Free tool
Where does your connect rate actually sit?
Connect rate and talk time per agent, against bands described by what causes them — because nobody publishes an audited UK average, and anyone quoting one to two decimal places is guessing.
Works without an account. Everything is calculated in your browser — no figures you type are sent to us or to anyone else.
Calls where a person actually answered.
Change it to your own figure — the default is only a starting point.
Where 15.0% sits
Common for cold data. Where most cold-list outbound sits, including well-run floors.
Read these bands carefully
There is no authoritative published benchmark for UK outbound connect rate. Ofcom doesn't publish one, no trade body publishes an audited figure, and the precise national averages quoted around the industry are marketing rather than measurement. The bands above are described by what causes them, not presented as a league table.
Two things move connect rate far more than anything else: how fresh and well-consented your data is, and whether your numbers have been flagged as spam. Comparing your rate to a floor in a different sector, calling different data, tells you almost nothing.
Why this figure matters
Connect rate is the ceiling on everything else
An agent cannot sell to someone who didn't answer. Every downstream rate operates on the calls that connected, so a low connect rate caps the whole funnel no matter how good the conversations are.
Talk time is the honest measure of a day
Dials per day measures effort. Talk time measures whether that effort reached anyone. A floor doing 200 dials and 40 minutes of talk has a data or a number problem, not a work-rate problem.
Spam-flagged numbers are the usual hidden cause
A number that networks have flagged rings out or gets shown as suspected spam, and the rate collapses without anything visible changing. It looks like the data got worse, or the agents did, when it is neither.
Questions
What is a good connect rate for UK outbound?
It depends almost entirely on your data. Cold bought lists commonly sit in single figures to the mid teens; fresh enquiries called back quickly sit far higher. A single national average would hide the only variable that matters, so this tool doesn't publish one.
Is there an official UK benchmark?
No. Ofcom doesn't publish connect rates, no trade body publishes an audited figure, and the precise averages circulated around the industry come from vendors with something to sell. The bands here are described by cause rather than presented as measurement.
Why is my connect rate falling with no other change?
Most often the numbers rather than the data. Networks flag numbers that dial at volume from a single line, and once flagged a number rings out or displays a spam warning. Rotating across several numbers and resting flagged ones is the usual fix.
Should I count voicemails as connections?
No. A connection is a person answering. Counting answerphones inflates the rate and disguises exactly the problem you are measuring — if you want to track them, track them as their own figure.
The other two
Same rules — free, no account, nothing leaves your browser.
If the number that needs fixing is contact rate, that's about how fast you ring and how often you get answered — which is what Dialspace is for.
See how