NA — No Answer

What NA Means

The outbound call rang until the configured call_timeout expired without being answered by a person or voicemail system. The lead’s phone is active but the contact was not available at the time of the call.

When This Status Is Set

NA is assigned automatically when an outbound call rings for the full duration of the configured call_timeout (typically 26-60 seconds) without being answered by a person or routed to voicemail. It is the most common disposition in most outbound operations, often representing 30-50% of all dial attempts. The carrier completed the call setup and the destination phone rang, but no one picked up — the call simply timed out. NA is a clean system status that does not require agent involvement, meaning it consumes trunk time but zero agent time, making it a significant factor in predictive dialing efficiency calculations. The vicidial_log entry for an NA call records the full ring duration and the carrier’s term_reason, which is typically CALLER_HANGUP (the dialer ended the call after timeout).

Impact on List Management

NA leads are the highest-volume recyclable status and the backbone of most operations’ redial strategy. Always include NA in your dial_status_filter and lead_recycling configuration — these are active numbers with potential contacts who simply were not available at the time of the call. The called_since_last_reset counter in vicidial_list tracks how many times each NA lead has been attempted in the current cycle, allowing you to enforce per-status attempt caps. NA count directly indicates how many callable leads remain in your list inventory — when NEW leads are exhausted, NA recycling becomes your primary source of hopper fills. Configure lead_recycling with time-of-day variation to avoid calling NA leads at the same time they previously did not answer, which significantly improves recycle contact rates.

Best Practices

• Always include NA in dial_status_filter — it is typically your largest recyclable status pool

• Vary callback time of day for NA leads — if no answer at 2pm, try 7pm on the next attempt to catch the contact during a different part of their routine

• NA rate above 50% may indicate list quality issues, wrong calling hours for the demographic, or a call_timeout that is too short to allow the phone to ring enough times

• Set per-status attempt ceilings for NA (typically 5-8 attempts across multiple days) to avoid burning trunk capacity on chronically unreachable numbers

• Analyze NA rate by hour-of-day to identify the optimal calling windows for your specific list demographics

Admin Configuration

NA is a system-level status defined in Admin → System Statuses with callable set to Y and human_answered set to N. It is not agent-selectable since it is assigned automatically by the dialer. The call_timeout setting that determines when NA fires is configured per-campaign under Campaign Detail → Dialing Options — a shorter timeout produces more NA results but frees trunks faster, while a longer timeout gives contacts more time to answer but ties up trunks. Lead recycling parameters for NA — including delay intervals, attempt maximums, and time-of-day restrictions — are set in Campaign Detail → Lead Recycling. NA volumes can be monitored in real time through the campaign’s real-time report and historically through Reports → Outbound Calling Report.

ViciStack’s List Management module monitors disposition distribution in real time — automatically adjusting recycling logic, dial_status_filter priorities, and hopper fill strategies based on how your dispositions are trending. No manual SQL, no spreadsheet audits.