According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), millions and millions of unwanted calls are being blocked annually by mobile carriers and third-party call-blocking services. Blocking numbers has become an essential function for phone users around the globe, from blocking robocalls and telemarketers to spam and scam calls.
Although blocking is intended to safeguard privacy, sometimes it can cause communication issues, particularly if you do genuinely need to contact someone who has blocked your number.
In any case, the following guide is about how to get in touch, ethically and safely.
What Is a Blocked Call?
A blocked call is a telephone calls that cannot be completed because the call has been blocked. Call blocking can occur due to a variety of reasons – the recipient may have blocked the number in their phone or cellphone, the call may have been automatically recognised by the phone or cellphone carrier as unwanted, or the business phone system may have specific rules that prevent calls from connecting.
How Does Call Blocking Work?
On iPhone: If your number is blocked, the calls go straight to voicemail and do not ring. The person you’re calling doesn’t receive any notification. You seem to send text messages normally but they are never received.
On Android: Your call will end after one ring or directly into voicemail and the features will depend on your cell phone manufacturer (Samsung, Google, etc.). If you have a busy tone or busy message on your Android phone, it will also tell you that calls are being blocked.
Third-party apps: Apps like Truecaller, Hiya and the carrier apps provide an additional level of filtering. They can intercept calls even before they arrive at the phone, so that it is more difficult to fool into receiving a call by using basic methods.
Several Common Causes For Blocked Calls
Here are several common causes for blocked calls :
1. High Call Volume
Overloading of calls is one of the more prevalent causes for blocked calls. If the number of incoming calls exceeds the number of agents, or the number of available lines or the queue size, then some phone calls will not be able to be accepted.
Let’s say that a contact center has 100 callers and then receives 150 calls, the additional calls can be rejected with “busy” or “recorded” or the line simply cuts out. This is frequently during high traffic periods, product launches, emergency situations or during seasonal sales.
2. System Limitations
A contact center can reject incoming calls if the technology doesn’t have the capacity to deal with them. This occurs due to the small number of phone lines, insufficient network capacity, obsolete equipment or limitations on the telephone system in the organization.
Older systems may have a smaller capacity and therefore may not be able to accommodate an unexpected surge in calls. The phone system can be upgraded, capacity increased or a scalable cloud-based solution can be used to meet the increased call volumes.
3. Number Blocking Policies
Contact centers have the ability to intentionally block specific numbers to shield their employees and customers from spam, fraud, abusive callers and from unwanted calls being placed repeatedly.
If a phone number has been reported on several occasions for fraudulent use the business can place the number on a blacklist. If that number calls again, the call is automatically rejected or redirected.
But companies must keep these lists in order. In the event that legitimate numbers are accidentally blocked, then true customers may find it difficult to get in touch with the company.
4. Configuration Issues
If incorrect phone-system settings are made, it may block calls from going through. For example, a routing rule may be configured to route to an unavailable department, an incorrect IVR may be configured, or a call flow may not have a proper destination.
Sometimes there is a small configuration mistake that can impact numerous incoming calls. Frequent test of the call flow, auditing of routing rules, and watching the system logs can help detect these issues in advance before they become large issues for customers.
Effects Of Blocked Calls On Contact Centres
Here are the effects of blocked calls :
i. Poor Customer Experience
If customers cannot reach a contact center, they are frustrated and disappointed. This is especially important when the customer calls with sensitive information to share, billing, technical support or complaints.
When you experience either a busy signal or are cut off multiple times, you will feel the company is hard to reach. This may impact customers in the long-term with regard to their trust and loyalty in the company.
ii. Savings in First Contact Resolution
First Contact Resolution (FCR) will determine the frequency with which a customer’s problem is solved on the first interaction they have with a company.
When no calls are allowed, the customer might not even be able to reach an agent. They may have to call back, email, call someone, or wait for someone to call.
