Sending texts is a surefire way to get your audience’s attention. However, everybody values their private information, especially their phone numbers.
That’s why the government imposed laws and regulations to protect consumers through SMS Compliance.
SMS Compliance covers text marketing best practices in accordance with laws and regulations.
When consumers receive unsolicited texts from a business, it can be seen as spam and a violation of data privacy. Because of this, businesses and marketers have guidelines on what you can and can’t do when engaging through SMS campaigns.
The main reason businesses should follow SMS Compliance is because it’s the law. Strict penalties and heavy legal fines are given to businesses that don’t comply with these regulations.
SMS Compliance is a legal requirement for businesses. Those that don't comply face heavy penalties and fines.
Along with this, unsolicited texts might damage a company's image. Spam messages can drive away customers and reduce income.
With this in mind, learning about SMS Compliance is critical for creating sustainable message marketing campaigns using platforms like WhatsApp.
No laws ban texting without consent. As a result, businesses abused this during the early days of SMS. Since then, organizations were formed to regulate and update laws regarding SMS compliance.
These four main entities are the following:
CTIA: The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) helps design, monitor, and regulate SMS marketing regulations and laws. The group also maintains a short code monitoring manual with SMS marketing guidelines.
MMA: The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is a non-profit organization consisting of SMS marketing companies. This organization aims to better mobile marketing through strengthened consumer engagement.
FTC: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for ensuring compliance with the various federal laws that protect consumers. They fight against deception and fraud.
FCC: The Federal Communications Commission is a governmental agency tasked with enforcing and regulating media communications.
Now that we've covered SMS Compliance and its governing organizations, let's look at the SMS types used in text marketing.
Failing to comply with different SMS laws can be penalized. On top of that, there are several SMS types that require different levels of consent.
The three main ones are as follows:
Conversational commerce messaging is a valuable marketing tool that leverages direct consumer interaction with a business. It utilizes consumer-business real-time texting.
The conversation begins when a consumer sends a business an SMS and they reply. This type of messaging has implied consent since the consumer starts the conversation.
Informational texts provide non-promotional information. Businesses need text, form, or verbal permission from customers.
These messages include reminders, welcome texts, and shipping alerts. Businesses often rely on automation or auto-replies to effectively use informational messaging.
Any marketing or sales-related messages are considered promotional. These types of texts require written consent from a customer.
A great example of promotional messaging includes a summary of your product or service, what it can do for a customer, and a call to action.
Understanding compliance rules saves time and money. In addition, it helps businesses promote customer experience through the following:
A consumer opts into your SMS program via SMS opt-in. Consumers can opt-in by entering their phone number in a website form and checking a box.
FCC-mandated approval level for firms to text consumers. Consumers give written consent by:
Customers are provided with information or kept up to date via text messaging. Examples of these include order confirmations, ID verifications, and shipping status updates.
Your texting cadence, message and data rate notices, charges, privacy policy, opt-out instructions, and any other applicable terms of use are all included in the Terms and Conditions.
After obtaining consent, you should send an SMS at the right times and volumes. Taking into account all time zones, companies are allowed to send one message per week between the hours of 8 am and 9 pm.
After obtaining consent, you should send an SMS at the right times and volumes. Taking into account all time zones, companies are allowed to send one message per week between the hours of 8 am and 9 pm.
Certain elements should be avoided in all text messages. Specifically, you shouldn't use any prohibited materials in your work. There are five main categories of restricted material:
"Opt-out" means a subscriber no longer wants SMS from your firm. Businesses risk fines if they continue to contact people who have asked to be removed.
SMS content should be S.H.A.F.T. compliant. This includes Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco Alcohol and cigarette companies can still text clients about deals and specials, but only adults can join up. Infractions could prevent your company from sending texts.
SMS Marketing still falls under the Do Not Call Registry. Texting anyone on this list or who opted out is illegal and makes consumers look away from businesses. That’s why marketers should not call or text people on the DNC list.
SMS Marketing is a powerful tool to reach your audience directly, create interest for your brand, and drive profits. However, before spending time and resources on your first SMS campaign, businesses need to be compliant with the law.
Here’s a recap of SMS Compliance best practices:
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