Rules and best practices for outbound voice

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This article outlines the rules and best practices for placing outbound calls with your Avaya.cx account. The purpose of these rules and best practices is to mitigate SPAM and consumer fraud calls.

Resources

Please click any of the links below to learn more about the federal rules and regulations that apply to the use of outbound voice with your Avaya.cx account.

Rules

General rules

FTC telemarketing rules

The FTC has laid out the following federal rules related to telemarketing that you must follow. Note that there are also state regulations for telemarketing that should be taken into account.

Best practices

Implement customer opt-in to unrequested calls

We suggest implementing a process for customers to opt into sales, marketing, or otherwise unrequested calls.

Include any CSAT surveys in the same call

When sending a customer a CSAT survey, we suggest that the CSAT is part of the same call as the survey is evaluating.

Take ownership of interactions before placing outbound calls

The system is designed for queue users to explicitly claim interactions before placing outbound calls. The FCC doesn’t permit the use of auto dialers, so all interactions in Edify must be formally claimed by an individual before outbound calls can be made.

For example, if your organization has a list of leads (or a list of customers who have opted into receiving phone calls), the list can be imported into your Avaya.cx account. Then, a queue user can manually accept the interaction to initiate the outbound phone call.

Avoid short-duration calls

Phone calls of a short duration (less than 15 seconds) raise flags on most service provider networks. We suggest limiting the use of short-duration calls as they may lead to call blocking per FCC guidelines.

FAQ

Who do the Telemarketing Rules apply to?

Telemarketing is the marketing of goods or service by means of telephone calls to unsolicited individuals. It is suggested that all businesses placing outbound calls to consumers follow the rules as outlined by the FTC. 

For more information, see: FTC - Complying with the Telemarketing Sales Rule (web page)

What is SHAKEN/STIR?

SHAKEN (Signature-based Handling of Asserted information) and STIR (Secure Telephone Identity Revision) are protocols for digitally validating the handoff of phone calls passing through phone networks. This allows phone companies to verify that a call is actually from the number displayed on the Caller ID.

For more information, see: FCC - Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication (web page).

What is Spoofing?

Spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to the caller ID display to disguise their identity.

For more information, see: FCC - Caller ID Spoofing (web page).

What is a Robocall?

A robocall is an automated telephone call that delivers a recorded message. Examples of unlawful robocalls include:

For more information, see: FTC - Robocalls (web page)

What is the Do Not Call Registry?

The Do Not Call Registry (https://www.donotcall.gov/) is a federal registry maintained by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It is a list that tells telemarketers what numbers not to call.

The Do Not Call Registry covers personal phone numbers. It does not cover business phone numbers or fax lines.

Companies that illegally call numbers of the Do Not Call Registry (or place an illegal robocall) can be fined up to $43,792 per call (as of August 2023).

For more information, see: FTC - National Do Not Call Registry FAQs (web page)

Unlawful calls

Unlawful calls (as defined by the FCC) are not permitted.

Resource: FCC - Advanced Methods to Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls (PDF)

We recommend you make sure that your calling traffic contains valid telephone numbers in the ANI/FROM fields. We also recommend that calls from your network (or from your customer’s) never have ANI/FROM phone numbers that fall into the categories listed above.

Note: Calls made for lead generation are outside of best practices and not approved use cases under the TCPA (PDF).