DNC lists may have been around for a while, but plenty of business owners, marketers, and compliance sticklers alike still have questions about how to work with them. If you’re wondering which source is the best one to turn to if you want to scrub your data, we’ll look at what you should know.
Work with the Federal Do Not Call List
We recommend working with the federal do-not-call list, as this is top-down protection. (States may have their own protection lists, but the federal one is more accessible and considered higher than state laws.) Introduced 16 years ago by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), it was designed to stop unwanted phone calls and has since accumulated hundreds of millions of numbers.
It’s worth noting that surveys, political calls, and charity asks do not qualify for the DNC list, meaning that it’s not a catch-all for those who only want to receive calls from their closest friends and family. You are still allowed to call clients if they’ve recently done business with you, though you are required to stop if the client requests for the calls to stop.
Scrubbing in Real-Time
As you might imagine, the Federal Trade Commission’s list is riddled with incomplete information. A lot can happen to a person in just a few short days, let alone 16 years! However, as inaccurate as some of the data might be, it’s still your best resource to ensure you don’t call someone who doesn’t want to hear from you. Ideally, you should be cleaning your data in real-time, as the system allows.
As you might imagine, most people want to limit the number of manual adjustments they need to make, which is why automation reigns in this realm. If you wanted to do it on your own, you’d need to download all of the phone numbers in your given area codes and then check them all against your lead lists. Who’s got that kind of energy! Even advanced filtering is time-consuming, considering you’re supposed to download the updated list every 31 days.
Living in Reality
Let’s be honest here: there are plenty of mistakes being made out there with these lists. Some are using them incorrectly, some aren’t using them at all. What is the realistic capacity of a federal government to stop a person from making these unsolicited calls? The answer is: very little. The federal government has bigger fish to fry, so unless you’re running some sort of gigantic scam, then you likely won’t have any kind of authority showing up at your door.
Still, there’s a lot to be said for giving your customers the space they need, when they ask for it. While it may feel difficult to get their attention without a phone call, there are plenty of other ways to connect with prospective customers who would actually benefit from being in touch with you.
Starting Off on the Right Foot
At Conversion Marketing, we want our clients to start off on the best possible foot with their leads, which is why why we strive to ensure our data is worth relying on. If you’re tired of speaking to people who don’t want to talk to you or you’d just prefer to stay within the lines whenever you can, we have answers.
We help you stay compliant even when you’re unlikely to get caught, which is the mark of a legitimate business that won’t cut corners just to make a quick buck. Call us today to get more information about how we compile our lists for the many verticals we serve.
