What’s up Wednesday: Phone validation

In our new video series “What’s up Wednesday,” we’ll give you a quick video overview of a concept that we often get questions about at Experian Data Quality.

What’s up with… phone validation? Verifying phone numbers is a critical aspect of your overall data quality strategy. The phone can be an excellent way to reach out to your customers, but if your organization isn’t handling them properly you could be putting yourselves at risk.

When it comes to consumer privacy and phone numbers, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has put a number of regulations in place to protect consumers. Anyone collecting this sensitive information must be aware of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) – otherwise your organization could face poor customer satisfaction, fines or lawsuits.

The TCPA was in place in 1991 to regulate telemarketing in a number of ways. Organizations must, among other things, honor the Do Not Call Registry, not engage in automated dialing to mobile phone numbers, and not use solicitations that use an artificial voice or recording. If your company is found to be in violation of the TCPA, you could be sued for up to $1,500 per violation or subscribers can seek an injunction against you.

In addition to compliance with the TCPA, phone validation has a number of benefits to your organization. These benefits include:

• Getting clean, actionable data into your CRM – Entering invalid or downright bad data into your customer database can cause huge challenges. Not only are you unable to reach your customers when you need to, but also your analytics will be inaccurate and reporting can be skewed. The only way to realize an accurate view of your customer is to have the most up-to-date information about them.
• Improving telemarketing campaign performance – Telemarketers will have a tough time doing their job without a valid phone number. Ensure your organization is able to communicate with customers and cut down on misdialed phone numbers with a phone verification solution.
• Ability to reach more prospects with your mobile marketing campaigns – Similar to the challenges that telemarketers face, mobile marketing campaigns cannot get off to a strong start without a valid mobile phone number. You can also avoid wasted spend on messages mistakenly sent to landlines.

Interested how Experian Data Quality can help improve the accuracy of your telephone data? Learn more.