A new VoxPop (Voice of the People) survey by the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA), which governs and regulates Canada’s opinion research industry, shows that Canadians who have registered their phone numbers on the national Do Not Call List (DNCL) are generally pleased with the results.

Eighty per cent of those polled say they are now getting fewer telemarketing calls.

“Nationally, 50 per cent of those who have registered report they now receive noticeably fewer or far fewer telemarketing calls; 20 per cent say they now receive slightly fewer telemarketing calls; and 10 per cent report receiving no telemarketing calls at all since signing on to the no-call list,” Brendan Wycks, Executive Director of MRIA, reports.

However… Thirteen per cent of those polled reported they are getting more telemarketing calls than they did before. Wycks says that’s probably due to an increase in the use of random dialers by telemarketers, which target Canadians by area code regardless of whether they are on the DNCL.

“Media reports indicate that there has been a growing number of complaints from Canadians who have been plagued by rogue telemarketers — many of whom are calling from outside Canada. The most likely reason for this surge in telemarketing activity is the deepening recession, which is causing U.S. telemarketers to look for new business by targeting Canadians. Unfortunately, many of these unscrupulous telemarketers don’t care, or are oblivious to the fact that some of the people they are calling with their automated dialing systems are registered on Canada’s National Do Not Call List,” Wycks laments.

Among the survey’s other key findings:

• Awareness of the National DNCL among adult Canadians now stands at 84 per cent, compared with 44 per cent in a previous VoxPop survey conducted in August, 2007.
• Thirty-three per cent of adult Canadians have registered their residential land lines on the National DNCL.
• Twelve per cent have registered a cell phone number on the National DNCL.

The full report is available at the VoxPop Web site. Note it’s in .PDF format, so you’ll need a recent version of the Adobe Reader to view it.