Have you noticed that your customers haven't been as willing to answer the phone recently? You're using the same telemarketing strategy and yet your contact rate has dropped off at an alarming rate. What gives?
Here are 4 reasons for decreased contact rates that we're seeing in the marketplace:
1) SPAM ALERTS FROM CELL PHONE PROVIDERS
Many of the largest mobile phone service providers are offering their customers a way to be alerted of calls from potential spam and telemarketers.
One of the largest carriers, AT&T, promises their customers more control over unwanted calls with their AT&T Call Protect feature, which automatically blocks calls likely from fraudsters, alerts you with a big red background when a call is from a suspected spam source and lets you block unwanted calls.
The scary part about this feature is that there is no regulation regarding what is classified as spam or not. If your number ends up on the carriers spam or telemarketing list by some chance, many of your customers could get the big, red alert that you are likely a telemarketer, and be very discouraged from picking up the phone.
2) THIRD PARTY/CROWD-SOURCED SPAM DETECTION APPS
Just search 'spam call blocker' in your phone's app store and you'll be met with pages upon pages of applications promising to help their users avoid spam and junk calls.
Truecaller, one of the most downloaded crowd-sourced spam apps, gives their users the ability to block calls using a community-based spam list generated by their 250 million users.
Again, this is a scary prospect for any business. Since the list is crowd-sourced and generated from a group that has the freedom to label any call with a spam designation, your customers who have opted to use an application like this could be alerted that your phone call is potentially spam, leading to significant decrease in contact rates.
3) AUTOMATED CALL SCREENING FEATURES FOR HOME PHONES
Some home phone service providers are now offering their customers the ability to adjust their ring settings based on the type of call coming in.
For example, Comcast users are able to set up their phones to ring only one time for any incoming call with a business phone number. Let me repeat - any incoming call with a business phone number will only ring once. Your customer likely won't even get up from their chair to look at their callerr ID, much less pick up the phone, if it only rings once.
4) CUSTOMER CHANNEL PREFERENCES ARE CHANGING
Probably the most obvious reason of all - customer channel preferences are changing.
With the popularity of the apps and service features mentioned above, it's clear that preferences are shifting.
So how can we address this and make sure we're still engaging with our customers in a way they are receptive to our marketing? We must start using a healthy mix of alternative channels.