Are you one of those people who avoids calls from unknown numbers?
You’re not alone – 78% of people do the same to avoid spam or fraud.
While that’s completely understandable, there’s one small issue: If you need to reach an existing or potential client, customer, or partner, chances are you’ll need to use voice communication.
That’s where branded calling changes the game.
What is Branded Caller?
Branded calling (or Branded Caller ID) is the upgrade your phone calls didn’t know they needed – taking traditional CNAM (Caller Name) to the next level with verified brand information.
Unlike traditional caller ID or CNAM, which usually only show a business name or a generic label, Branded Caller shows:
- A clear display name
- Your brand’s logo
- And even the reason for the call
Who will benefit the most from branded calling?
As Frederic Mottiat (Senior Product Manager at Infobip) explains, this enhanced presentation helps recipients quickly recognize the caller and understand the purpose, reducing the suspicion of spam.
As a result, recipients are more likely to answer, which leads to higher call answer rates, improved customer interactions, and greater overall engagement in outbound calling campaigns.
Industries that rely heavily on outbound calls or handle a high volume of customer interactions – where missed calls can mean financial losses for companies – stand to benefit the most from branded calling:
- Financial services, like banks and credit card companies, use it to build trust and reduce fraud concerns during verification or fraud-alert calls.
- For insurance providers, outbound calls are a key part of doing business – especially for renewals and claims – so when customers don’t pick up, it can lead to missed sales and lost revenue. That’s why brand recognition is essential for driving engagement.
- Telecommunications companies use branded calls to ensure customers accept important service or billing calls, avoiding confusion with spam.
- E-commerce and retail businesses reach out to confirm orders or resolve delivery issues, and a recognized brand identity boosts pickup rates and improves the customer experience.
- Utilities and service providers, like energy or cable companies, benefit from displaying their brand during outage alerts or maintenance, improving response rates and reducing inbound calls from concerned customers.
- Healthcare providers see real value, as it boosts call answer rates by displaying a trusted clinic or hospital name. Patients are more likely to respond to appointment reminders, follow-ups, and test results – enhancing care coordination and overall support. Just as importantly, missed appointments not only impact patient health but also cost providers money and waste valuable resources, making answered calls all the more essential.
How call verification protects users
But with call fraud concerns rising in the U.S., how has Branded Caller stepped up to provide a safer experience? It does so by using cryptographic security under the STIR/SHAKEN protocol to verify the caller’s number, helping to reduce spoofing and robocalls. As Ryan McQueary (Manager, Voice Engineering) explains, STIR/SHAKEN is a set of standards designed to enhance call verification through cryptographic signing of voice calls.
When a call is made, the originating service provider sends a request to an Authentication Service (AS) to verify the call’s details, like the originating and receiving phone numbers, timestamp, and a trust level (Attestation Level). This trust level indicates the reliability of the call:
- Both the network and caller are trusted
- The network is trusted, but the caller is not
- Neither are trusted
The AS then returns an Identity Header with a signature and certificate. This information is sent through the phone network, and before the call reaches the recipient, the terminating provider verifies it. Based on the verification and trust level, the provider can take actions like marking the call as “trusted,” blocking it, labeling it as “SPAM Likely,” or tagging it for further action.
STIR/SHAKEN works across all carriers, mobile systems, and networks
Early branded calling solutions, or ‘legacy’ approaches, as Mottiat explains, rely on a patchwork of databases, carrier relationships, and handset partnerships. While they display logos or caller names, they’re fragmented, lack cryptographic protections, and vary in accuracy due to network, device, and data differences.
Legacy systems don’t securely embed branding into a call’s signaling, and before STIR/SHAKEN, there was no standardized way to transport and validate branding details across carriers – leaving them vulnerable to tampering.
That’s where STIR/SHAKEN changes the game. This process builds a higher level of trust for both carriers and end users – because nobody likes getting duped by spoofed calls. With this approach, the displayed brand identity stays legit and can’t be easily faked downstream.
Even better, since STIR/SHAKEN is based on industry-wide standards, it’s designed to be interoperable across different carriers, mobile operating systems, and networks. Regulators, carriers, and standards bodies are all on board with STIR/SHAKEN as the universal solution, making it way more likely that cryptographically signed branding will be recognized and trusted as calls travel across networks.
Getting Branded Caller up and running
How does Branded Callier integrate with your existing communication system, and what’s needed to get it up and running?
McQueary explains that as an Originating Service Provider, Infobip must sign branded calls with a Signing Agent that’s part of the CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association) ecosystem. Infobip has chosen SecureG for this role.
Additionally, Infobip partners with an Onboarding and Vetting Agent, allowing customers to add their own brands to the ecosystem. For this, Infobip has selected NumHub.
Mottiat adds that Infobip’s Branded Caller prioritizes security, compliance, and innovation across all voice channels. To ensure trust, a strict KYC process is in place to vet new voice customers before assigning Virtual Local Numbers. Infobip follows CTIA’s rigorous brand verification standards – leading U.S. wireless industry group – to ensure reliability, trust, and adherence to best practices in call authentication.
Infobip secures PSTN calls while looking toward the future with OTT channels like Viber Business Calls and WhatsApp Business Calling, which display business names and logos. By supporting both PSTN and OTT calls, Infobip helps businesses reach customers through the most relevant channels, driving higher answer rates and stronger engagement.
This approach makes Infobip a one-stop partner for enterprises, helping them build trust, reduce fraud, and deliver a consistent branded call experience across all communication channels.
Want to learn more about Branded Caller? We’re here to help!