A General Theory of Call Recording

Your next telephone call may be recorded - whether you know it or not. With todays technology, people are recording calls on standard telephones, mobile phones, VOIP phones and even Skype calls. A reasonable estimate is that over 500 million conversations are recorded every day, which, if correct, means there are about 150 billion calls recorded each year. And its not just business calls. People record personal calls with friends, relatives, spouses and enemies. The range is amazing, from average people to US presidents and everywhere in between. Weve counted over 100 different products and services for call recording. One of the few companies willing to give numbers says theyve sold over 50,000 of their recorders. If other companies averaged the same number of sales, it would mean more than five million individual call recorders. And it could be much bigger than that. Why do so many people record so many calls? To answer this question, weve scoured the web, looking for the reasons that people and companies give for recording their calls. Weve also looked at research studies on communication and telephone communication in particular. Heres what weve found: Telephone communication has issues. Of course, any kind of communication has problems, but phone conversations have special issues. First, they are verbal, so without a recording, theres no documentation about what was said. In addition, compared to face-to-face conversations, some studies suggest that people will remember less about what was said. Last, there is research that says that people are not as nice on the phone as they are in face-to-face conversations; because its more distant, people are willing treat others on the phone as semimechanical objects, which can be ignored, insulted, exploited, or hurt with relative impunity.

Recordings have many uses. Here are some obvious and not so obvious motivators for recording calls. (We dont endorse these; these are the reasons we found as expressed by others and are listed for completeness):

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Verification of what was said. Reduce or eliminate misunderstandings. Dispute resolution. Helps resolve a customer complaint based on a misunderstanding. Recall the color or nuance of a conversation. These would be things like tone and specific phrasing that might be important for a journalist doing an interview. Share recordings of calls with people who arent there. Enforce commitments, such as pricing, delivery terms, promised repairs, etc. Reduce the risk of fraud. People may be less likely to try to get away with something if they think theres a greater risk of getting caught. Investigate fraud. Recording a fraudulent caller may help in the investigation and identification of the fraudster. Force people to be nicer. People may be less likely to be abusive if they know they are being recorded. Prove that a conversation actually happened. Security. Ensure that employees conform to security requirements.

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Defense against litigation. By recording and reviewing calls and enforcing rules, a company has a defense that theyve done everything they can to prevent mistakes. Meet regulatory requirements. Some business transactions must be recorded or a recording is the best of several available methods for meeting a documentation requirement. Refresh memory and insure completeness. For example, in an interview, to insure that all required questions were asked. Save time. If a call is being recorded, the caller doesnt need to take as many notes. Improves listening. This is a result of not needing to take notes. Research on learning shows that note-taking is distracting, so eliminating the need for taking notes also increases comprehension. Training and feedback. A recording allows a supervisor to review whether a call was handled properly. Training by sharing. A really good (or really bad) call can serve as a useful training tool by providing examples to others of what works and doesnt work. News value. A positive call that can be shared with colleagues can be motivating to an organization. Professionalism. Recording a call may make that call seem more professional and serious. Motivation. For sales and other kinds of training, hearing a sales call that is successful can be a strong motivator, because it demonstrates success. Identifying success factors. Recording calls and reviewing them helps identify what works in a phone conversation. Increased negotiating power. Information is power and having a record of the conversation increases the information of the person with the recording. Entertainment. Some calls are fun to listen to, for example a conversation with a baby or a lover. Reinforcement. Some calls are good to listen to again. For example, an encouraging conversation with a friend or with a life coach. Souvenir. The idea is that this could be similar to keeping photos or videos. Parental supervision. For some people, knowing who their kids are talking to is valuable. Self-control. Recording your own calls may help you control what you say. Self-check. When a conversation goes bad (for example, calling for a date), listening to how you sound might help improve results the next time. Lectures/Presentations/Podcasting. Maybe you want to share pieces of a conversation as part of a presentation. Mixtapes. Take parts of conversations and put them together in new ways for fun and learning. Because other people are recording their calls. As a defense or balance of power.

Recordings have many users. Here are specific types of people recording calls, according to the websites and other research weve done. Its certainly not a complete list:

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Personal users:

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Normal people Consumers Parents Lovers Teachers Mobile phone users Folks going through divorce Child custody litigants Debtors

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People in therapy

Business users Call center agents

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Attorneys Journalists Private investigators Store managers Reservation managers Stock brokers Market researchers Insurance agents Adjusters General managers Life coaches Therapists

Government users Police and fire departments

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Government officials Intelligence officers Prisons

Academic users Researchers Students Interviewers

There are many reasons to record your calls and one excellent way to do that. RecordingMagic provides a call recording service is has been proven in hundreds of companies and hundreds of millions of recorded calls. The technology is used by banks, hospitals, police and fire, and many others. And because of a unique new approach, RecordingMagic is now able to make the service affordable to almost anyone. For more information, go to www.recordingmagic.com.