Easy-to-Follow SMS Marketing Compliance Checklist

As an individual, texting is an intuitive process that doesn't require much thought. As a business, however, you need to take a more thoughtful approach to text (SMS) communications, because there are several federal and industry-related regulations that decide how businesses are allowed to market via SMS. 

These regulations protect consumers from receiving unwanted text messages from businesses or organizations, and they set out specific guidelines you need to follow to ensure SMS marketing compliance.

Following federal SMS marketing rules is also an easy way to ensure you’re not unintentionally spamming your customers with irrelevant or unwanted text messages. You’re able to take advantage of all the benefits of SMS marketing without damaging your brand’s image or annoying your clients. This easy-to-follow checklist will help you build a compliant SMS marketing campaign that will benefit both you and your customers.

Your Easy-to-Follow SMS Marketing Compliance Checklist

There are multiple agencies responsible for monitoring and enforcing SMS marketing compliance, as well as rules and regulations set out by both the federal government and individual mobile carriers. To simplify things, here’s an overview of the basic rules regarding SMS marketing:

1. You can’t buy lists of mobile phone numbers and then subscribe them to your SMS marketing lists.
2. You must receive written consent from users before you can send them SMS marketing messages.
3. You must tell consumers whether they’re subscribing to a single text message or a recurring-messages marketing campaign.

There are additional rules regarding things like copyright infringement, drugs and alcohol-related content, and violence and hate speech. If you suspect any of your messaging may fall under one of those categories, you should read the CTIA’s full messaging principles and best practices guide to ensure you stay compliant.

Now, let’s get into the practical application of these regulations with an SMS marketing compliance checklist.

1.  Obtain Written Consent

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) states that you cannot send customers any automated promotional SMS messages without receiving express written consent. The terms of consent must be clear and conspicuous and tell consumers exactly what they’re signing up for. This sounds scary, but in practice, getting written consent is fairly simple. In the text marketing world, we call this “opt-in”, and there are a variety of strategies for easily obtaining it. For example, you could:

• Have customers send an SMS keyword to your phone number based on an ad that includes your consent terms.
• Add a consent checkbox to your online ordering forms and e-commerce sites.
• Have cashiers give customers a physical consent form to fill out at the register.

In the following sections, let’s go into exactly what needs to be included in your calls to action, terms, and confirmations to ensure that you’re able to get this written consent in a compliant way.

2.  Craft Your Call to Action (CTA)

Your call to action (or CTA) is the message that prompts your customer to opt-in to your SMS marketing campaign, and there are rules outlining what you need to include in your CTA to stay legally compliant.

Campaign Purpose – You need to tell your customers exactly what they’re signing up for. While this is necessary for compliance, it’s also a great opportunity for you to advertise your SMS campaigns and entice customers into signing up for your messages.

Automated Marketing Messages – Federal regulations state that customers must know they’re opting-in to receive automated marketing messages (as opposed to transactional or individual messages). You also need to make it clear that customers don’t need to consent to marketing messages as a condition for purchasing something from you.

Message Frequency – Legally, you’re required to tell customers whether they’re signing up for a one-time text message or a recurring SMS marketing campaign. It’s also best practice to give customers an estimate of how frequently you’ll be sending them messages in any given week or month so they can make an informed decision to opt-in.

Messaging and Data Rates – Even though most people have unlimited texting plans now, there are still some users who have to pay a small fee for every SMS they receive. For this reason, you’re required to add a disclaimer to your CTA letting those customers know they’ll have to pay their usual text messaging rates.

Terms & Conditions – You need to provide a summary of your terms and conditions on the form, webpage, or advertisement your customers are using to opt-in to your SMS campaign. You also need to provide a link to the full terms. There are specific guidelines for what should be included in both your full and abbreviated terms and conditions, which are outlined below.

3.  Write Your Terms & Conditions

You need to provide the terms under which your customers are opting-in to receive marketing SMS messages from you. You’re allowed to abbreviate and summarize the terms to make it easier to integrate them into your CTAs and to make them easier for your customers to understand. However, you must also provide a link to the full terms & conditions of your SMS marketing campaign so your customers can read the whole document if they so choose. 

Here are some rules to follow as you craft your abbreviated terms & conditions:

• The text color must contrast with the background color (meaning you can’t hide your terms as white text on a white background).
• There can’t be any pop-ups or banners hiding the text of your terms.
• Your terms must be visible using the browser’s primary scroll bar.
• You cannot automatically pre-check the consent checkbox on a web or mobile form.
• The first three lines must appear above the fold on a 1024x768 resolution computer screen relative to the CTA.

Here’s a table outlining what needs to be included in your full and abbreviated Terms & Conditions as there are rules regarding what information must be included.

4.  Create a Confirmation Message

Once a customer has opted-in to your SMS marketing campaign, you’re required to send them a confirmation text message that reiterates the following information:

• The name of your business
• Whether the user consented to a single marketing SMS message or a recurring text marketing campaign
• The messaging and data rates disclaimer
• Clear opt-out instructions

You can also use your confirmation text message as an opportunity to provide any other important or exciting information about your SMS campaign.

Using a Compliant SMS Marketing Platform

To ensure all of your SMS campaigns are both effective and compliant, you should look for a text message service that provides all the marketing features and support you need. At NorthText, we offer unlimited SMS keywords and autoresponders to help you craft an unforgettable text marketing opt-in campaign. 

As a NorthText customer, you’ll also get unlimited subscriber lists for audience segmentation, full audit trails to help you ensure SMS marketing compliance, and white-glove setup assistance to get your legally compliant SMS marketing campaign up and running.

Jeff Winaker

Jeff Winaker is the CEO of NorthText. He’s passionate about helping clients reach their customers faster with SMS marketing. He resides in the Bay Area with his family.