Mobile Direct Dialing

How can you reliably reach mobile phone users?

Mobile outreach has been limited in the past, especially for our Teletownhall forums and Voice Broadcasts.

Some of our clients can only legally dial mobile phones that have opted-in through our P2P Text Alert or Web Registration services. Both of those event add-ons are used to provide legitimate ongoing opt-in processes for clients seeking to reliably reach mobile phone users.

Despite the success of texting and web registration, we have continued to look for new ways to achieve compliant outreach to mobile users, especially with the steady rise of mobile-only households.

Enter Mobile Direct Dialing for Teletownhalls

This option for mobile outreach allows us to utilize a virtual hold room to welcome mobile phone users to the live forum.

The TCPA forbids calling mobile phones with a recorded message unless the recipient has opted-in for contact from the calling entity. Our virtual hold room allows a TTHM Operator to read a brief 10-15 second script as mobile users answer our outbound Teletownhall call. Once a group of inbound mobile phones have heard that live message from our Operator, they are moved automatically to the live Teletownhall event.

Clients like labor unions, utility cooperatives, health care providers and active legislators are often reaching out to a membership group or constituency that has already opted-in through membership or for which a TCPA exemption exists. For those client types, Mobile Direct Dialing is typically unnecessary.

For the many other markets we serve, Mobile Direct Dialing offers one more option for making sure messaging reaches mobile users.

Does Mobile Direct Dialing replace Peer-to-Peer Text Alerts?

We do not see Mobile Direct Dialing entirely replacing our P2P Text Alert service, because texts deliver more content and generate ongoing opt-ins for client Teletownhalls.

Many of our municipal, transit and legislative clients use Text Alerts to ask targeted mobile users to opt-in for all of their future TTHM forums. That process has generated substantial ongoing opt-in lists of participants who want to join every virtual event. Text Alerts that ask for opt-ins from mobile users can also deliver important websites, phone numbers, and updates in the same message.

Some of our clients use Text Alerts to simply deliver important notifications or to promote an upcoming Teletownhall. Our Text Alerts do not require an opt-in and can be used to deliver messaging for every client type. For that reason, SMS/MMS P2P Text Alerts will always have a place in the TTHM Toolbox.

When should you use Mobile Direct Dialing?

Mobile Direct Dialing offers the ability to invite an enormous audience to your live event by dialing mobile phones directly along with landlines and opt-ins. This mass mobile dialout casts a wide net and brings a substantial audience to your Telephone Town Hall Meeting.

The mobile dialout takes place at the same time as the general Teletownhall dialout to landlines and opt-ins, and TTHM can help source data targeting a specific audience based on location or demographic details. That means adding a large target audience to your outbound Teletownhall call across any mix of landline and mobile phones.

No voicemails are left for mobile users who have not opted-in for the call to ensure that we are compliant with the federal regulations that guide responsible telecoms outreach. So if you need to deliver detailed information even to those who miss our outbound Teletownhall call, then Text Alerts are a good solution.

We also continue to require STIR/SHAKEN and 10DLC registration for outbound calling and for peer-to-peer texting respectively. Compliance with the TCPA and with industry-led registration protocols will always be mandatory at TTHM, because that is what separates our legitimate outreach initiatives from the fly-by-night operations and flash-in-the-pan campaigns that give our industry a bad name.

Getting important messaging to mobile users is increasingly critical as landline phones are phased out. Consider Contacting Us to discuss your mobile outreach options. We customize every outreach event and service to the specific goals of our clients, and are always happy to help you dial-in on the tools that best fit your needs.