Do Not Text | SMS Marketing

"SMS" stands for short message service and is a means of communicating on your mobile phone by sending and receiving plain text messages. Other words for SMS include text messaging, texting, mobile messaging, and wireless messaging.

The Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Federal Communication Commission's Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulate the use of SMS or text messages.

Federal laws dictate how often you must scrub your calling lists. You must scrub against the wireless ported numbers list every 15 days. You must scrub your calling lists against the National Do Not Call Registry every 31 days.

Additionally, below is a TCPA Compliance checklist of regulations with which you must develop a thorough understanding to ensure compliance:

1. Obtain express written consent
2. Provide clear & conspicuous opt-in disclosure language
3. Clearly communicate terms and conditions
4. Only communicate during business hours
5. Identify your business in all communications
6. Offer consumers an easy way to opt-out
7. Honor opt-out requests based on the National Do Not Call Registry

• Consent Capture - Sending text messages via an ATDS requires express written consent. PossibleNOW’s technology provides the ability to capture and revoke consent at a granular level. For example, you can collect consent to text by campaign (e.g. product information, marketing, or service) and mobile device.
• Revocation of Consent - If you have an internal consent collection mechanism but need help collecting and managing text opt-outs, PossibleNOW can collect opt-outs and store them in an opt-out file that you can scrub against that list prior to running campaigns.
• Wireless Validation – If you collect express written consent via web forms, our wireless numbers list can verify in real-time whether the number your customer entered is in fact a mobile number. If not, they will be required to update the number.
• Reassigned Numbers Database – Prior to running texting campaigns you must verify that the phone numbers that you gained consent to text are still owned by the person who provided consent. PossibleNOW’s access to the reassigned number database makes it easy to scrub your list.
• One-Click Unsubscribe - DNtext integrates with your existing CRMs and provides the ability for one-click unsubscribe – a critical feature of compliance. This functionality ensures that you only text the people for whom you have consent and it maintains a full audit record in an historical archive.
• Fractional Compliance Officer - Want an expert compliance officer at your fingertips? Our sister company, CompliancePoint, offers advisory services to help you understand your organization’s level of risk and makes recommendations to close any potential gaps in your SMS marketing compliance. CompliancePoint’s focus and expertise on consumer contact compliance and all pertinent legislation gives you peace of mind.

Customers hate being texted without their consent. It’s a violation of their personal space. Where unsolicited emails are annoying, unsolicited texts make people angry. Their mobile devices are for family and friends, relaxation, enjoyment. Companies who violate the sanctity of personal devices incur the wrath of the masses.

Immediate unsubscribes are the most common reaction, but even if your organization offers a single-click opt-out as the TCPA requires, complaints skyrocket for companies using SMS marketing.

Fines run extremely high. Dominos, a national pizza chain sent promotional texts without consent and was fined nearly $10m in a class-action lawsuit. In Florida, under the state’s more stringent TCPA provisions, an online pharmacy company called MedMen was fined over $5m, and later declared bankruptcy.