Set up and launch outbound agent campaigns in Outbound Virtual Agents

Overview

Outbound Virtual Agents lets you create outbound campaigns that automatically contact new leads via SMS and voice as soon as they enter ServiceTitan. This article walks administrators through everything needed to prepare your system, configure a Speed to Lead campaign, and monitor results after launch. Setting up campaigns correctly ensures the AI agent can offer real availability to leads and book jobs without CSR involvement.

Things to know

• If Adaptive Capacity has no available capacity, the SMS and Voice Agents will not be able to book jobs for leads.

• Disable any existing auto-responder or automated SMS tools before launching campaigns. Competing automations will send duplicate messages to leads.

• Each campaign should have its own inbound tracking number so you can attribute bookings back to the correct lead source.

• If you have multiple virtual agents configured, verify the correct agent is assigned to each campaign before activating.

• Once a CSR takes over a conversation using the Takeover button, the AI agent stops responding for that lead. The CSR must continue the conversation manually.

• Notifying customers that they are speaking with an AI is a legal requirement in some locations. Before adding a Voice Agent step to a campaign, confirm you are complying with the laws in your area.

• Outbound calls placed by a Voice Agent step are billed at your standard Voice Agent rate. A call is only charged if it lasts longer than 30 seconds, including ring time.

• Outbound SMS and voice outreach respects quiet-hours restrictions, so campaigns do not contact leads during restricted times.

Best practices

• Before launch, confirm technician shifts, Arrival Windows, and capacity settings are all current in Adaptive Capacity. These are what the agent quotes to customers.

• Ensure that you have confirmed a Virtual Agent in the Voice Agents section in your phones settings.

• Name campaigns clearly by lead source so performance in the Insights tab is easy to compare.

• When building audience targeting, start with just one filter — Marketing Campaign or Source — rather than both. AND logic means using both will narrow your audience significantly.

• Allow the agent to customize follow-up messages (using the Allow agent to customize message toggle) so each message in the cadence feels distinct to the customer rather than repetitive. Avoid manually writing multiple steps with near-identical scripted language and expecting them to read as one continuous conversation. Each step is a separate agent session, so a scripted continuation such as "So is it still giving you trouble?" will not have the context to make sense to the customer.

• Set the Inactivity timeout in hours, not minutes, for SMS steps. A short timeout ends the step's session before the customer has had a chance to respond, which can look like the agent abandoning or forgetting the conversation.

• Add Manual Task steps to your campaign only when you want a human to follow up after the automated sequence ends, to avoid unnecessary clutter.

• Place a Delay step before a Voice Agent step so the lead has time to reply to your text before the phone rings. A call that arrives moments after an unanswered SMS reads as pressure rather than service. You do not need Delay steps between the call attempts inside a voice step — those are spaced by the step's own call table.

Use cases

• A plumbing company receives a lead from Angi at 7:45 PM when no CSRs are available. Speed to Lead texts the homeowner within seconds, offers the next available appointment slot from Adaptive Capacity, and books the job — all without human intervention.

• An HVAC company runs separate Speed to Lead campaigns for Home Depot and Facebook leads, each with a different tracking number and virtual agent persona, so they can compare conversion rates by source in the Insights tab.

• An electrical company adds a Voice Agent step after two unanswered SMS messages, so leads who don't respond to text still receive an outbound call from the AI agent.

Step 1: Verify your system readiness

Before launching any outbound campaigns, confirm your system is fully prepared.

Review technician shifts

1. Go to the navigation bar and click Schedule .

2. Confirm that technician shifts exist and are current, including any after-hours shifts your business uses.

Review Adaptive Capacity settings

1. In the top toolbar, go to Settings , then open Adaptive Capacity > Settings.

2. Confirm that default capacity settings are present and aligned with your calculated capacity.

Confirm available capacity

1. Go to the navigation bar and click Schedule .

2. Go to Capacity Reporting.

3. Confirm there is available capacity.        

   Note: If no availability exists, the agent will not be able to book jobs.

Review arrival windows

1. Go to Settings > Operations > Arrival Windows.

2. Review your arrival windows and confirm they exist and are set to reasonable time ranges.

3. If your voice agent is booking after hours or on weekends, make sure your Business Hours are also set for weekends.

Note: These are the windows the agent will quote to customers.

Step 2: Review voice agent configuration

1. In the top toolbar, go to Settings .

2. Select Phones or Phones Pro > Voice Agent Settings.

   Coming soon: You'll also be able to configure your agents from AI Concierge > Agent Studio. Your existing Voice Agent settings will remain available here under Settings.

3. Confirm the following are defined and accurate for outbound use:        

   • Persona

   • Transcript

   • Skills and Capabilities

   • Job Types and Dispatch Fees

   • Escalation and Rules

Note: The SMS agent shares the same virtual agent configuration. Information you set here — including escalation rules, dispatch fees, and persona details — will also inform the content of SMS messages sent by Outbound Virtual Agents.

For more, see Configure your Voice Agent settings.

Step 3: Set up lead sources

If Marketing Pro is enabled

1. In the navigation bar, go to CRM.

2. Confirm that leads are appearing in the All Leads tab and that tasks and activities are available. Leads will only start filtering in after the date this feature set is turned on - you will not see historical leads prior to that date.

