E-BOOK
Why Your Calls Are Marked “Scam Likely” (And How to Fix It)
A practical, 4-step playbook for advocacy organizers, digital ops leads, and field program managers to diagnose a spam label, get STIR/SHAKEN compliant, and recover your answer rate before it kills your program.
Why this is happening to you
If your organization dials at any real volume- GOTV, a union authorization drive, a fundraising push- you’ve probably watched your answer rate drop for no obvious reason. No one changed the script. No one changed the list. The calls are just going out into silence.
That’s carrier flagging. Roughly 34% of caller IDs get hit with a spam label from a carrier or a third-party app like Hiya or Robokiller, and it can happen after as few as 200 calls from a single number. Once a number picks up a “Spam Risk” or “Scam Likely” label, contact rates drop off a cliff, and most teams don’t find out until the damage is already on their dashboard.
The tools that are supposed to help- STIR/SHAKEN attestation, 10DLC compliance, spam label monitoring- exist for exactly this reason. Most programs just aren’t using them correctly, or at all.
What’s in this guide?
The diagnosis
A 5-point symptom checklist to confirm whether you actually have a call-labeling problem (versus a bad list or an off-script), plus the 3 carrier metrics that actually trigger a flag: answer rate, average call duration, and unallocated number rate.
The 4-step rehab sequence
From registering STIR/SHAKEN at A-attestation (the single highest-leverage, free fix available) to setting up proactive number rotation before a label ever shows up. Includes the exact action checklist for getting your org’s STIR/SHAKEN and 10DLC compliance matched to your legal EIN, the detail most programs get wrong.
The prevention layer
Caller-ID strategy, CNAM registration, and dialer discipline that keep your numbers out of “Scam Likely” territory in the first place, built for high-velocity moments like the final weeks before an election.
The texting side
Spam labeling isn’t just a calling problem. Your 10DLC brand trust score gates your texting throughput the same way attestation gates your calls; this section covers both.