Outbound service campaigns
Call customers about service, and book the appointment on the same call.
An AI phone agent can run outbound service campaign calls. You describe the campaign, import your customer list and pick a calling schedule. Cleo calls each customer with the campaign reason already in hand, checks open times in your scheduler, books the appointment and reads the day and time back. If nothing is open, it promises a callback from your service team.
The short answer
Can an AI phone agent make outbound service calls and book the appointment?
Yes, at stores with campaigns switched on and a scheduler that has an outbound booking workflow. The dealership describes the campaign, such as an overdue oil change or a recall, imports its customer list from a CSV file, and picks the calling schedule. On each call, Cleo already has the customer's name and the campaign reason, so it does not ask for them again. It looks the customer up by the phone number it has, uses the vehicle on file, checks the scheduler's open times, books the appointment and reads the day and time back. It stops once the customer books.
Setup to booked appointment
Seven steps, and where the service team stays in the loop.
Describe the campaign and add the list.
The dealership describes the campaign, imports its customer list from a CSV file (or adds it after the campaign is created) and picks the calling schedule.
Choose how customers are reached.
The dealership chooses the contact flow: call only, call then text if there is no pickup, text then call if there is no reply, or text only.
Test it first.
Before launch, the dealership can run a test call from the campaign setup.
The call starts with what Cleo knows.
Cleo already has the customer's name and the campaign reason, does not ask for them again, usually takes the service from the campaign reason, and asks what day or time works. It looks the customer up by the phone number it already has, uses the vehicle on file when there is one, and asks for the year, make and model when there is none.
An existing appointment comes first.
If the customer already has an upcoming appointment, Cleo tells them and asks whether to keep it, move it or add another. It does not create a new appointment when they keep it.
Open times, then the booking.
Cleo checks the scheduler's open times before offering any, offers the nearest alternatives if the customer's time is gone, books the appointment and reads the day and time back. If nothing is open, or the booking does not go through, it promises a callback from the service team and does not retry the booking. The follow-up is logged after the call.
No answer, then a stop.
If nobody answers, Cleo retries up to the maximum number of attempts the dealership sets, with a wait that grows up to a cap the dealership sets. When a call reaches voicemail, it waits for the beep and leaves a prepared message. A later call is given a summary of the earlier conversation. Cleo stops once an appointment is booked, once the lead is marked do not contact, once the customer replies by text, or once a call is answered.
Why outbound
Dealerships are getting a smaller share of service visits.
29%
of service visits went to dealerships in 2025 (Cox Automotive 2025 Service Industry Study, November 2025)
33%
of service visits went to dealerships in 2018, in the same study
In the Cox Automotive 2025 Service Industry Study, a November 2025 survey of 1,974 US vehicle owners aged 18 to 75 who had serviced a vehicle in the last 12 months (fielded April 16 to May 8, 2025), dealerships had 29% of service visits, down from 33% in 2018. This is a public study and not a Cleo result.
A customer who is due for service is choosing a shop. A call that ends in a booked time is one way to be the one they choose.
Control
Your list, your reason, your hours.
Your hours
Every campaign call is dispatched only while the campaign is active and its calling schedule is open in the dealership’s time zone. The dealership picks that schedule, and a call that comes due while it is closed waits until it opens.
What you set
The campaign description, which becomes the reason Cleo gives on the call.
The customer list, imported from a CSV file.
The calling schedule.
The contact flow: calls only, texts only, or a mix.
The maximum number of attempts and the wait between them.
Before you start: five things to settle with your service manager.
1. Which customers belong on the list, and where does that list come from?
2. What is the one reason for the call, in a sentence a customer would recognise?
3. Which hours should the calls land in, in which time zone, and what do your customers expect?
4. How many open times can your service department really give a campaign, and who handles the callback when none are open?
5. Does your scheduler have an outbound booking workflow, and has it been tested on your store before the list goes in?
FAQ
Still have questions?
What are outbound service campaign calls?
They are calls a dealership starts to a list of customers about a service reason it chooses, such as an overdue oil change or a recall. Cleo makes the call, has the campaign reason in hand, and works toward a booked appointment.
Who decides which customers are called, and when?
Can Cleo text customers instead of calling?
Will it book a second appointment for someone who already has one?
What happens if no time is open?
Cleo promises a callback from the service team and does not retry the booking. The follow-up is logged after the call.
Can we test a campaign before it goes out?
What if nobody answers?
Will it book a second appointment for someone who already has one?
Contact
Bring one service campaign to the demo.
Book a demo, name the service you want to call customers about, and see what Cleo would say and do on the call.
