How Caller ID Display Name Works and Why It’s Important for Your Business

• Understanding CNAM Records
• How to Change Caller ID Name
• Caller ID for Sales

Controlling the caller ID information your prospects see increases the percentage of calls that are answered. It’s easy to take caller ID display for granted and assume leads will be able to see your business name on caller ID each time.

However, because the national phone system is a hodge-podge of different technologies that have evolved gradually over a century, it’s not quite so simple.

Understanding CNAM Records

Caller ID information is held in CNAM (caller name delivery) records. In the U.S., CNAM information is not sent alongside a call. The terminating carrier instead pulls it from a database lookup. That is to say, it’s up to your prospect’s telephone service provider to look up the correct caller ID information for the call you’re making.

No single official body is in charge of all CNAMs, and carriers are free to use alternative databases for their caller ID information. Carriers often cache data from CNAM databases, so they don’t need to perform so many lookups. This often leads to carriers displaying outdated or incorrect caller ID information.

The most extensive database in the U.S. is provided by a private company, Neustar, which includes information from the top 800 carriers and processes over 10 billion CNAM queries each month. But it is just one of many national caller ID name databases.

How to Change Caller ID Name

When your business details change, or you change provider, you need to update your CNAM with your carrier. In many cases, your phone service provider will also be your carrier, but VoIP service providers often use outside carriers. In this case, your service provider will need to put in a request to change your CNAM on your behalf. Updating CNAM is usually free, but there’s sometimes a small charge.

CNAM has a 15-character limit, so if your company name is long, it pays to figure out how to truncate it so prospects can clearly see who is calling.

It will take time for the new CNAM to propagate through the system to the various CNAM repositories. But it should be updated on most databases within two weeks.

Caller ID for Sales

By using a smart, AI-driven intelligent phone system like Kixie Powercall, you gain much more control over your caller ID settings.

You can update your outbound caller ID name through the web interface, and with local presence dialing you can connect using a different local number on every call, increasing pickup rates by up to 500%.

Progressive Caller ID from Kixie intelligently rotates through phone numbers when making outbound calls. In cases where a prospect misses your call three times, for example, they’ll see three different numbers instead of what appears to be an aggressive salesperson who they might decide to call screen.

Taking charge of your caller ID is crucial to keeping pickup rates high and offering your leads and customers the best possible experience. With the right tools, managing caller ID becomes easy and convenient.