Telemarketing is a tried-and-true sales/marketing channel, but it has become one of the most regulated industries in the world. In addition to federal “do not call” (DNC) lists, different laws govern the industry in each state.

At every level, telemarketers face litigation risks. Fortunately, the new regulations come with innovative technology to help us stay in compliance.

The challenges of telemarketing in 2023 involve serious fines for violating federal do not call lists.

Sloppy practices in the telemarketing space have opened the door for rampant legislation and litigation against generating leads by phone. People have been bombarded with both live and  automated sales calls, and they have had enough. When marketers ignore compliance, it makes it harder for legitimate businesses to drive sales and generate leads through our calls.

In a nutshell, the DNC list is a list of people who have asked not to be called by businesses. In the United States, there are two types of DNC lists. The first is the National Do Not Call Registry or the National DNC. This list, managed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), allows people to register both their cell phones and landlines and protects over 200 million phone numbers.

The second list is called the State Prohibitions Against Intrusive Telemarketing, more commonly referred to as SPIT lists or “state DNCs.” As the name suggests, these are maintained by the individual states that have enacted statutes prohibiting certain types of telemarketing calls within their borders.

The first thing you need to know about DNC compliance is that it is the law — plain and simple. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was passed in 1991 and in 2003, the Federal Communications Commission finally implemented rules requiring telemarketers to honor the requests of consumers registered on the DNC list. In 2023, we are required to access the Do Not Call Registries in order to ensure that the numbers we are calling are compliant. All telemarketers must have access to this government-sponsored list in order for their calls not to break any federal laws or regulations.

Most legitimate telemarketers do everything they can to stay compliant with the DNC list, but illegal sales calls are on the rise. This is partially due to a trend known as robocalling — calls are legal only for political candidates (how convenient) and charities, but not for sales. According to YouMail, US phones received over 50 billion robocalls in 2021, marking a 10% rise from the year before. Sadly, 17% of those calls were believed to come from telemarketers.

Telemarketers who violate the DNC list can incur fines of up to $43,792 per call. Violating state DNC rules can lead to fines ranging from $100 to $25,000 per call. Compliance is critical, and we must keep current with DNC regulations because the legislation is evolving.

Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Alan Jacobson, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Alteryx

Telemarketers are responsible for verifying numbers for DNC compliance

As telemarketers, we are responsible for following these regulations to the letter — or number, as it were. The first step to ensuring compliance with DNC regulations is to verify the phone numbers you have in your database. Third parties sell lists of contacts to us all the time, but we cannot take them at their word about this raw data. It is our responsibility to know whether we can legally call each of these contacts.

Because we are telemarketers calling US consumers, we must download the numbers on the National DNC Registry and renew our subscription yearly to verify compliance. According to the FTC, subscription fees for accessing the DNC database increased on October 1, 2022. Today, you can download up to five area codes free of charge, and charities and political callers can receive the whole list for free. Our cost to access each area code increased by $6, amounting to $75, making our maximum charge for accessing all area codes $20,740.

A current subscription to the DNC database, along with call verification software, allows us to verify whether or not each number we plan to call is compliant with DNC regulations. We can do this either before or after we purchase aged data from third-party suppliers. The verification process is as simple as entering your phone numbers into an automated system. The system then reports whether or not those numbers are currently registered on any “Do Not Call” list.

Does suppression technology eliminate risk for telemarketers?

Many telemarketers comply with DNC lists by automating the tracking process with suppression software. This software filters the DNC numbers from our team’s lists and enables us to quickly verify numbers after buying raw data.

While incredibly helpful, suppression technology is not a panacea. It can flag non-compliant numbers, but it is not a means of fool-proof compliance. When using suppression technology, everyone on the team needs to be trained on it. Every telemarketer needs to understand how suppression lists work and what it means when a number is flagged as being on a DNC list, regardless of which list (or lists) it’s found on. As such, it’s crucial to make sure your telemarketers know which list they are working on at all times.

Telemarketers are an essential part of modern business, but we operate under strict guidelines. The most important thing we need to know is who can be called and who can’t. Fortunately, technology and processes exist to help us avoid the risk of legal action.

Marketing Technology News: How to Become a Successful B2B Marketer