Protecting your contacts with Shield
How Shield copies a flag found on another DialClear account onto your matching contacts, and how to read the Shield page.
5 min read
Before you start
- DialClear installed in your CRM
- Shield in your plan (Shield or Compliance Suite), or Solo Shield on a direct account
Tip
Shield only reaches contacts DialClear has phone screened before, so keep automatic phone screening on.
A number that was clean last month can land on a Do Not Call list or a litigator list today. Shield watches for that across every account on DialClear. When another account phone screens a contact in its CRM and the number comes back flagged, Shield applies the same flag to your contacts that hold that number, without you running a new lookup.
What a network flag is
A network flag is a screening result that came from someone else's CRM. Another DialClear account phone screened one of its CRM contacts and one or more lists matched, for example the federal Do Not Call list or an attorney list. If your account has screened the same number before, Shield passes that result to you.
Only the screening result travels. The other account never sees your contact, and you never see theirs. Phone numbers in your Shield list are masked down to the last four digits for the same reason.
Note
Only phone screening of a contact in a connected CRM can start a network flag, whether or not that account has Shield. Lookups you run by hand on Lookups, CSV uploads, API calls and Off CRM protection never start one. Only accounts with Shield receive network flags.
How a flag reaches your contacts
Step 1. Another account screens the number
Somewhere on DialClear, phone screening of a CRM contact comes back with at least one list match.
Step 2. DialClear finds your matching contacts
DialClear looks for contacts in your CRM account that it has phone screened before and that hold the same number. A contact that already received a Shield flag for that number is skipped, so nothing is applied twice.
Step 3. Your contact is updated
Your contact gets exactly what its own screening would have written. That means the DialClear fields in your CRM, a compliance note on the contact, and Do Not Disturb marks set by your Automatic DND choices on Settings. A row also appears in your lookup history.
You are not charged for a flag Shield brings in, because no new lookup runs.
Important
Shield works on contacts DialClear has already phone screened in your CRM. A number you have never screened cannot receive a network flag. Keep Phone screening switched on so new contacts get screened.
Read the Shield page
Open Shield from the left menu, under Compliance. When Shield is on, a card at the top names your plan and says it is active.
- Flags received (30 days) counts the network flags applied to contacts in the account you have open, over the last 30 days.
- Protected contacts (recent) counts the entries in the Recent flags received list, which shows up to the 25 most recent.
- Suppression list counts the numbers on your agency suppression list, which DialClear skips during automatic phone screening.
Below the tiles, Recent flags received lists each flag applied to your contacts. Each row shows the masked number, the list codes Shield applied to your contact (for example federal-dnc), and the date it was applied. Every member of the account sees the same list. If you belong to more than one account, switch accounts to see the flags for another one.
Which plans include Shield
| Where you use DialClear | Plan that includes Shield | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Inside your CRM | Shield | $19/mo |
| Inside your CRM | Compliance Suite (Shield plus the DNC Audit Pack) | $48/mo |
| Direct account at dialclear.co | Solo Shield | $19/mo |
Inside your CRM, Shield on your plan also turns on the agency suppression list. Once your CRM account has a plan, that plan decides whether it receives flags, and a Solo Shield subscription does not change it.
Solo Shield does not include the suppression list. It also only protects contacts in a connected CRM account, so a direct account with no CRM connection gets nothing from it. See Which features are in my plan to add Shield to your plan.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Flags received still zero?
A flag only arrives when another account screens a number that you have also screened, and it comes back flagged. If none of your contacts' numbers have been flagged elsewhere since Shield turned on, the count stays at zero.
Does Shield share my contacts with other accounts?
No. Only the screening result for a phone number is passed along. Names, emails and everything else on your contacts stay in your account.
Why did a flag from my other account not reach this one?
Flags never pass between accounts installed by the same person. If you installed DialClear in two CRM accounts yourself, a flag found in one does not travel to the other through Shield. Each account needs its own screening.
Am I billed when Shield updates a contact?
No. Your plan or subscription covers it. Lookups you run yourself are billed as usual.
Shield is missing from my menu
Your CRM plan does not include Shield. The menu only shows pages your plan includes. See Which features are in my plan.
Why did a flagged contact not get a Do Not Disturb mark?
Shield follows your Automatic DND settings, the same as a normal screening. If a list type or a channel is switched off there, Shield leaves it alone too.