confirm orders, etc.). This helps with prompt design and reporting.
• Lead timezone: Know where your leads are located so you can set appropriate calling windows.

Step 1 – Open the Campaigns Dashboard

Navigate to Outbound → Campaigns in your Kalimna dashboard. This opens the campaigns management interface.

The dashboard shows you key statistics:

• Total number of campaigns: All campaigns you've ever created
• Currently running campaigns: Active campaigns that are dialing leads right now

This overview helps you track your outbound activity at a glance.

Step 2 – Create Your First Outbound Campaign

Click the Create button to open the campaign creation form. You'll configure several important settings:

Campaign Name

Choose a clear, descriptive name that explains the campaign's purpose. Good naming is crucial for staying organized when you run multiple campaigns.

Good naming examples:

• "Q1_2024_RealEstate_Lead_Qualification_Dubai"
• "Clinic_Appointment_Reminders_January"
• "Restaurant_Weekend_Reservation_Confirmations"
• "Ecommerce_Abandoned_Cart_Followup"
• "Sales_Demo_Booking_GCC_2024"

Calls in Parallel

This setting controls how many calls your AI agent makes simultaneously. Think of it like having multiple sales reps dialing at once.

How to choose the right number:

• 1-3 parallel calls: Conservative, good for small lists or testing. Slower but more controlled.
• 5-10 parallel calls: Balanced approach for most businesses. Good speed without overwhelming your system.
• 10-20 parallel calls: Aggressive for large campaigns. Faster coverage but requires solid infrastructure.
• 20+ parallel calls: Enterprise-level campaigns with thousands of leads. Check compliance and capacity.

Select Assistant

Choose which AI assistant will make the calls. Make sure this assistant is:

• Configured for outbound call direction
• Has an appropriate script/prompt for your campaign goal
• Tested and performing well in practice calls

Select Timezone

Choose the timezone where your leads are located. This is crucial for respecting calling hours. If your leads are in Dubai (GST, UTC+4) but you're managing from London, select GST so the system calls at appropriate local times for your leads.

Step 3 – Set Allowed Calling Days and Times

This section controls when your AI agent is allowed to call leads. Respecting appropriate hours is both a compliance requirement and a best practice for better response rates.

Start Time and End Time

Set the earliest and latest times the assistant may call. For example:

• 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM: Standard business hours (safe, respectful)
• 10:00 AM - 8:00 PM: Extended hours for better coverage
• 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM: Conservative hours for professional services

Select Days

Choose which days of the week the assistant may call. For example:

• Monday-Friday: B2B campaigns, professional services
• Monday-Saturday: Retail, real estate, general consumer
• All 7 days: Restaurants, hospitality, urgent follow-ups

Step 4 – Configure Retry Rules

Not every lead will answer on the first call. Retry rules determine how and when the system attempts to reach unanswered leads again.

Retry Frequency

How many times should the system retry calling a lead if they don't answer?

• 1-2 retries: Gentle, non-intrusive (appointment reminders, confirmations)
• 3-4 retries: Standard for most campaigns (lead qualification, sales follow-ups)
• 5+ retries: Aggressive (only for high-value leads or urgent campaigns)

Interval Between Retries

How long to wait between retry attempts. This prevents calling the same person too frequently.

• 30 minutes - 2 hours: Same-day retries (urgent campaigns)
• 4-8 hours: Gives leads time, allows multiple attempts per day
• 24 hours: Standard, respectful interval (one attempt per day)
• 48-72 hours: Conservative, non-pushy approach

Retry Until Goal is Achieved

Enable this option to keep retrying a lead until your campaign objective is met. For example:

• If the goal is "book an appointment" and the lead agrees to book, stop calling them
• If the goal is "qualify the lead" and they're qualified (or disqualified), stop calling
• If they haven't reached the goal yet, keep retrying within your retry frequency limits

Retry on Voicemail

Enable this toggle if you want the system to retry even when calls land on voicemail. Disable it if you only want to retry when the call goes completely unanswered (rings but no pickup).

Step 5 – Campaign Completion Rules

This setting controls what happens when all current leads in the campaign have been called.

