Why don't telemarketers give up on unresponsive numbers? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 11 months ago by amoroso@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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When receiving unsoliciting phone calls by telemarketers, many people consistently hung up, don't bait, and don't interact. So why don't telemarketers delete from their databases such phone numbers that don't lead to any sales or other business benefits?

Maybe the cost of keeping the numbers is so low telemarketers just don't bother. Or keeping track of what numbers to delete may actually have a cost. Or perhaps telemarketers hope those people will eventually pick up the calls.

Any insight?

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[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

by volume, it's trivial amounts of both, and those unresponsive numbers will often get recycled eventually. people just don't hold on to phone numbers as long as they used to.

[-] Exusia@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

They don't? Everyone in my family has had the same numbers over a decade. I realize this is anecdotal, but I feel like people keep numbers forever now that phones can move from carrier to carrier much easier. Used to be in the 90s and 00's new carrier meant new phone and new number.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

my experience has very much been the opposite, which is also anecdotal-- but i'm going off of what a Verizon rep told me: that people, generally speaking, tend to recycle their numbers much more than they used to.

i don't have any other data to back that up, i'll be honest.

[-] Exusia@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Thats so unusual to hear tbh. But if the numbers back it up I mean shit I guess I'd be wrong lol.

Any particular reason why they swap so much now?

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

like i said, i'm going off what a guy in the Verizon store said, which is one step above pulling it out of my own ass, as far as data veracity goes.

but, if i were to guess, i'd speculate that it had to do with the disposability of numbers, how often people change providers after losing a number due to not having to pay or switching off of a parent's plan, things like that. People used to go to great lengths to hold onto old numbers. people don't really care as much now, even when porting them between carriers is easy.

this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023

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