Ooma supports efforts by the telecom industry and government agencies to eliminate unsolicited calls like spam or robocalls, and to address illegal practices like number spoofing. More aggressive number blocking by phone carriers means that mistakes can happen even if your business may be making legitimate phone calls.

If your customers have stopped answering the phone, they may be seeing your calls marked as SPAM LIKELY or SPAM RISK on caller ID. Every carrier maintains a list of phone numbers that have been identified as likely sources of spam from crowdsourced feedback and customer complaints. You may have even selected a phone number that was marked as a source of spam thanks to its previous owner!

There are a few preventative measures your business can take to help keep your calls from being flagged.

  1. Register your business with the Free Call Registry, which is operated by a coalition of telecom providers. This process is quick, easy, and free. You can get started at https://www.freecallerregistry.com/fcr/.
  2. Email the following spam blocking services to introduce your business and its phone numbers:

Business calls are often flagged as spam or blocked because the call recipients file complaints with carriers or government agencies. This can happen even if you have taken the steps above to make sure the appropriate agencies recognize your calls as legitimate. To keep this from happening, you may want to implement the following call center best practices in your outbound calls:

  1. Rotate phone numbers. Don’t use a handful of phone numbers when you’re making a lot of outbound calls. Automated spam detectors are less likely to trigger if you use many phone numbers. Learn more about registering additional phone numbers here.
  2. Limit the frequency of calls. Don’t let your call center agents call the same individual more than once or twice a day.
  3. Always respond when the call connects. If you’re running a dialer, make sure that your agent responds immediately when the call is answered.
  4. Always answer call backs. If a call recipient returns a call, make sure an agent is available to pick up!
  5. Accept “do not call” requests without argument. If a caller requests to be added to your company’s “do not call” list, the agent should accept the request immediately without pushing back.
  6. Don’t dial numbers from the National Do Not Call Registry. You can find the registry at https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov/.

As you implement these best practices, please keep in mind that the policies and procedures for fighting spam calls are constantly changing. These tips could become outdated over time. For the most up to date guidance, please contact your sales representative.