One of the first issues you’ll need to deal with when building a predictive dialler campaign, is that you† need to deploy a dropped call message. You need to ensure this is set before your agents start to dial. Ofcom introduced a range of guidelines in 2011, all designed to minimise the number of dropped or “silent calls”.
As part of these new guidelines, there is now a maximum fine of 2 million (GBP) for companies that ignore the rules and become a nuisance for consumers. Even so, many companies don’t give these rules much thought – possibly through lack of knowledge or that they believe their dialler company will take care of everything.
If you’re worrying about company compliance, it’s good to know that the regulations are reasonably straight forward. There are just a handful of steps you need to take to ensure your dialler setup is compliant.
First, let’s take a look at the current rules, and then how you can deploy the changes necessary to stay within the rules. It’s also worth spending some time on the Ofcom website, as the rules can change periodically – keeping up to date is an important part of compliance.
Important: We should point out, that this post doesn’t constitute legal advice. We advise you to visit the Ofcom Website to understand the rules fully, and consult with a professional dialler manager if more assistance is required.
Creating Your Dropped Call Messaage
When recording your message, you need to follow these rules:
- Identify The Calling Company
You need to identify the company who is responsible for calling the customer. For example, if you’re calling on behalf of a charity, you need to state the name of the charity involved in any fundraising activity.
Alternatively, if you’re more of a comparison service with multiple partners, it’s more beneficial to state the name of the comparison service that’s calling.
- Giving The Option To Decline Further Calls
During the message, you need to give the customer the opportunity to exclude themselves from further marketing calls. This can either be in the form of a contact telephone number, or alternatively an IVR option that automatically marks the customers number as “Do Not Call”. It’s also a good idea to include a voicemail option for customers to make contact even when your agents go home for the day.
- You Outbound Caller ID
There are restrictions on the type of phone number you can use when outbound calling. In the first instance, this needs to be:
- 0800
- Starting with 01 or 02 (A Standard Landline)
- Starting with 03 (A Freephone and/or local rate Number)
You must also avoid using local landline numbers that may give the impression you’re located closer to the customer than you are. For example, if your company is based in London, you cannot use a Manchester number to call customers in Manchester to give a false impression. Of course, if you do have a defined base in Manchester, such as a smaller regional office with staff on-site, this is perfectly fine.
- You Cannot Use The Message As A Marketing Opportunity
During the dropped call message, you cannot use this as an opportunity to market your business. Stating your company name, reason for the call and giving an adequate opt out mechanism is great; however, stating that you’re calling about a “great opportunity” or “low price” would be against the rules.
This doesn’t mean that you cannot provide your standard sales number suring the message. If your customer want to call you back and hear what you have to offer – that’s perfectly fine. Customers should have the choice to do this though.
Bringing It All Together
At this point, it’s worth mentioning again that these tips aren’t legal advice, they’re pointers to show you what good compliance may look like. We always suggest visiting the Ofcom Website to become better informed about the rules and/or consult a professional call centre manager to guide you.
With this in mind, here is an example of how a good quality dropped call message might sound.
“This is an automated call from Blue Telecoms regarding predictive diallers. Unfortunately, due to a technical error, no agent is available to speak to you at this time. This is not an important call and you do not need to take any action as we will call back at another time. If you wish to receive no further calls from us, please call 0333 444 555 8 and we will be happy to remove you from our calling list. Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience.”
A nice, short and to the point message – ensuring your customer has the option to opt out if required and also explaining exactly what the call is about and who placed it.
If you’d like to find out more about our predictive dialler range, please get in touch with our friendly team.