October 4, 2023
Alleviating Consumer Skepticism Through Branded Calls
Consumers have been annoyed and scammed by robocalls for far too long. Robocalls have eroded consumer trust and changed how they respond to incoming calls. If someone doesn’t recognize a number, they probably won’t answer it.
It makes sense for people to respond this way, but it puts legitimate businesses at a disadvantage when trying to reach customers. Branded calls could help reduce much of the skepticism that comes between you and your consumers.
Consumer Skepticism Poses a Real Threat
According to a survey conducted by TransUnion, 72% of people choose not to answer calls from unknown numbers due to fear of robocalls, call spoofing, and fraud.
The survey shows that consumers have legitimate reasons to be worried. Nearly 40% of respondents say they have been victims of fraud or scams via their mobile devices. More than 60% say they have experienced caller ID spoofing in the past three months. Caller ID spoofing involves tricking phones into displaying inaccurate information, such as the names of well-known local businesses and hospitals, to encourage people to answer their phones.
These statistics are concerning for businesses that need to reach customers and leads. The good news is that 62% of people say they are very likely to answer calls when they know who is calling, and 76% say they are likely to answer calls from known businesses that use branded caller ID, which displays the company name and logo.
Branded Calls Inspire Confidence
Many businesses rely on CNAM data to display accurate information on caller ID screens. While CNAM can help you connect with customers, using rich call data (RCD) for branded calls can yield more effective results.
Rich call data allows you to provide much more than just your phone number and company name. With RCD branded calls, screens can display your company’s name, logo, location, reason for calling, and other information.
RCD also provides you with more control over caller ID displays. With CNAM, individual carriers determine what appears on screens. Branded calls with RCD, however, give you control over what consumers see when you call them.
Maintaining an Accurate Caller ID
Branded calls can give you a significant advantage, but they do not stop consumers from flagging your phone numbers. Call-blocking apps make it easy for people to flag unwanted calls for any reason. People might report your number simply because they were annoyed by the call. If the app receives enough complaints, it could flag or even block your numbers.
To maintain an accurate caller ID and reduce the risk of getting flagged, follow the management strategies below:
Proactive Monitoring
Proactively monitoring your caller ID information will help you catch flags as soon as possible, limiting the damage they can cause.
Also, knowing when a number gets flagged allows your business to take steps to address any calling behaviors that might have annoyed consumers. You can remove the affected number from your roster and find ways to improve its reputation.
Proper Call Management
Complying with regulations, including those set by the government and your industry, should reduce the number of flags your numbers receive. It is also important to use proper dialing habits that won’t attract negative attention from analytics engines that label scam calls.
Some of the most important things you can do include scrubbing call lists to remove numbers that have opted out of receiving calls, training your agents to treat people with respect and empathy, and limiting the number of calls your agents can make from a specific number.
Redress Your Caller ID
If inaccurate information is displayed on caller IDs, you need to contact the carrier and address the issue. It might take some time for the carrier to update your data, so you should remove the affected number from rotation until the problem is resolved.
Identify Flagged Phone Numbers
You must identify flagged phone numbers before you can begin working towards restoring their reputations. Device Cloud makes number auditing easy by providing screenshots from popular devices using any major carrier.
When you see a screen that displays negative or inaccurate information, you can remove it from rotation and begin the process of rehabilitation.
Remediate Dialing Behavior
What aspects of your dialing behavior attract flags, negative labels, and blocks? Identify the problems and remediate your dialing behavior so your team can reach more people.
Some of the most common dialing behaviors that result in flagged numbers include neighbor spoofing that uses the contact’s local area code, over dialing from the same numbers, and least call routing that can lower your attestation rating.
If your call center uses any of these strategies, clean up your dialing habits to avoid flags and reach more consumers.
Redress With Carriers
No matter what you do, your numbers can still receive negative flags and labels. When you find a flagged number, reach out to the carrier or third-party app to request redress, which will help restore your number’s reputation.
Redressing can take a lot of effort, especially when you need to make requests with multiple carriers and apps. Caller ID Reputation offers a service that handles all aspects of number redress remediation.
Take Control of Your Numbers’ Reputations
Do you want to take control of your numbers’ reputations so you can reach more people? Sign up for a five-day trial with Caller ID Reputation to start monitoring, managing, and mitigating your outbound calls.
