Bonzo's Auto-Dial feature helps you connect with multiple contacts quickly, without having to dial each number manually. It gives you full visibility into your call activity and follow-ups, and it holds your place in a list so you don't have to finish one in a single sitting.
Getting Started
To access the Auto-Dial feature, start by heading to the Data dropdown at the top of your dashboard and selecting People. This takes you to your main contact hub — where every person you've uploaded into Bonzo lives.
From there, choose one or more contacts by checking the box next to their names. Once you've made your selections, a menu will appear at the bottom of the screen. Click Auto-Dial to open the setup window and begin building your call session.
Choose a Dialer Mode
At the top of the Auto-Dial screen, you'll select how you want your calls to be made. There are two options:
- Power Dialer — Automatically calls the next person as soon as your current call ends. This is the most popular mode for fast, continuous dialing.
- Segmented Dialer — Waits for you to manually start the next call. Ideal if you need time between conversations or want more control.
Add Voicemail and/or SMS Responses
If someone doesn't answer your call, you can still leave an impression with a voicemail or a follow-up text.
To attach a voicemail, use the dropdown to select a pre-recorded message or click the pink Add Voicemail button to record one on the spot. You can also upload a recording if you have one ready.
You'll also have the option to write and attach a text message that can be sent if a contact doesn't pick up. Once you've added a voicemail or SMS — or both — Bonzo will give you buttons to send them after each unanswered call:
- Voicemail
- SMS
- Voicemail + SMS
These buttons will only appear during a call if the content has already been added.
Set Who the Call Comes From
You can choose the number that will appear on your contact's caller ID. By default, it's set to your Bonzo number, but you can also choose to make the call come from the Prospect Owner's number if someone else on your team owns the contact.
Options include:
- You — Calls are made from your current Bonzo number.
- Prospect Owner — Calls are made from the Bonzo number of the contact's assigned owner (if permissions allow).
Add a Call Script (Optional)
If you have specific talking points, questions, or reminders you want to follow during the call, you can create or attach a call script before starting the session. This script will appear during each call to help you stay consistent. You can also edit it mid-session if needed.
Starting the Auto-Dial Session
If you've attached a voicemail or a follow-up text, Bonzo shows a total token estimate for the session before you start, based on the size of your list. The calls themselves aren't part of that figure — it covers the voicemail drops and texts, so the estimate moves as you add or remove them.
Once everything's set up, click the green Call button at the bottom to begin dialing.
During your session, Bonzo tracks helpful metrics at the top of the screen, including:
- Duration of the session (not just the call)
- Total contacts in the list
- Number of connected calls
- Voicemails sent
- Texts sent
You'll also be able to see your current caller ID (bottom left) and a preview of who's next on your list (bottom right).
What You Can Do During a Call
Once the call begins, you'll have access to live tools split into two sections:
On the Left:
- See the contact's name, phone number, and company
- View live call details like ring time and call length
On the Right:
- Details – View and edit contact info in real time
- Notes – Review saved notes tied to the contact
- Actions – Add a tag, assign a status, update or assign a campaign, change pipeline stage, or set a follow-up task
- Call Script – View or edit your current script
If someone doesn't answer, you can choose from your preset voicemail/SMS buttons to follow up right away.
After the Call: Disposition Options
At the end of each call, you'll mark the result using a disposition label. This helps keep your records clean and gives you a complete picture of how the session went.
You can choose from:
- Call Answered
- No Answer
- Busy Signal
- Bad Number
- Do Not Contact (DNC)
- VM, SMS, or VM + SMS (if you have set those up ahead of the dial)
These labels will show up in the contact's history, in Autodialer History, and in your final session summary.
In-Call Tools
During any live call, you can also:
- Mute the call, or put the person you're speaking with on Hold — the same button becomes Resume to bring them back. This affects only the call you're on, not your place in the list.
- Transfer it to a teammate
- Conference to create a group call (either from your team or manually entered)
- Forward the call to another user
- Delete the contact directly from the session if needed
Forwarding or Conferencing Details
To do this, select the options at the bottom of the Auto-Dial session. There you'll have the option to select either people on your team or enter a custom number.
Once you officially Conference or Forward your call, you're also able to set who owns the call using the crown button. This way you can ensure that if the call needs to continue but you need to leave, you don't hang up the session.
Session Shortcuts You Might Not Know
There are a few lesser-known features that can make your calling experience even smoother:
- Mute notification sounds during your session
- Minimize the call window to navigate Bonzo freely while staying on the call
- Pause the session at any time — this holds your place in the list while you stay on the screen. It's not the same as leaving and coming back later; for that, see Picking Up Where You Left Off above.
- End the session if you're done
Picking Up Where You Left Off
You don't have to finish a call list in one sitting. If this is your first dial, skip ahead to Choose a Dialer Mode.
If you stopped part-way through a list, you'll see a banner at the top of the Auto-Dial screen the next time you open it:
Your last dial session was left incomplete (40 of 180).
You have three choices:
- Resume — picks that list back up. Everyone you already reached is skipped, and your original setup comes back with it: the same dialer mode, voicemail drop, follow-up text, caller ID, and call script. The contact count on the screen is what's left to call, not the original total.
- View all — opens Autodialer History, where you can pick up any unfinished session from the last 7 days, not just the most recent one.
- X — dismisses the banner for now. Nothing is deleted; the session stays in Autodialer History and stays resumable.
Ignoring the banner and setting up a new dial is how you start over. Nothing is lost either way.
A few things worth knowing
- Resume is available for 7 days after a session starts. After that the session stays in your history but can't be picked back up — start a fresh dial from People instead.
- The remaining contacts are worked out fresh when you resume, from the filter you originally dialed. Anyone since marked Do Not Contact, converted, reassigned, or deleted drops out of the list rather than getting called anyway.
- Resuming doesn't create a second session. The same session grows its progress as you work through more of the list, whether that takes two sittings or five.
- You can only resume your own sessions. Team Leads and Super Users can see their team's sessions but can't resume them, since the calls would come from your device against someone else's list.
- Single calls and Power Dial Group tasks aren't saved as resumable sessions, and neither is a session you set up but never actually dialed.
Reviewing Sessions in Autodialer History
Every dial session is logged. From your dashboard, open the Data dropdown and select Autodialer History to see your sessions, newest first.
Each row shows when the session started, its Progress — how many contacts you reached out of the list size when you began, for example 40 of 180 — and its Status, either Complete or Incomplete. Team Leads and Super Users also see which user ran each session.
Click Details on any row to open the session. You'll see the contacts you actually reached, when each was called, and the disposition you set. Contacts you never got to aren't listed, because the rest of the list is worked out fresh from your original filter the moment you resume — a note under the table accounts for the difference.
On an unfinished session of your own, that page carries a Resume dialer session button, which picks the list back up the same way the banner does.
Sessions run before session tracking was released show a dash in the Progress and Status columns. Bonzo never recorded a list size for those, so there's nothing to count against and they can't be resumed.
Between the resume banner and Autodialer History, a call list is no longer something you have to finish in one go. You can stop when the day ends, come back within the week, and pick up exactly where you left off without calling anyone twice.
Note: To learn more about related topics, click on the links below: