What is ringless voicemail?
Ringless voicemail is a recorded message delivered straight into someone's voicemail box without their phone ringing first.
Why it matters for sales teams
Ringless voicemail is marketed as a way to reach many people without interrupting them. The recipient sees a new voicemail and listens when they choose.
It carries legal risk. In a 2022 declaratory ruling, the FCC found that ringless voicemail to wireless phones requires consumer consent, because it is a call made using an artificial or prerecorded voice and is therefore covered by the TCPA. For telemarketing, FCC rules require written consent before an autodialed or prerecorded call to a wireless number; see prior express written consent.
Example
A team plans to send the same short message to 2,000 mobile numbers from a purchased list. Because each ringless voicemail to a mobile phone is treated as a prerecorded call, every one of those messages needs the consent a prerecorded sales call to that number would need. Without it, the campaign carries the same risk as a robocall campaign.
Ringless voicemail vs voicemail drop
A voicemail drop is left during a real call, after the phone has rung and gone unanswered. Ringless voicemail never rings the phone. Both rely on recorded messages, and both deserve a compliance check before use. A rep who leaves a personal voicemail live, in their own voice, on a call they dialed is doing neither.
This is a general definition, not legal advice.