Outgoing calls using Click to Call are being marked as SPAM

[john.quinn]

After reading through this thread, I called da guy who pointed me to the reason:

STIR/SHAKEN - Robocall Mitigation & Compliance Regime: What is it, why is it important, who must comply, how and by when? - CommLawGroup

Nearly all Companies in the “Call Origination-to-Call Completion” chain are impacted by a variety of federal laws, FCC’s Rules, and industry group policies implementing industry-wide measures intended to materially reduce the volume of unwanted and/or illegal robocalls plaguing American...

commlawgroup.com

There are defined mitigation strategies for STIR/SHAKEN.

 

[John V.]

did you purchase a local area code outbound call tracking number?

 

[CorporateBDC]

We have CarWars, VIN Stores & eLead we are using local numbers, changing the numbers and it keeps happening, multiple times we've run into this with multiple stores. I've been told that it's carrier issues and for some reason there's nothing that can be done about it. It's up and down and inconsistent with some carriers, tMobile seems to be the worst.

 

[DrewAment]

It is not a 'carrier issue', is is not a 'your phone' issue - it has to do with the STIR/SHAKEN being more widely used (along with some providers using a database of common consumer reported numbers) - will continue to be a problem with "spoofing" of the numbers -- spoofing is how most call tracking companies accomplish outbound tracking. They are displaying the "dealer number" but actually dialing from another number.

The real question to ask yourself - is the tracking of outbound calls important to you? and does it really affect your business if you are not able to track (CRM checkbox) or listen (do you record?) your calls? Personally, I would stop using click-to-call, and just pay a stipend to let everyone use there own cell phone -- or just use the dealerships own phone system.

Frankly - with the new FTC rules including the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN, once more widely verified and implemented, in my opinion the networks are just going to start blocking non-authenticated calls. The call tracking companies have known this for over a year, but I have yet to see any definitive action taken to address or fix.

 

[Teresa Bordenet]

It is not a 'carrier issue', is is not a 'your phone' issue - it has to do with the STIR/SHAKEN being more widely used (along with some providers using a database of common consumer reported numbers) - will continue to be a problem with "spoofing" of the numbers -- spoofing is how most call tracking companies accomplish outbound tracking. They are displaying the "dealer number" but actually dialing from another number.

The real question to ask yourself - is the tracking of outbound calls important to you? and does it really affect your business if you are not able to track (CRM checkbox) or listen (do you record?) your calls? Personally, I would stop using click-to-call, and just pay a stipend to let everyone use there own cell phone -- or just use the dealerships own phone system.

Frankly - with the new FTC rules including the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN, once more widely verified and implemented, in my opinion the networks are just going to start blocking non-authenticated calls. The call tracking companies have known this for over a year, but I have yet to see any definitive action taken to address or fix.

Hi, Drew!

A call tracking number is easy to swap out while we get lines registered and move closer to STIR/SHAKEN but a person's own number is much harder to mitigate.

Happy to talk through it one on one if you like!

Teresa
teresa@carwars.com

 

[Teresa Bordenet]

We have CarWars, VIN Stores & eLead we are using local numbers, changing the numbers and it keeps happening, multiple times we've run into this with multiple stores. I've been told that it's carrier issues and for some reason there's nothing that can be done about it. It's up and down and inconsistent with some carriers, tMobile seems to be the worst.

We see a lot more Scam Likely from TMobile for sure.

 

[Niki.E]

If it is not marked spam and you use a local area code, I am finding it pops up weird town names and the customers just do not answer. It stifled our call production.

 

[Todd Thompson]

Many of the telco providers have 'improved' their spam detection and have now required I do workarounds.

A few tweaks that made a difference:

1) Called one provider and got them to whitelist a few numbers (in my case Telus). amazingly quick at it but we are a larger user and it was stricly internal messaging and I provided a log of 10,000 outgoing recent samples.
2) Other providers (rogers and a couple... sucked). Users would need to call in and have that number whitelisted to their device. Doable as our use case here is internal
3) Variable data is your friend: by inserting variables to change messaging this made a real difference (Hi <fname> you have a lead from <provider> with the name <first_name> <last_name> that came in at <lead_time>. Respond by clicking <variable url link>
4) Frequency - if can be dialed down, good idea
5) Variable numbers - we use a pool of numbers where necessary so second message may be originating from different number
6) Heating up the number - get numbers in use, though not heavy for awhile before dialing it up
7) If possible, have the recipient reply back with basically 'any message'. Indicates interaction to the telco.

We do hundreds of thousands of outgoing/incoming sms messages using long codes per year and above are some of my best practices.

Sorry also with outgoing 'Stir/Shaken' mentioned earlier is another key. We use twilio for our messaging and implement this as well and the 'Trust Hub'

We build our own in-house communications both internal and external and between twilio and telnyx managed to work out most of the kinks. More then likely any 3rd party is using twilio anyways, so shouldn't be news to them if you are having issues and how they should go about fixing them.

Trusted Calling | Twilio

Help combat unlawful robocalls and improve your call answer rate with SHAKEN/STIR—a fraud fighting protocol mandated by the FCC. Becoming a verified caller is simple, and helps fight against fraudulent calling and caller ID spoofing.

www.twilio.com

*bit of info.

 

[David Ortiz]

It is not a 'carrier issue', is is not a 'your phone' issue - it has to do with the STIR/SHAKEN being more widely used (along with some providers using a database of common consumer reported numbers) - will continue to be a problem with "spoofing" of the numbers -- spoofing is how most call tracking companies accomplish outbound tracking. They are displaying the "dealer number" but actually dialing from another number.

The real question to ask yourself - is the tracking of outbound calls important to you? and does it really affect your business if you are not able to track (CRM checkbox) or listen (do you record?) your calls? Personally, I would stop using click-to-call, and just pay a stipend to let everyone use there own cell phone -- or just use the dealerships own phone system.

Frankly - with the new FTC rules including the implementation of STIR/SHAKEN, once more widely verified and implemented, in my opinion the networks are just going to start blocking non-authenticated calls. The call tracking companies have known this for over a year, but I have yet to see any definitive action taken to address or fix.

Josh, this happens regardless of click to call or hand dialing through the dealership's phone system... We handle almost a 1000 outbound calls a day and the numbers are constantly marked spam, we have to constantly communicate with the cell providers.

 

[Kabbalero]

Hey, thanks for sharing your insights on dealing with outgoing call issues and spam detection. It's a real headache, but your tips are super helpful!

I used to receive scam calls, too, and I found a handy tool in the UK. It's an instant reverse phone lookup service, and it's been a game-changer for verifying unknown numbers. If you're dealing with spam calls, you might want to give it a try at Who Called Me? | UK's Instant Free Reverse Phone Lookup Service.

It's great to see how you've tackled the problem with various strategies, especially for outgoing SMS messages. Your best practices make a lot of sense, and it's evident you've put a lot of thought into finding solutions.