As of today, Canadian marketers are realizing the challenge that American marketers have had to live with since 2003 – the dreaded Do Not Call list.
News reporters speculate that over 60 per cent of Canadians will add their names to the DNC list as quickly as they can. (Note that the DNC registration site launched today, but has been down all morning!)
The concept of the Canadian DNC list was first heard in December 2004, just one year after it had launched in the US, but back then, there were issues in determining who and how the program would be managed and funded. There was so much speculation and confusion that most of us in the industry assumed it would take a lot longer to put in place and didn’t give it much thought. The day has come however, and many of us need to think about how we are going to approach outbound activity moving forward, in light of the Do Not Call list.
Businesses as a whole will have to find clever ways of acquiring new private customers and unfortunately, the DNC list in Canada comes at the time when traditional publishers are just now starting to intensify their outbound teams. The good news though, is that larger publishers shouldn’t have too much of an issue continuing business under the DNC rules and guidelines enforced by the CRTC:
- If you have an existing relationship with the person you are calling, you are exempt from the DNC guidelines and the term “existing relationship” is loosely defined when reviewing the details of Bill C-37. Larger publishers should have databases of names and phone numbers of customers who have placed a private ad online and or in print. I would suggest running any new private consumer call list against your incumbent client list and the DNC list, which you now have to purchase.
- Newspapers selling subscriptions are also exempt from the DNC. Technically then, newspapers and niche magazines could change their scripting to lead off with subscription services and then move into the request for an ad – just a thought.
- Businesses cannot participate in the DNC program, leaving a publishers inside b-to-b teams to function as normal.
By the end of 2007 in the US, the FTC Do Not Call list had received 145,498,656 phone numbers, but the greatest fear came just only three months after it was launched in the US, when a whopping 10 million numbers had been registered. Because of its immediate success, many thought the FTC’s Do Not Call list would have grown a lot faster than it has. In addition, a recent Harris poll of Americans who have added their names to the DNC list, we read that 59% of them claimed that they still receive telemarketing calls, but the amount if far less than before. This all shows signs that the DNC initiative will not be an easy one to manage in Canada and that Canadians who register on the DNC list should not expect to be exempt of telemarketing calls out the gate.
To conclude, my general thought is that the DNC guidelines are too loose to really provide those Canadians who have been asking for it the protection they had in mind. My guess is that we will see Bill C-37 transformed even further within the next five years.


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