This means that to solve a problem, more interactions are required and can lead to a reduced FCR rate for the contact center.
iii. Missed Business Opportunities
Also, blocked calls may impact on sales and revenue. A potential customer that is unable to reach a sales representative could easily call a competitor instead.
For instance, when a customer is in the mood to buy a product, but a busy signal is heard when calling the company’s sales team. When the customer is unable to reach the company in a timely manner, then the company may lose the sale.
This is also true for current customers seeking to upgrade existing services, renew service contracts, and inquire about other products.
iv. Negative Performance Metrics
An excessive amount of blocked calls can negatively affect key contact center metrics and service level goals.
A company might track service level, abandonment rate, answer rate and customer satisfaction, for instance. These metrics may be influenced if a significant amount of calls are blocked before reaching agents.
If the blocked call rate is consistently high, it means that the contact center is facing an issue of increased capacity or need for better routing, increased agents, or better infrastructure.
How to Reduce Blocked Calls?
Here are some ways to reduce the calls to be blocked :
i. Scale Systems to handle peak call volumes
Businesses should ensure their phone system can cope with peak traffic as well as regular traffic.
Companies can plan for predictable peaks as they do not have to design the system around the average number of calls. They can expand capacity, bring in more agents when they’re busy, or deploy a cloud-based phone system that can better grow as call volume grows.
ii. Implement intelligent call routing and Queue Management.
Intelligent call routing can make sure that calls do not unnecessarily get hung up as it directs the caller to the right available agent or department.
For instance, calls can be routed to agents depending on their availability, department, language, customer type, and so on, according to specific rules. Customers may also be able to place themselves in line for an available agent, instead of getting a busy signal on a call queue.
This helps to utilise the staff available and can minimise the number of calls that don’t get into the system.
iii. Track and manage call volumes in real time and reschedule staffing levels.
Having the ability to monitor in real-time lets contact centre managers know how many calls are coming in, how many agents are available, and whether there are building up a queue.
Once managers begin to observe the traffic in the queues, they can push more people to the most popular queues or set up a new shift or call in extra staff.
This is particularly beneficial in times of very high demand where staffing may be planned beforehand.
iv. Use Self-Service Tools such as IVR or Chatbots.
Not all customers are going to need to contact agents. Simple requests can be managed using some basic self-service tools like Interactive Voice Response (IVR), chatbots, knowledge bases and automated account services.
For example, a customer can check the balance on an account, an order status, pay an order or listen to the business hours without talking to a human being in an IVR system.
By eliminating the need to deal with routine requests, self-service puts the burden on contacts and frees up agents to more complex calls.
FAQs on Blocked Calls
Q1. What is a “Blocked Call”?
A blocked call is a call that cannot reach a recipient (the person being called) normally due to a block placed on the phone or telephone service by the person calling the blocked number.
Q2. Are blocked callers aware that they are blocked?
Not necessarily. The caller might get to voicemail, a busy signal, automated message or any other form of failed call. There is no warning that reads “You have been blocked.
Q3. Is it possible for a blocked number to call you again?
The caller may call again but the phone/service should still apply the blocking rule. If the caller dials another telephone number, however, the telephone number may not be blocked.
Q4. Are there ways to automatically block spam calls
Yes. Numerous phones, carriers and VoIP services offer an automatic spam detection and blocking function.
Q5. Does a blocked call equal a declined call?
No. Declining typically blocks a single call, blocking establishes a rule to block future calls from that number.
Q6. Does VoIP block calls?
Yes. Call blocking and filtering are features that many VoIP systems offer that allow either users or administrators to block certain numbers or call types from reaching employees.
Final Thoughts
A call that has been blocked by a blocking rule. Blocking numbers is a practice that is widely used to block spam, robocalls, scams and unwanted phone calls.
Others just might be able to block unwanted callers by adjusting their phone’s settings. A VoIP system can offer businesses more sophisticated controls, such as a combination of call blocking with caller ID, call screening, call routing and other call-management capabilities.
