Business moves fast, and trends can evolve even faster. It seems like only yesterday Congress approved the TRACED ActOpens a new window and mandated the adoption of the STIR/SHAKENOpens a new window protocol to reduce or eliminate troublesome robocalling from U.S. consumers’ phones. Todd Fisher, co-founder and chief executive officer, CallTrackingMetrics, looks at the benefits of complying with STIR/SHAKEN and how updating marketing strategies could increase consumer engagement.
As we approach the first anniversary of STIR/SHAKEN in June, and the formal, legal effort to combat robocalls, let’s look at how these efforts have affected the marketing industry, call tracking, and attribution. Â
Combatting Spam with STIR/SHAKENÂ
Call spam was out of hand when Congress decided to act against such outreach in 2019 with the TRACED Act. Cracking down, making these calls illegal, and mandating authenticated identification on phone calls were intimidating steps by the government for some companies. There was a lot of uncertainty about what that would mean for calling and call tracking with the new laws. Thankfully, those rules proved not to be too burdensome.
In response to these new laws, many companies have adopted what’s now considered an industry-standard practice – calls carried over an internet protocol network are now validated to demonstrate their source is authentic. The caller ID is digitally verified by the originating carrier and then validated by the recipient’s service or any other networked carrier.Â
This process confirms whether the call originates from the phone number associated with it. This eliminates spoofing; when questionable marketers digitally disguise robocalls behind a false phone number with the hope the recipient would be tricked into accepting a call from a familiar prefix or area code.
See More: Measuring Call Experience Can Improve Customer Satisfaction
How Marketers, Businesses, and Consumers BenefitÂ
For legitimate marketers, there was no big trade-off from the new law. Verified calls are proving to be a win-win for businesses and consumers alike.Â
Consumers now have a much better indication of who’s trying to reach them. Businesses making valid calls to customers or prospects are now confident they aren’t being mistaken for phone spam or a robocall.
Validated calls now significantly reduce the noise of unwanted, potentially harmful robocall contact. People can better trust incoming calls from unknown numbers. This can positively affect businesses’ outbound call answer rate. This makes calling customers more straightforward and transparent.
How to Comply with STIR/SHAKENÂ
For new businesses or those who have yet to authenticate their phone numbers, here’s what’s involved in complying with STIR/SHAKEN.
A business profile is created and identified with its phone number. Carrier networks on both ends of any call verify this number and its origin and cross-check with any other provider carriers that are involved in the call’s delivery.
 All these authentication results in a three-level trust score assigned to the call and number, assuring its validity; A, B, and C.Â
- A-Level trust confirms the call’s origin and the caller’s authenticity in using the number.Â
- B-Level trust confirms the call’s origin but cannot verify the caller’s authorization to use the number.Â
- C-level trust merely confirms the call is on the carrier network, with no verification of source or authorization.
SMS Text Compliance
Also within the TRACED Act are new standards for SMS phone texts. Like phone calls, businesses must comply with these text requirements to benefit from them.
Called an Application To Person messaging service, or A2P, businesses must register their phone number and business account profile to have trust levels assigned to their texts. Like validated phone calls, this registration ensures that texts to-and-from 10-digit numbers can be authenticated and verified along with the carrier networks.Â
Because SMS texts are a known advantage for driving engagement with customers who prefer this method of communication, most businesses are embracing being verified in A2P.
Leveraging New Regulations for Success
Once companies have completed connecting the business with its active phone and text numbers, the next step is obtaining and maintaining A-Level Trust verification with all call and text campaigns.
To gain an A-Level reputation under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) guidelines, campaigns should include:Â
- Maintaining a regular cadence without significant spikes in activity that can be interpreted as spam- or robo-like.
- Avoiding dialing number neighbors in sequence, i.e. phone numbers that vary only in their last digit. These can be considered robocalls.
- Keeping call lists updated and removing disconnected, inactive, and Do Not Call numbers.
- Providing recipients with an opt-out option and avoiding repeated calling on inactive numbers that can harm A-Level reputation.
See More: Want to Elevate CX? Eliminate Background Noise in Contact Centers
Engaging Reputation
TRACED and STIR/SHAKEN have brought about some much-needed standards to phone calls, marketing, and call tracking. Additionally, these regulations are helping reign in organizations engaging in robocalls and spam so that legitimate marketers keep their reputations intact.Â
Utilizing sound marketing practices when it comes to phone calls, call tracking, and text communication continues to build valuable engagement with customers and prospects. And, with the end of third-party cookies and the resulting growth in the importance of first-party data, exercising best practices in phone communication can help businesses stand out from their competitors. By meshing marketing savvy with federal compliance, the best call and SMS campaigns will easily separate themselves from the troublesome phone outreach that helped create the need for new regulations.
Do you think these new regulations will help improve consumer experience? Share your thoughts with us on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We’d love to know!