Predictive dialers continue to be a sore spot for consumers who are registering “a whole lot of complaints” with the Federal Communications Commission, FCC commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said today.
She acknowledged that predictive dialing increases productivity for telemarketers but suggested that marketers look for ways to solve the problem of abandoned calls, or consumers answering a phone to “dead air,” before regulators do. “It annoys and frustrates many consumers,” she said.
The problem is further exacerbated when politicians pick up on the heightened level of concern among constituents, often followed by widespread coverage of the issue in the national media. A situation that can lead regulators to act in haste. In such a case, “Regulators are likely to impose costs and adopt regulations that simply may not make a lot of sense,” Abernathy said.
For telemarketers, predictive dialers have improved the time an agent actually talks with a customer to 45 to 55 minutes per hour compared to 15 to 20 minutes before their use, according to the Direct Marketing Association. One attendee at the DMA’s 2002 Government Affairs Conference asked Abernathy whether the FCC would consider allowing telemarketers to leaving a message during the dead-air time that important sales information is forthcoming, a technical violation of the FCC’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
Abernathy said lots of questions would have to be answered before the consideration of such a change could be made. The most importantly factor would be if the tactic was better for the consumer.
The FCC has stepped up vigorous enforcement of it rules across all platforms including the TCPA, which governs unsolicited faxes and telemarketing. In 2001, the commission received 16,500 inquirers and 3,500 complaints related to the act.
For example, in January, the FCC fined 21st Century Faxes $1 million for violating its rules, the largest single fine imposed by the commission under the unsolicited fax rule, Abernathy said.
And it levied $13 million last year in fines and consent decrees to business practicing slamming, or switching phone services without customer consent, another area of intense focus for the FCC.
As for the Federal Trade Commission’s proposal for a national do-not-call list, the FCC is following the proceedings and expects to participate in public forums scheduled to be held in June at the FTC’s headquarters in Washington, DC.
The FCC had, at one point, considered developing a national do-not-call list but shelved the idea because of the difficulties in implementing and managing it. The commission has no plans to implement any rules regulating a national list, should the FTC’s proposal move forward, Abernathy said.
Under its Telemarketing Rule, the FCC requires every marketer to maintain and use a do-not-call list and has stepped up enforcement in this area as well.
“Most telemarketers are following the rules with positive results for consumers and there’s no doubt that direct marketing is a valuable part of the economy,” Abernathy said. But “if consumers say ‘Please don’t call me again,’ that’s what they mean.”
Consumer telephone marketing generated $274.2 billion in sales in 2001, accounting for 27.3% of all consumer direct marketing sales. Business-to-business sales accounted for an additional $390 million. Consumer telemarketing is expected to grow by 8% each year to a projected $402.8 billion in 2006. Outbound telemarketing alone generated almost 4% of all U.S. consumer sales that year, according to the DMA.
