{"id":69664,"date":"2026-09-03T04:19:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T01:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kavkom.com\/useful-information\/smart-calling-call-back-prospects-who-have-requested-a-callback\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T04:19:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T01:19:43","slug":"smart-calling-call-back-prospects-who-have-requested-a-callback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kavkom.com\/en\/articles\/telephony\/smart-calling-call-back-prospects-who-have-requested-a-callback\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart Calling: Call back prospects who have requested a callback"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated on September 3, 2026. Sources: L\u00e9gifrance, DGCCRF, CNIL.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since August 11, 2026, the outbound call market has shifted sides. The Act of August 11, 2026, on Telemarketing<\/a> It is prohibited to call a consumer who has not given prior consent, and the burden of proving such consent falls on the business. A purchased or leased B2C database therefore becomes, in most cases, unusable: no one can demonstrate that free, specific, and unambiguous consent was obtained on behalf of your company. The only leads that remain usable are those who left their number and requested a callback. Smart calling involves organizing that callback: it is the most direct response to the legal shift.<\/p>\n

The lifeblood of a sales team is on the move: it\u2019s now the callback requests that your website generates every day.<\/p>\n

Smart Calling, Explained<\/h2>\n

The term comes from an American book by Art Sobczak on cold calling, and it\u2019s the concept itself that interests us here more than the sales method. “Smart calling” refers to a call made to someone whose identity you know, whose needs you understand, and who knows you\u2019re going to call them.<\/p>\n

The difference from cold calling lies in how the contact is initiated, much more so than in the script. In cold calling, the salesperson dials a number from a database and gets to know the person on the other end within the first twenty seconds. With smart calling, the prospect has filled out a form, clicked a callback button, or requested a demo. They\u2019ve taken action. They\u2019re expecting the call.<\/p>\n

Until now, this difference was a matter of business convenience. Since the reform, it has become a matter of compliance.<\/p>\n

Why a lead who asks to be called back is more reliable than a purchased list<\/h2>\n

Article L223-1 of the Consumer Code, as in effect as of August 11, 2026<\/a>, requires free, specific, informed, unambiguous, and revocable consent, expressed through a clear affirmative act. The burden of proof lies with the business making the call.<\/p>\n

A purchased file rarely fails in principle, but almost always in practice. Consent, when it exists, was obtained by a third party, for the benefit of unnamed \u201cpartners,\u201d for unspecified \u201ccommercial offers,\u201d on a date over which you have no control. However, the Decree No. 2026-662 of July 23, 2026<\/a> closes these three loopholes: the request must specify the identity of the business, the nature of the goods or services in question, and the period of consent, which may not exceed one year. The proof must be retained for at least three years and must be provided to any consumer who requests it.<\/p>\n

A callback request submitted on your own website automatically meets these criteria. The business\u2019s identity is yours, the nature of the services is derived from the page viewed, the affirmative action is the submission of the form, and the date comes from the server\u2019s timestamp. So you don\u2019t have to reconstruct anything afterward: the evidence is created at the same time as the lead.<\/p>\n

However, do not confuse the source of the contact with the quality of the data collection: a poorly drafted form results in an incoming lead without valid consent. The fact that the prospect reaches out to you does not exempt you from any of the disclosures required by the decree. And let\u2019s not forget that on August 5, 2026, the DGCCRF clarified that a business may not call a consumer for the purpose of obtaining their consent: everything must be handled before the call is made.<\/p>\n

Set up a follow-up system for leads who have given their consent<\/h2>\n

The Reminder Form<\/h3>\n

The basic building block: a number field, the nature of the request, and a consent checkbox that is not pre-checked, separate from the acceptance of the terms and conditions. A pre-checked box or one combined with another element does not constitute a clear affirmative action. Place it where the intent is most evident: pricing pages, comparison charts, product pages, or contact forms.<\/p>\n

The Web Callback<\/h3>\n

The \u201cRequest a Callback\u201d button handles the same intent without making the visitor wait: they enter their number, the system initiates the call, and connects them with an available sales representative. Kavkom explains how this works on its page dedicated to immediate callbacks from a website<\/a>. Technically, the call is outgoing; legally, it stems from an explicit request made at that very moment on a specific page. This is the easiest scenario to document.<\/p>\n

Click-to-Call<\/h3>\n

On the sales representative\u2019s workstation, click-to-call<\/a> eliminates the need to dial manually: a single click on the lead\u2019s record initiates the call from the browser or the CRM. The benefits go beyond simply saving time. Since the call originates from the lead record, it is automatically linked to it (number, date, duration, outcome), rather than depending on what the sales representative enters manually.<\/p>\n

The reminder period<\/h3>\n

No law sets a time limit for calling back a consenting prospect. The decree of July 23, 2026, sets a validity period of one year, and Article D223-9 of the Consumer Code sets a limit of four calls per consumer over a rolling 30-day period, including attempted calls, even if no message was left. Article D223-9 addresses solicitation of consumers without providing an exception for those who have given consent: the limit therefore also applies to a consenting contact. The business logic, however, is simple: a request for a callback reflects an intention at a given moment, and that intention fades over time. Calling back promptly means staying true to what the prospect requested. Add to that the permitted hours: Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.\u20131 p.m. and 2 p.m.\u20138 p.m. in the prospect\u2019s time zone, never on Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays.<\/p>\n

What Your Data Collection Form Should Include<\/h2>\n

Article R223-1 of the Consumer Code, stemming from the decree of July 23, 2026, lists the information that the request for consent must present in a clear and understandable manner. If even one of these items is missing, the prospective customer is not considered to have given consent:<\/p>\n