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Branded Caller ID: The Pros And Cons In The Battle Against Phone Scams

Forbes Technology Council

Entrepreneur, CEO & Founder of Ytel, improving answer rates with customers using modern phone systems with branded caller ID.

In today's digital age, businesses still often rely heavily on phone calls as a means of customer communication. However, with the rise of phone scams and robocalls, it can be difficult for consumers to trust most incoming calls, even from numbers familiar to them. This is where branded caller ID has the potential to help.

Branded caller ID, also known as call display branding or caller ID branding, allows businesses to display their company name and/or logo on the caller ID of outbound calls. This can create a more trustworthy and professional appearance for the business, helping companies deal with fraud and the rise in consumers that are increasingly wary of answering calls from unfamiliar numbers. Through branded caller ID, customers can identify the brand and have more trust that the call is genuine.

In this way, branded caller ID can help businesses improve the chances that customers will answer their calls, likely leading to more productive and successful interactions and outcomes. This can be especially valuable for businesses that rely heavily on phone calls for sales, customer service or other important interactions.

However, even with branded caller ID, there's little assurance that consumers will answer your call or that your calls won't be flagged as "scam likely." The "scam likely" message appears when a call is flagged as potentially fraudulent by a caller ID authentication service or by the phone carrier. These services use a variety of factors to determine whether a call is more likely to be a scam (or spam), such as the caller ID, the phone number and the caller's behavior, both auto-recognized and reported by others. For example, some of these services also allow consumers to block or flag numbers as scams, further increasing the chances that an authentic call can be wrongly flagged as "scam likely."

To avoid this issue, businesses can take a number of steps to ensure that their calls aren't misidentified as phone scams or robocalls. For example, they can use a specific (dedicated) phone number for all outbound calls rather than a shared number or one that's been used for robocalls in the past. They can also use caller ID authentication services to confirm their caller ID and ensure that it's legitimate. Additionally, they can provide targeted customers with a method to opt-in to receive their calls and educate them on how to better identify their branded caller ID.

In conclusion, branded caller ID is a valuable and proven tool for businesses looking to improve their communication with customers. By displaying the company name and/or logo on the caller ID, businesses have the potential to increase brand awareness and answer rates while also helping deal with fraud to some extent. Again, it's important to note that even with branded caller ID, there's no guarantee that consumers will answer your call or that your calls won't be flagged as "scam likely." But the odds are much improved.

Additionally, businesses can consider implementing other call management techniques such as call routing, call analytics and call recording to help ensure that their customer interactions are as effective and impactful as possible. Overall, branded caller ID can be a valuable asset for any business looking to improve its communication and customer interactions, but it should be used in conjunction with other proven call management techniques to get the best results.


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