October 2008 [marked] the fifth anniversary of the often controversial U.S. federal Do Not Call (DNC) registry, though individual state had started DNC lists several years before and many continue to have them. DNC compliance is enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) or by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). So we asked direct marketing and teleservices leaders what has been the impact of the DNC on compliance, complaints, operations, demand for teleservices, and on outbound campaign costs and effectiveness. We wanted to find out from them if they could change the legislation what aspects of it would they modify, and why. Finally we sought to find out where they saw the DNC going from here, going forward.
Here are their responses:
American Teleservices Association (www.ataconnect.org)
Tim Searcy, Chief Executive Officer
The impact of the DNC has been dramatic. Campaign costs have remained stable because of the increased costs of compliance. However, more campaigns have been deemed profitable because average conversion rates have improved by 20-30 percent on average. The DNC has clearly decreased the overall pool of available numbers, and the resulting decline in overall program size has resulted in a decrease of about 1.2 million jobs. It appears that the DNC is effective in cutting the consumer complaint pace, and we have seen a slowing of traditional complaints to the FTC. But fraudulent use of the channel and confusion about compliance requirements are still issues which need to be addressed through education and enforcement every day.
It is difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. The DNC legislation has a few flaws that over time are being worked out, but without a doubt, the issue of exclusive jurisdiction is the biggest problem. Currently states view teleservices regulation related to DNC and all other aspects of the channel to be fair game…