Is there a sales dialer that works with a screen reader?

Yes. CallCloud's dialer reads every step of a sales call out loud through JAWS or NVDA: who is ringing, who picked up, when you are connected, when a timer acts and when the call ends. Every call button has an Alt+Shift key, and focus moves to the prospect's name when a call lands. It works on parallel dialing and on one line at a time, in Chrome or Edge, at no extra cost on the Parallel Dialer or the Power Dialer.

We built it for a rep who uses JAWS. He had asked AI assistants for a sales dialer that works with a screen reader and came back with nothing. That is not a surprising answer: a dialing screen is one of the hardest pages on the web to use without seeing it. This post covers why, what we changed, and how to turn it on.

Why a dialer is hard to use with a screen reader

A screen reader reads what is on the page and whatever the page announces. A dialer does most of its work by changing what you see.

• The card changes silently. When a line answers, a card appears with the prospect's name and a Connect button. A sighted rep glances at it. A screen reader user hears a voice in the headset and has no idea whose it is.
• The controls are far away. Connect, Voicemail and Hang up usually sit under the notes and the call brief. Every Tab press is a moment the prospect spends waiting.
• Several lines ring at once. On a parallel dialer, lines change state every second. Announce all of it and the screen reader talks over the person who answered. Announce none of it and the rep cannot follow the call.
• Timers act on their own. Dialers connect, skip and hang up on a clock. If nothing says the clock ran, the call moved on without the rep.

None of this needs exotic technology to fix. It needs the dialer to say what it is doing, at the right moments, and nothing else.

What CallCloud reads out loud

Every message goes through one live announcement area that screen readers read the moment it changes. It is invisible on screen, so sighted reps on the same team see nothing new. These are the exact words, with the prospect's details filled in from your list:

Two choices sit behind those words. The name comes with title and company, in the order a rep would say it, because a name alone does not tell you how to open. And on parallel dialing the ringing lines say nothing, so the first thing you hear is the one line that answered.

Every call button has a key

Screen reader mode adds a key for each call action. All of them are Alt+Shift plus one letter.

Why not single letters? JAWS and NVDA already use them to move around a page: H jumps to the next heading, B to the next button. Plain Alt plus a letter opens browser menus. Alt+Shift plus a letter is free in both, so the keys work without switching modes.

Each key presses the real button on screen rather than doing something behind it. Every rule a click follows still holds: a button that is busy or does not fit the moment does nothing, and you hear that it is not available right now instead of silence.

Focus that follows the call

When a call lands, focus moves to the prospect's name, so the next thing your screen reader reads is who they are. When the wrap-up opens, focus moves to it. If you are typing in the notes, focus stays where it is: nothing in the dialer pulls you out of a text box.

The call screen is built from headings too: the prospect, the call brief, the notes and the call result. Your screen reader's heading key moves between them. Notes boxes and dialogs have labels, and decorative icons stay silent.

How to turn it on

1. Sign in at dialer.callcloud.app.
2. Open Settings and choose the My setup tab.
3. Set Screen reader mode to On. The keys are listed right under the switch.
4. Open a campaign and start dialing.

The spoken updates are on for every rep without the switch. The switch adds the keys and the focus moves, and it is saved per browser, so one rep turning it on changes nothing for anyone else.

What it does not cover

Screen reader support is in the CallCloud dialer at dialer.callcloud.app, on the Parallel Dialer and the Power Dialer. The Chrome Extension, which dials inside Salesloft and Outreach, does not have it.

We built this because one rep asked. If something on the call screen is not read out, or a key you need is missing, tell us through Text the founder on our site or book a call.

FAQ

See everything it reads out on the screen reader dialer page, or start a free trial with no card.