What is the Do Not Call register?
The Do Not Call register is the regulated list of telephone numbers that may not be contacted for marketing. In India it is maintained under the telecom regulator's commercial communication rules, where a subscriber records a full or a partial preference. Any outbound calling system has to check it before dialling and has to keep evidence that the check occurred.
Also called: DNC register, National Customer Preference Register
Why the register is checked at the moment of dialling
Penalties for contacting a registered number fall on the enterprise whose offer was promoted, whichever agency placed the call. Scrubbing a list on the day it was purchased is worthless a fortnight later, because registrations change every day while a campaign often reaches a number weeks after the list was prepared. The evidence of the check matters as much as the check itself, because a complaint arrives with one number and one date attached. An automated dialler multiplies the exposure, since it reaches more numbers in an hour than a team reaches in a day.
- Liability for a call to a registered number reaches the brand being promoted.
- Registrations change daily, so a scrubbed list decays from the hour it was prepared.
- Preferences are partial by category, which a single flag cannot represent.
- A complaint names one number and one date, so evidence has to be retrievable per call.
How the Do Not Call register works
- The campaign declares its commercial category before any number is loaded.
- Numbers are checked against the current register immediately before dialling.
- Registered numbers are suppressed and the suppression is recorded against the campaign.
- Consent held for a specific number is recorded with its source and its date.
- Calling windows permitted by the regulation are enforced by the dialler itself.
- Check results are retained per call for the period in which a complaint may arrive.
How the Do Not Call register is evaluated
Compliance here is evidenced per call rather than per campaign, so the record is what gets examined. Examine the following for each outbound campaign:
- age of the register data at the moment of dialling
- proportion of dialled numbers with a recorded check result
- suppression count against the loaded list
- calls placed outside permitted calling hours
- time to produce the check evidence for one number and date
Limitations, risks and common failure modes
- A list scrubbed at purchase is dialled weeks later against a changed register.
- Partial category preferences are flattened into a single yes or no.
- Consent recorded by a third party cannot be produced when a complaint arrives.
- Retry logic redials a number after the subscriber has registered a preference.