Marketers are split over the new federal do-not-call list’s impact: In a poll by Direct and Vente at the Direct Marketing Association’s annual fall conference yesterday, respondents said it would cause outbound telemarketing to change for the better, especially in forcing callers to make more relevant offers.
One third said the prospects lost wouldn’t be good leads anyway. But while 54% acknowledge that marketers may be forced to target more efficiently, they also said the job loss within the industry would be huge.
Only 6% expressed a doom-and-gloom outlook, saying that the federal DNC list will prove disastrous, and would prevent consumers from getting calls they really want to receive.
In reaction to the list’s implementation, 9% report ceasing all outbound telemarketing activity, while another 13% now limit it to existing customers. Twenty-seven percent report not making any changes to their activities, while 44% have never done it. Four percent didn’t know how it would affect their business.
Count direct marketers among those eliminating themselves as viable telemarketing prospects. Sixty percent have put their home phone numbers on a do-not-call list. Forty-five percent have never responded to a telemarketing pitch. Another 19% have done so—but only from companies they’ve previously done business with before.
Thirty-six percent report that they have responded to general telemarketing solicitations.
