When automating your marketing, information broadcasting, or developing a voice broadcasting campaign, not only do you need to keep the customer or contact in mind, but there are also laws and regulations you need to abide by. Users of voice broadcasting who follow these rules effectively are able to generate more engaging and productive voice blasts.
In order to deliver an effective voice campaign, we first need to be aware of the boundaries of the medium, so your campaign isn’t shot down before it is even launched. These laws and regulations change depending on the different geographical locations of the world.
Since the variance of voice broadcasting laws is so different between different countries, we advise that you first make sure you understand the laws and regulations within your region or within the region your calls are being delivered to.
Here are just some of the voice broadcasting regulations found in a couple global markets.
Canadian Voice Broadcasting
The Canadian laws regarding voice broadcasting are less restrictive than the laws and regulations in the United States. As aforementioned, your business is responsible for making sure that you are abiding by these laws to protect privacy and rights of the citizens in this country. Read more about the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regulations.
Within Canada, there is a National Do Not Call List and any contact information on this list must not be contacted (phone numbers, cell numbers, fax numbers). Also, your business needs to maintain your own Do Not Call List (DNCL), or unsubscribe list, and when a contact wishes not to be reached by you, they must be added to the DNCL either automatically or manually.
There are some very basic voice broadcasting rules must be complied to at all times. For instance, your business can only schedule or make these calls at certain times of the day. In addition, you need to identify yourself at the beginning of each interaction. It’s important to note that most of these laws align with common sense, so if you think that something is not allowed, chances are it probably is.
United States Voice Broadcasting
The United States has more specific and rigorous laws concerning voice broadcasting and automated voice marketing.
The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) introduced a regulation making it mandatory that contacts of your voice broadcast must opt in, or subscribe, to receive these messages. However, this only applies to for-profit companies delivering these messages. Non-profit companies, political campaigns, surveys, or charities are exempt from this regulation.
Any non-profit organization contacting members from a generated list must have authorization to do so, or risk practicing voice broadcasting illegally.
Awareness is Key
Now, we could list every law and regulation surrounding automated voice messaging, but we would be here for a while, which wouldn’t be enjoyable for anyone. The goal is more so to make the reader aware that there are laws in place to protect the privacy of the public so their information isn’t shared with any average Joe with some money to spend.
It is vitally important that your business is aware of the laws and regulations of the country where your voice broadcasting activities will be taking place before sending your first campaign. Just like the laws themselves, the consequences can also vary greatly. Sometimes fines may be issued for non-compliance with these laws and regulations, or your business could be suspended for breaking a law you weren’t even aware was in place. This usually isn’t the goal for the governing body or the business, but ignorance isn’t bliss in this case, it’s actually quite the opposite.
SimplyCast is also bound by these voice broadcasting regulations. We require that users only send to lists of contacts that have opted in to receive voice messages from them and our voice broadcasting software incorporates unsubscribe functionality that recipients can use to opt out of receiving future messages.
Click the button below to request a one-on-one demo of the voice broadcasting application and discover today how we help ensure you are complying with all the various voice broadcasting laws and regulations!