3. Use the leads object as the source for outbound agent campaigns.

If Marketing Pro is not enabled

1. In the top toolbar, go to Settings > Operations > Campaigns.

2. Add a campaign source for each lead source you want to track. For each one, enter:        

   • Name: A clear label you'll recognize later

   • Category: The appropriate category for this source

   • Business Unit: Only if you need to tie this source to a specific unit

   • Advertised Number: The phone number associated with this campaign

   • Source: Where the lead is coming from

   • Medium: The channel details

3. Save the campaign source.

4. Wait a few minutes and confirm leads begin populating.

5. Repeat for each additional lead source.

Step 4: Disable conflicting auto-responder messages

1. In the top toolbar, go to Settings .

2. In the side panel, select Communication > Chat.

3. Disable Auto Responder.

4. Confirm no other automated messaging system is active that could send duplicate SMS responses to leads.

Step 5: Open Agent Workflows and select your goal

1. Go to the navigation bar and click AI Concierge.

2. Select Agent Workflows.

3. Locate the Speed to Lead goal and click View.

Note: The first time you open a goal, you'll be prompted to confirm an outbound phone number and agree to transactional SMS terms and conditions before proceeding.

Step 6: Configure campaign details

1. On the Speed to Lead page, click + Add Campaign, or select an existing campaign tab and click Configure.

2. In the Campaign Details panel, enter the following:        

   • Name: A clear label for this campaign (for example: "Google LSA" or "Angi")

   • Virtual Agent: Select the agent to use for all voice and SMS steps in this campaign

   • Inbound Campaign Tracking Number: Select or assign a dedicated tracking number for this campaign

3. (Optional) Expand Additional Audience Fields to set targeting filters:        

   • Business Unit: Limit outreach to leads associated with specific business units

   • Job Type: Limit outreach to leads with specific job types

   • Marketing Campaign: Limit to leads matching a specific marketing campaign in ServiceTitan

   • Source: Limit to leads from a specific source

Note: Keep in mind this uses “and” logic and if you select all four criteria, it will require all four to be true  making your pool of leads will be smaller.

1. When finished, click Save.

Step 7: Set campaign priority

If you have more than one active campaign and a lead could qualify for multiple campaigns, set the priority order to prevent duplicate outreach.

1. On the Speed to Lead page, click Set Campaigns Priority.

2. In the Workflow priority dialog, drag campaigns into the order you want. Campaigns higher in the list take priority. 

   Tip: Place campaigns with more specific audience targeting above broader ones so narrower segments are always reached first.

3. Click Confirm & Save.

Step 8: Build the outbound message sequence

1. On the campaign page, locate the workflow sequence.        

   Note: The default sequence begins with an SMS AI Agent step.

2. In the SMS AI Agent step, click Edit  :        

   • Customize the Message text. Use merge tags to personalize with agent name, brand name, inbound phone number, or a Scheduling Pro booking link.

   • We recommend turning on Allow agent to customize message to let the agent adapt the opening on each attempt so repeat calls do not replay the same script.

   • Set the Transition Condition — how many texts must be sent before moving to the next step.

   • Set the Inactivity timeout — how long the agent waits for a customer response before moving on.

   Note: Each step in your sequence runs as its own agent session and does not carry memory of the conversation from a previous step. Setting the Inactivity timeout too short — for example, one minute — can end an active conversation before the customer finishes responding, and the next step will start fresh with no memory of that exchange. For SMS steps, we recommend setting the Inactivity timeout in hours rather than minutes, unless you have a specific reason to move on quickly.

3. To extend the sequence, click Add between any two steps. You can add the following step types:

• SMS AI Agent: Sends an automated text message to the lead. Use this to add follow-up SMS attempts after an initial message goes unanswered, or to send a final text after a voice outreach attempt.

• Voice Agent: Places an automated outbound call to the lead using the virtual agent assigned to this campaign. Use this after one or more unanswered SMS steps to reach leads who haven't responded to text. The call uses the persona, skills, job types, and escalation rules defined for that agent in Voice Agent Settings, so review those before adding a voice step — see Step 2: Review voice agent configuration.

• Manual Task: Creates a task for a human team member to follow up with the lead directly. Use this at the end of a sequence when automated outreach has been exhausted and a personal touch is needed. The task appears in the assigned team member's task list in ServiceTitan.

• Delay: Pauses the sequence for a set amount of time before the next step runs. Use this between an SMS step and a Voice Agent step, or between any two contact attempts, to give the lead time to respond before the next outreach.

4. In a Voice Agent step, click Edit:

   • Customize the Opening Call Message — what the agent says when the lead answers. Click + Add Merge Tags to personalize it with Company Name, Company Tagline, Inbound Phone Number, or Agent Name. The message is limited to 300 characters.

   • We recommend turning on Allow agent to customize message to let the agent adapt the opening on each attempt so repeat calls do not replay the same script.

   • Set the Transition Condition — the number of calls this step places before the sequence moves on. You can schedule up to eight calls.

   • In the call table, set a Delay Before Call for each attempt after the first, and choose a Unit of minutes, hours, days, or weeks. The first call is placed as soon as the step begins, so it has no delay. Click + Add Call to add another attempt, or the delete icon to remove one.

   • Click Save.

Note: A Voice Agent step manages its own retry cadence. The delays in the call table control the spacing between that step's own call attempts, so you do not need to add separate Delay steps between them. Use a Delay step only between a voice step and a different step type.

4.          Review the Exit Criteria at the bottom of the sequence. The campaign ends automatically when any of the following conditions are met: Lead Conversion, Job Booked, or Lead Dismissed.

Step 9: Activate your campaign

1. Review all campaign details and sequence steps.

2. Click Activate.

The campaign is now live. The AI agent will begin contacting leads as soon as they enter ServiceTitan and match your campaign's audience criteria.

Want to learn more?

• Outbound Agents overview

• Use Interactions in Outbound Virtual Agents