When Hemanshu Pandita , me and Praveen Yadav started exploring the idea of Voice AI agents back in January 2025, we were working closely with EdTech companies and constantly asking ourselves the same question:

"Can AI talk to leads just like humans do — and actually help us convert them?"

The first time we saw the tech work, we literally jumped with excitement. It wasn’t perfect, but it was powerful. It felt like seeing the future a little earlier.

Six months later, we were finally able to test this use case on real data, at scale. And let me tell you — it was surreal. Watching an AI voice assistant call leads, talk to them naturally, respond to objections, and qualify real conversations? That’s a moment we won't forget.

And now, after this experiment, we’re convinced — marketers finally have a new reactivation channel that actually works.

dashboard | neobound.ai

The Use Case: Dormant Lead Reactivation in EdTech

Every business that runs paid campaigns knows this pain: You spend a ton acquiring leads… and then 90% of them don’t convert. Some don’t pick up the phone, some say “maybe later,” some attend your webinars or demos and never respond again.

They quietly pile up into what we call dormant leads.

In this test, we decided to go after those lost opportunities. We picked a mix of 400 dormant leads from different sources:

• Organic inquiries from the website
• Facebook campaign leads
• Webinar signups
• Referral leads
• And older PDEs (those who showed deep interest but didn’t buy)

These leads were over 6 months old and spread across multiple buckets:

• DNP (Did Not Pick up)
• May buy later
• Not interested
• Post-demo follow-ups
• Callback requested

Leads performance chart for campaign

We handed all 400 leads to our Voice AI assistant and let it run for 3–4 days.

The AI was trained to:

• Start the conversation casually
• Identify if the lead remembered the product
• Gauge interest again
• Rebook a meeting or send follow-up details
• Mark and record disinterest

Here’s what we got:

• 15 leads booked a fresh meeting
• 30 leads asked for WhatsApp details (we counted these as semi-qualified)
• 52 leads clearly said they were not interested
• 185 leads fell into “Other” categories — missed calls, partial conversations, or unclear outcomes
• 52 leads requested a call back at a specific time
• 54 leads went back into dormancy after 7 days of no activity

Lead Funnel

Why This Matters for Marketers

As marketers, we’ve always been resourceful. We’ve used emails, WhatsApp, SMS, retargeting, and manual sales follow-ups to re-engage leads. But this was different.

• WhatsApp response rates usually hover around 5–6%
• WhatsApp readability is around 16%
• But this time, Voice AI got a 42.8% pickup rate

That’s not just a better number. That’s a new channel — and it’s scalable.

You can’t expect a sales rep to call 1,000+ dormant leads manually, not without draining the team. But with AI, it’s not only possible — it’s efficient, polite, and consistent.

And more importantly — it works.

This project gave us more than just results. It gave us confidence.

We always wanted to do more for lead reactivation. This experiment proved that with the right tools, it's absolutely possible to turn cold leads warm — at scale.

If you’re a marketer sitting on a pile of unconverted leads — it’s time to put Voice AI to work. You might be surprised what’s still possible.

And if you want help doing it?