The Legal Issues Surrounding Ringless Voicemail

Ringless voicemail is becoming more and more popular with businesses, telemarketers and consumers. It is easy to see why.

Businesses are able to use ringless voicemail to market their products and services to consumers without worrying about interrupting these consumers when they are busy. This is a win-win for businesses and those who they are trying to connect with.

Of course, as is the case with many new forms of telephone marketing, when a new technology comes along, there is always a concern that it is too good to be true. In the case of ringless voicemail, some businesses are concerned that it may not be legal. Fortunately, ringless voicemail is legal and is here to stay.

What follows are some of the most common facts surrounding the legality of ringless voicemail:

• To date, there have been no lawsuits regarding ringless voicemail despite millions of successful ringless voicemail deliveries.
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has placed ringless voicemail under the category of “enhanced information services” and therefore do not specifically regulate it.
• Compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) involves a phone ringing. Since ringless voicemail does not cause a phone to ring, it is considered compliant with the TCPA.
• Ringless voicemail is TCPA, FCC and FTC complaint in light of the fact that there is no direct contact between the business leaving the message and the recipient. Further, the recipient is never charged for the call.
• Ringless voicemail is considered a solicited form of marketing and is therefore not under the scope of the TCPA.
• Since the FCC does not regulate enhanced information services, a business does not have to be concerned about leaving ringless voicemails to targeted subscribers.
• Ringless voicemail is classified as a non-dialer since it delivers a cellphone voicemail via a landline server. In fact, the number of ringless voicemails delivered in a specific timeframe would be impossible to deliver with dialer technology.
• Ringless voicemail is considered non-intrusive.
• Unclear messages are a leading cause of complaints and compliance issues. This is not an issue with ringless voicemail. Further, since recipients are alerted to new messages via pop-up screens, recipients are able to choose whether or not to listen to the message at all.

With more and more businesses choosing ringless voicemail, it is important that this type of marketing is FCC, FTC and TCPA compliant. The good news is that not only is this new technology compliant, it is extremely effective, as well.