Stuart Corner
Monday, 02 June 2008 07:10
IT Industry -
Strategy
Page 1 of 2
More than two million telephone numbers have been listed on the on the Do-Not-Call Register since its launch one year ago but the expected impact on outbound telemarketing does not appear to have occurred.
The register, which is overseen by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, was established in May 2007 under the Do Not Call Register Act 2006. It makes it illegal for most kinds of telemarketing calls to be made to domestic and private fixed line and mobile telephone numbers listed on the register. Business phone numbers cannot be registered.
Dimension Data, a company providing systems integration services to call centre operators, says that research it has commissioned shows that the register has not adversely effected large businesses: specifically it has not reduced call centres' outbound call volumes.
Fifty four Australian contact centres were surveyed for the report, including some of Australia's largest organisations in banking, government, insurance, retail, telecommunications and transport. When asked 'What has the impact of the Do Not Call Register been on your overall outbound calling volumes?' 91.7 percent said that it had either had no impact or no change on volumes.
A follow-up question 'What has the impact been on your campaign success rate?' elicited a similar response with 90.5 percent claiming that it has had no impact. Overall outbound call volumes include calls to existing customers exempt from the Do Not Call rules and unsolicited calls.
Co-author of the report, Ian Dundas, principal consultant, customer interactive solutions, said: "Given that the Register received over one million registrations in the first month of operation, and is now sitting at well over two million, this is really heartening news. In the lead-up to the introduction of the Register last year, there was a lot of anxiety as to its potential negative impact on Australia's contact centre industry."
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