In the last few years, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has implemented legislation addressing consumers’ reactions to unwanted telephone calls — specifically, illegal calls from companies using robodialers, aka robocalls.

Some legitimate businesses use robocalls and (robotexts) to provide updates to customers or clients, such as:

However, these organizations employ ethical dialing practices, like only dialing numbers of consumers with whom the business has an established, legitimate relationship.

But robodialing is a tactic most often employed by illegitimate entities — scammers. Consumers are fed up with these unscrupulous practices and the communications companies that help connect these scam calls.

Legislation written to help thwart illegal robodialing doesn’t mean legitimate businesses can’t contact customers and clients in this manner. However, legitimate businesses engaging in robocalls (and the telecommunications providers connecting these calls) must meet outbound dialing compliance standards — or face the consequences. When you ensure the moral standing of your organization with a strong code of ethics and compliance measures, you show your customers you care about their well-being, which builds trust.

How can legitimate businesses prove to consumers that they do, indeed, care?

Compliance in outbound dialing is a must to ensure your business can operate legally and successfully. All businesses engaging in outbound dialing must abide by these compliance regulations:

Congress passed the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) in 1991 in answer to the abundance of unsolicited telemarketing calls flooding consumers’ homes. If a called party has not provided consent to the caller (or subsequently revoked consent), the TCPA’s provisions and prohibitions cover many call center activities, such as:

After implementing the TCPA, further legislation created the federal Do Not Call, or DNC, Registry. Consumers can add their names to this list. Some states also have DNC registries. In addition to state and federal DNC lists, businesses must maintain internal do-not-call lists of any individuals who have requested to be removed from the business’s call list.

The goal of STIR/SHAKEN legislation is to help businesses continue reaching customers and clients for legitimate reasons, while preventing scammers from illegally spoofing the phone numbers of these legitimate businesses. STIR/SHAKEN seeks to eliminate call spoofing through call authentication technology.

Carriers must be STIR/SHAKEN compliant or they can face restrictions from downstream providers or having their traffic blocked by the FCC. In turn, businesses engaging in outbound dialing should ensure they are using STIR/SHAKEN compliant partners and carriers to facilitate their calls.

In addition, all industries have and must abide by their own industry-specific outbound dialing compliance measures. It’s essential to constantly monitor and update your compliance procedures to match your industry. From general call centers and federal agencies to payment processors and healthcare providers, your call center must follow general compliance rules and industry-specific compliance measures.

In conjunction with outbound dialing compliance, following outbound dialing ethics can help boost your brand and reputation with consumers. Engaging in proper ethics shows that your company truly cares about its customers and not solely about making the sale.

These five strategies are essential to highlight your ethical business operations and outbound dialing practices.

Your attestation rating determines how effectively your calls reach consumers. Having an A-Attestation rating can help your calls stand out to your customers. Attestation ratings prove that you’re the actual business calling one of your customers or clients. An A rating means you’ve been verified as the entity placing the call. In contrast, lower attestation ratings might result in your calls not connecting properly to consumers.

Attestation can vary per carrier and may not always provide consitent ratings between carriers. If a call routes through multiple service providers, the attestation rating might be scored lower. This can occur if a business uses strategies such as least call routing (LCR) to lower dialing costs.

Dialing consumers with a flagged DID can ruin your business reputation. Even worse, if your DIDs are blocked, your agents are wasting time and resources. Scan outbound phone numbers frequently and consistently to identify flags or blocks.

Analytics engines monitor call behavior from numbers and can flag a number based off dialing habits. In addition, consumers can flag unwanted calls through call blocking apps. Continued flagging leads to the carrier blocking your number. Call flagging and blocking can destroy the reputation of the most genuine, ethical businesses today. Proper phone number management is critical in modern dialing.

Data hygiene is essential in outbound dialing to ensure compliance standards are met. Scrubbing your lists frequently ensures agents don’t dial consumers recently added to the DNC and keeps your call lists accurate. Good lead list integrity can lead to higher conversion rates, creating happier agents and customers.

Following industry standards for dialing hygiene shows your company is dedicated to following industry ethics. Agents’ ethics and behavior can also affect how customers perceive your company. Proper agent training can help your call center representatives:

How you configure your dialer also plays a role. For instance:

The company you contract with for your telephony services also matters. Ensure your communications provider upholds the same or better ethical calling practices and compliance measures.

Phone numbers not engaging in outbound dialing should be registered on the Do Not Originate (DNO) list. This can help carriers and analytics engines determine if someone is attempting to spoof your organization’s phone numbers to deceive consumers.

Your phone numbers, call center agents, dialing practices, outbound dialing compliance, and more all contribute to your reputation. Consumers are wary of unwanted and even unknown calls. Efforts to eliminate call spoofing helps, however businesses engaging in outbound dialing should be diligent in abiding by industry ethics and compliance. By doing so, consumers can feel more confident answering the phone next time your business calls.