What Does Branding a Call Mean?

Learn how branded calling helps enterprises enhance engagement and consumers answer calls they really want

Today’s consumers demand more protection against robocalls, call spoofing and fraud so they can trust — and safely answer — phone calls they want, including those from schools, healthcare organizations and more. In a study on outbound communications, most enterprises reported the phone is their most important customer service channel, with 48% categorizing it as critical and 41% calling it important. Yet, our internal stats show that 88% of calls to customers still go unanswered.

Of consumers we surveyed:

• 73% don’t answer calls from unknown callers because they assume it’s a robocall where someone is trying to sell them something
• 66% are concerned it could be a scam
• 61% received at least one call where the caller seemed to be impersonating someone else (call spoofing) or was NOT who they claimed to be
• 38% received more than three calls where the caller was not who they claimed to be

The good news is adding context to the mobile display with branded calling can help reassure customers who’s calling — so they pick up.

What does branding a call mean?

Initially, branded calling, also known as branded calling for businesses, relied on the consumer to download and configure a third-party app to enable the service. But, because getting customers to download apps has typically been challenging, this led to very low adoption rates. The ability to offer branded calling universally hinges on ensuring call authentication occurs at a network level so only known, trusted entities get into the ecosystem.

Today, the industry has moved to a standards-based network approach coupled with rich call content. This method eliminates the need for apps and enables the addition of even more context to the mobile display. That helps pave the way for a safer ecosystem where enterprises can reach more customers, consumers don’t miss important phone calls they really want, and fraudsters get the cold shoulder.

What is branded call display?

TransUnion Branded Call Display enables businesses to add rich call content — such as company name, location, logo, reason for the call and verification it hasn’t been spoofed — to the mobile display. The enriched data offers consumers a level of comfort and helps rebuild trust in phone calls, enabling them to make an informed decision about answering.

For enterprises, using Branded Call Display can help:

• Reverse revenue loss and increase ROI: Enterprises can increase incremental income by 18%–22% with branded calling (Forrester Consulting)
• Protect the brand and increase engagement: Provide an authenticated, branded experience that helps prevent spoofers from using your brand, and demonstrates a modern, omnichannel digital approach
• Improve answer rates: Increase answer rates by 105% or more (based on customer experience) by adding context to calls
• Get unparalleled mobile reach: Your business can reach nearly 280 million mobile devices and 90 million landlines across the US

How does branded calling work?

Branded calling solutions use a centralized caller identity management platform to personalize the calling brand, and integrate with major mobile, landline, cable, VOIP carriers and mobile app providers.

We have extensive expertise in the call authentication area, having played an integral role in defining and deploying industry standards, highly scalable and reliable solutions, and co-authoring STIR.

How does business caller ID work?

Business caller ID is a foundational part of branded calling solutions. Caller ID enables the display of caller names with greater accuracy using authoritative data that informs the recipient who’s calling. The Caller ID is often set by the carrier or communications service provider that services the number. However, Caller ID, while very useful, can be spoofed. That said, enterprises can help prevent call spoofing by digitally signing and authenticating calls using STIR/SHAKEN. Verified caller ID through BCD enables the addition of context to calls, along with verification the call has not been spoofed.

Ensuring caller ID accuracy hinges on efficiently managing numbers and names throughout the call ecosystem. We manage Caller ID across 850 carriers for countless brands.

How does caller ID reputation work?

When calls are mistagged as spam, blocked or spoofed, it can wreak havoc on a brand. Caller ID reputation solutions, including branded calling, help businesses protect the reputations of their phone numbers and brands.

But, does branded calling move the needle where it counts? Feedback indicates it does. When we asked consumers, we found:

• 76% are likely to answer calls from businesses they work with if the companies displayed their names and logos
• 71% are interested in having caller names on their mobile phones
• 57% indicated “verification the call has not been spoofed” is a top feature

Branded caller ID pricing varies by vendor. Contact a trusted provider like us for branded caller ID pricing.

 Branded Call Display and Spoofed Call Protection, part of our Trusted Call Solutions suite, help businesses promote their brands and protects consumers from fraud.