Is it Legal to Buy Telemarketing Lists?

Legal Buy Telemarketing Lists

As a marketer, you may be looking to expand your new business. You want a way to reach out to new customers and build your brand. One option is to buy a telemarketing list, a list of email addresses or telephone numbers pre-screened by online sellers and tailored to your marketing needs. This article here details Is it Legal to Buy Telemarketing Lists?

What Telemarketing Lists Are

               Telemarketing lists are indexes of telephone numbers, full names, and other consumer data that are often used by salespeople and marketers to make calls or emails to potential customers. Telemarketing list quality can vary from highly detailed to basic and rudimentary.

               Often, the telemarketing list quality sets the tone of the sales campaign and can make or break potential sales. Telemarketing lists can be developed and refined by filtering to a desired demographic, such as gender, home-ownership status, and more.

Benefits of Telemarketing Lists

               Telemarketing lists can be used by marketers to advertise directly to their intended market, saving time and valuable resources. Telemarketing lists are an essential and critical part of any successful marketing campaign. Response rates, sales volume, and profits all greatly benefit from a targeted telemarketing campaign guided by a telemarketing list. While telemarketing lists are a great tool to accelerate your marketing campaign, it is important to consider their legality and the legality of telemarketing in your respective country.

The legality of Telemarketing List

US

               Telemarketing lists in the US are legal to buy and sell, but telemarketing is strictly regulated by federal laws and agencies. As a marketer, compliance with the rules is non-negotiable. There is little gray area, and the laws must be followed.

               Telemarketers in the US must disclose material information to the recipient of the message. This includes information that would influence or affect an individual’s decision to purchase a service or good. If information is not provided in a ‘clear and conspicuous manner, then a telemarketer is subject to $43,792 for each violation.

               Material information provided to the recipient must include details on the total cost and quantity of the product, limitations to purchase, refund policy, prize promotions, and debt relief services.

               Telemarketers must also promptly disclose four points of information before delivering a sales pitch to the recipient:

  • The Identity of the marketer or business.
  • The purpose of the call to sell goods and services.
  • The nature of the products for sale
  • In cases of prize promotions, the information that no purchase is necessary to win.

Australia

Telemarketing lists are legal to buy and sell in Australia; however, it is very important to follow Australian federal law while telemarketing. The Spam Act of 2003 lays specific and defined guidelines for telemarketers to follow, and they must be always to the best of the marketer’s ability.

First, marketing calls or emails must receive explicit consent from the person receiving them. If messages are being sent on your behalf as a marketer, permission still must be granted.

Once permission is granted, marketers must make sure that their message:

  • Contains contact details of the marketer.
  • Allows the recipient to easily unsubscribe.
  • Identifies the sender.

Express, rather than inferred permission must be granted by the recipient of the call. Express permission is defined as the recipient willingly accepting that they wish to receive marketing calls or messages from the sender.

Recipients must be able to unsubscribe from telemarketing lists. The Spam Act dictates that every message must include an ‘unsubscribe option’. This option must be clearly presented, honors the request within 5 business days, does not require payment, and has full functionality for 30 days after the message is sent.

When identifying as the sender to the recipient, marketers must disclose personal or business contact details and their personal or business name.

Additionally, other stipulations under the Spam Act explicitly forbid the use of lists that have been created or maintained using address-harvesting software. It is also illegal to aid or assist in the subversion of the spam rules or to encourage a marketer to break the rules.

Telemarketing lists can be purchased in Australia, but as a marketer, it is critical to make sure you are following national laws.

Canada

               Telemarketing lists are legal to buy and sell in Canada, but as in the US and Canada, some strict rules and regulations must be followed. Under the CRTC’s Unsolicited Telecommunications Rules there are two distinctions of telemarketers.

               Exempt telemarketers are newspapers, market research organizations, surveys, and registered charities. These organizations and entities are exempt from DNCL rules and regulations and do not have to follow the same guidelines as standard telemarketers.

               Regular telemarketers must do the following:

  • Identify their personal or business name and provide a telephone number where the recipient can speak to an individual about the call.
  • Clearly display the number that you are calling from for the consumer to reach you.
  • Only make calls or faxes between 9:00 AM to 9:30 PM on weekdays and between 10:00 AM and 6:00 on weekends.

Additionally, telemarketers operating in Canada must register themselves or their business with the National DNCL. Telemarketers are also held accountable for making sure that they send no calls or faxes to numbers on the National do not call list.