April 24, 2024

Maine’s New Telemarketing Law Mandates Use of Reassigned Numbers Database

While many consumers might not feel the difference, new rules that target robocalls have drastically reduced unwanted calls over the last few years. The FTC says it received 1.8 million complaints about robocalls in 2022. In 2023, it got 1.2 million complaints. While that’s still a lot of annoyed consumers, it shows that legislation can impact how organizations behave.

Maine and Wisconsin have taken that lesson to heart. In response, Maine is rolling out new laws that require businesses to scrub their data against the Reassigned Numbers Database (RND) before they contact consumers. Wisconsin is taking steps to prevent caller ID spoofing and blocking strategies intended to mislead consumers.

Maine’s New Telemarketing Rule

Starting July 16, 2024, Maine’s telemarketing law will force businesses to consult the Reassigned Numbers Database (RND before contacting consumers. This means that telemarketers will be responsible for utilizing the RND to avoid solicitation of consumers in the state.

Maine’s telemarketing law defines some exceptions to the rule. For example, businesses aren’t held liable if they make the call as part of routine business. This exception should help protect companies that need to communicate with their customers via telephone.

Wisconsin’s New Telemarketing Rule

Wisconsin enacted laws that will help protect consumers from caller ID spoofing and blocking. According to the Wisconsin law, no one can:

Block caller ID transmissions to hide their identities
Knowingly send inaccurate or misleading caller ID information
Knowingly transmit inaccurate or misleading caller ID data with the intent of defrauding consumers

Again, there are some important caveats intended to protect legitimate businesses. For example, third-party service providers can mimic a business’s number when that business hires them to communicate with customers. The number those third-party providers use, however, must direct consumers to a service line where they can opt out of future communications.

What Is the Reassigned Numbers Database (RND)?

The Reassigned Numbers Database shows numbers that have been reassigned from one person to another. The U.S. government created a database to prevent organizations from contacting people who have opted out of communications. Before the RND existed, callers could argue that they were contacting numbers instead of people. Now, they have an up-to-date record of which numbers belong to which people.

If you have ever gotten a call intended for someone else, the mistake may have happened because the other person once owned your phone number. The RND gives organizations a tool to check the accuracy of their contact information. Maine’s new law practically forces organizations to use the RND.

Keeping Your Dialing Data Clean

Using clean dialing data is essential in modern telemarketing. When you practice proper data hygiene, you help your company avoid complaints and build a good dialing reputation with consumers.

Ideally, this has a ripple effect that benefits your business. You reduce consumer complaints, which helps protect your outbound numbers from negative flags and blocks. Since people don’t see warning signs on their caller ID screens, they’re more likely to answer calls and engage with your business.

Scrubbing your data against the federal DNC registry has long been a mandate for telemarketing. However, many states are amending their laws, such as Maine, that now require businesses to check against the Reassigned Numbers Database as well. Businesses must do their due diligence now to ensure they abide by state laws when dialing their lead lists.

Dialing With Integrity

Robocalls have annoyed consumers for decades. Even as complaints decrease, the threat of fraud increases. No one can be too careful in a time of generative AI and caller ID spoofing.

Following proper dialing integrity helps maintain positive reputations for your outbound numbers. When consumers see accurate information on their caller ID screens, they feel more comfortable answering the phone.

Use the following best practices for caller ID management and outbound outreach:

Make sure caller ID screens display your number and business name correctly.
Train agents to use empathy and offer clear opt-out options.
Collect leads from reputable sources.
Scrub your lead lists to remove numbers on the DNC registry, RND, and your internal DNC list.

Best Practices for Phone Number Monitoring

Even when you follow best practices, your numbers can get flagged. Phone number monitoring gives you the best way to monitor your numbers for flags.

Identify Phone Number Flags

Caller ID Reputation provides services that allow you to monitor your outbound numbers for phone number flags. Monitoring your numbers this way can indicate if your dialing behavior results in carrier flags.

In addition, our Device Cloud service provides screenshots from real devices connected to real carriers. The service gives you a chance to see exactly what your leads see when you contact them. It also lets you catch flags quickly so you can eliminate the problem before it hurts your outbound campaign or number reputation.

Remediate Dialing Behaviors That Lead to Flags

When you find numbers with flags, you need to look into why those numbers were targeted. Identify potentially problematic behaviors, such as dialing too often, dialing uninterested leads, or failing to follow compliance standards, and remediate them. Once you resolve the underlying behaviors, you can contact carriers to redress flags.

Redress Flags With Carriers

You’ll need to contact carriers to have flags removed from your numbers. This can take a lot of work, especially since each carrier follows its own approach to redressing flags.

Caller ID Reputations Remediation Services simplifies the process by giving you access to professional removal services. Instead of sending a request to every carrier, you let your representative do the work for you.

Want to see how Caller ID Reputation can work for your business? Register today to get a free demo of the platform.