Segmenting the Robocall Landscape

To consumers, a robocall is a robocall is a robocall. But computer-initiated calls can be broken down into three distinct segments, as shown in the chart below. Each segment accounts for roughly a billion calls to Americans every month.

Consumers generally are frustrated and annoyed by the YELLOW and RED calls. The RED category can be particularly harmful; those that fall victim have been known to lose tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Other segments that account for much smaller numbers include survey and political calls. Sometimes telesales calls are disguised as surveys or informational calls (“Are you aware of the tax rebates for installing solar?”) when they are really selling something.