Who Makes SMS Compliance Rules?

Compliance is crucial for keeping marketers in line. It's unwise to assume all marketers have their customers' best interests in mind. Without rules and regulations, some businesses would spam consumers with irrelevant information and replace personalized messages with annoying, intrusive campaigns.

SMS compliance rules are built on a foundation laid out by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) and the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The CTIA

The CTIA is an organization that represents the wireless communications industry in the U.S.

It enforces SMS marketing practices and legal guidelines and audits SMS marketing programs to protect mobile phone users from annoying, inappropriate or irrelevant SMS marketing messages. Although CTIA guidelines aren't official laws, the organization has the power to shut down noncompliant programs.

The TCPA

The FCC’s TCPA sets legal standards and provides basic consumer protections for SMS mobile messaging campaigns. The TCPA operates under federal law, meaning you can face legal action if you fail to comply.

The TCPA sets standards for telecommunications, including interactions with mobile devices. It defines which actions determine permission granted and what businesses are allowed to do once they have consent from a subscriber.

Opt-In Messaging Requirements

Follow the Opt-In Requirements

The TCPA mandates that a business must receive "express written consent" from contacts before it can start sending them SMS marketing messages. The consent needs to be clear and straightforward — not buried in a lengthy form of terms and conditions.

Opt-ins are the most critical aspect of SMS compliance. If you text people without their explicit permission, it's considered spam and you risk facing legal repercussions.

In addition to physical, written consent, your customers can opt in to your SMS campaigns using a few different methods. The two most common are mobile opt-in and web opt-in.

• Mobile Opt-In: Consumers can use their mobile phone to text a Keyword to a short code number. Promote your Keyword and the short code on advertisements, emails or ads to encourage people to subscribe to your list.

Express written consent

This is the most important aspect of compliance. The TCPA requires that you get “express written consent” from your recipients before you add them to your text marketing campaigns. Customers can express consent and opt in to your program by texting in a keyword, submitting a form on your website, or filling out a paper form. Failure to get consent from recipients before sending them text market messages is a TCPA violation.

It’s important to note that this written consent can’t be buried in a pages-long consent form full of legalese. Consent must be clear and conspicuous, so the recipient knows what they’re signing up for.

Confirmation

Once a subscriber opts in, they should receive a confirmation text containing relevant information about the program and important disclaimers. All of the information below should be contained in the confirmation message, though abbreviations are allowed.

The C.R.M. system will automatically include STOP and START unsubscribe functionality at the bottom of each sms text campaign. This ensures compliance and allows consumers to easily control how and when they receive messages from your business.

Set Appropriate Message Times

If you start sending coupon codes at 4 a.m., you'll probably end up with lots of angry customers and unsubscribes. Don’t send SMS messages during obscure hours.