DMA Adopts New Telephone & Online Marketing Ethics Guidelines.

The Direct Marketing Association (The DMA)announced that its Board of Directors voted unanimously to adopt significant changes to The DMA’s telephone marketing guidelines, and has also introduced a groundbreaking new set of rules for the use of online referral, or “viral,” marketing. Adherence to The DMA’s Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice is a requirement for Association membership and is strictly enforced by The DMA’s ethics committees.

“The DMA Board of Directors voted to revise three of the telemarketing guidelines and adopt two new ones in order to meet and, in certain areas, go beyond the current telemarketing laws,” said H. Robert Wientzen, president & CEO, The DMA.

“It also approved the first set of guidelines ever established for online referral marketing,” Wientzen said. “The changes announced today provide new self-regulatory enforcement tools for our Teleservices Ethics Committee and Committee on Ethical Business Practice as well as demonstrate that our guidelines, like the marketing practices they govern, must constantly evolve to honor consumers’ wishes.”

“Even though the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) new fax rule definition for established business relationship (EBR) does not go into effect until January 1, 2005, The DMA is implementing it today,” said Patricia Faley, vice president, ethics & consumer affairs, The DMA. “We’re telling our members not to send unsolicited faxes to consumers who have inquired about products or services unless it’s within three months of the inquiry, and not to send faxes to customers after 18 months of their last payment or transaction, the lifecycle of most products or services.”

The revisions to the telemarketing guidelines adopted today most notably relate to:

Restricted contacts

Requires marketers to use a wireless suppression service, such as The DMA’s Wireless Block Identifier.

Requires marketers to use the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) National Do Not Call Registry and state lists, as appropriate, as well as The DMA’s Telephone Preference Service (TPS) in addition to marketers’ own in-house suppression lists.

Caller identification and automatic number identification requirements

Guidelines are effective today, even though federal legal requirements are not effective until January 29, 2004.

Where technology is available, marketers should transmit phone numbers and names.

Where technology is available, marketers should not block transmission of caller identification.

Prerecorded voice messaging

The DMA guidelines go beyond federal law in that they require that marketers not automatically terminate calls or provide misleading or inaccurate information when a consumer answers.

The DMA guidelines require that prerecorded solicitations include a name and telephone number where the consumer can call back to be removed from receiving future calls.

Fax machines

Implements the new EBR definition today even though the FCC rule will not take effect until January 1, 2005.
New EBR definition requires that faxes can only be sent to consumers who have inquired about a product or service within three months of their inquiry, and can be sent to customers within 18 months of their last payment or transaction.

“In addition to important changes to our telemarketing rules,” Faley said, “we are requiring that our members follow new guidance for online referral marketing, which is a promising feature of Internet marketing when employed in a manner that respects consumers’ wishes.”

The type of online referral marketing that the guidelines address is when a customer is asked to supply personal information about another consumer with similar interests so that a marketer may contact that consumer directly. The new guideline advises marketers about acceptable practices and what disclosures must be made to both the referred and referring individuals.

To view all guidelines CLICK below:

http://www.the-dma.org/guidelines/quickreference.shtml.