Mark Campaign as Completed

Enable this if:

• You have a fixed list of leads (e.g., 500 contacts) and once they're all called, the campaign is done
• This is a one-time campaign (quarterly outreach, event invitations, etc.)
• You want campaigns to close automatically for cleaner reporting

Disable this if:

• Leads are being imported automatically over time (e.g., from your website, CRM, or ongoing signups)
• The campaign should run indefinitely as an "always-on" follow-up system
• You want the campaign to keep accepting new leads without manually restarting it

Once you've configured all settings, click Create to save your campaign. It's now ready—but it won't start calling until you add leads.

Step 6 – Create Leads to Call

To start calling, you need leads. Navigate to Outbound → Leads to manage your lead list.

Add Leads One-by-One

Click New Lead to add a single lead manually. You'll typically fill in:

• Name: The lead's full name
• Phone number: Their contact number (include country code)
• Campaign: Which campaign this lead belongs to
• Additional fields: Email, company, notes, custom data (depending on your setup)

This method works well for small lists (under 50 leads) or adding individual high-value prospects. For larger lists, use bulk import (Step 7).

Step 7 – Import Leads in Bulk (CSV/XLSX)

For campaigns with hundreds or thousands of leads, bulk import is essential. Click Import Leadsto open the import wizard.

Select Campaign

Choose which campaign these leads should be added to. All imported leads will be called according to that campaign's settings (parallel calls, calling windows, retry rules).

Secondary Contacts

Some leads have multiple phone numbers (mobile, work, home). Configure:

• If secondary contacts exist: Yes/No
• How many secondary contacts per lead: 1, 2, 3, etc.

If a lead has multiple numbers, the system will try the primary first, then fall back to secondary numbers if needed.

Phone Number Format

Choose the format of phone numbers in your file:

• International with + (e.g., +971501234567): Most common and recommended
• International without + (e.g., 971501234567): Some systems use this
• National format: Local-style numbers if calling within one country only

Upload CSV or XLSX File

Prepare your file with columns like:

• • Name
• • Phone Number (primary)
• • Phone Number 2 (secondary, if applicable)
• • Email (optional)
• • Company (optional)
• • Any custom fields relevant to your campaign

Upload the file, then click Import Leads. The system will process the file and add all leads to your campaign. Depending on file size, this may take a few seconds to a minute.

Step 8 – Monitor Results in the Leads Dashboard

After importing leads and starting your campaign, return to Outbound → Leads to monitor progress.

Key Dashboard Metrics

• Total Leads: How many leads are in this campaign
• Not Called Yet: Leads still waiting to be dialed
• Response Percentage: What % of leads answered and engaged (vs. no answer, voicemail, busy)

Kanban View for Visual Pipeline

Switch to Kanban view for a visual, pipeline-style overview of your leads. This view typically shows leads organized by status:

• Not Called
• Called - No Answer
• Called - Answered
• Qualified / Interested
• Not Interested
• Booked / Converted

Kanban view is especially useful for sales and lead qualification campaigns where you need to see pipeline stages at a glance.

Common Use Cases for Gulf Businesses

Outbound campaigns are powerful for many industries across Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman:

Best Practices for Outbound Campaigns

1. Keep Parallel Calls Realistic

Don't max out parallel calls immediately. Start with 3-5, monitor system performance and answer rates, then scale up if needed. Too many parallel calls can strain your telephony capacity and reduce quality.

2. Respect Calling Hours and Time Zones

Always call at appropriate local times. Late evening or very early morning calls (even if technically allowed) damage your brand and reduce response rates. For Gulf markets, respect prayer times and cultural norms.

3. Use Retries Thoughtfully

Excessive retries feel spammy and can damage your reputation. 2-4 retries over several days is usually optimal. If a lead hasn't answered after 4 attempts, they're probably not interested or the number is invalid.

4. Clean CSV Formatting

Ensure phone numbers are properly formatted and validated before importing. A single malformed number can cause import failures. Test with a small batch first, then import the full list once you're confident the format is correct.

5. Regularly Review Call History

Check the Call History tab frequently to see how conversations are going. Listen to recordings, read transcripts, and refine your assistant's script based on real interactions. Identify what's working and what needs improvement.

What's Next?

Congratulations! You now know how to create and run outbound call campaigns in Kalimna. You can set up campaigns with parallel dialing, configure retry rules, import leads in bulk, and monitor results using list and Kanban views.

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