This way, consumers don’t get added to irrelevant or excessive text messaging campaigns. In addition to encouraging a clear call-to-action, requiring proper-opt-in and double-opt-in, easily accessible placement of policies, and the ability to easily opt-out, the CTIA also urges one opt-in per campaign. The CTIA, Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, promotes voluntary best practices while protecting consumers from unwanted messages. Consumers must also be able to unsubscribe from text messages whenever they please. Nonprofits, public office candidates, and the like only have to obtain verbal consent.Īdditionally, CAN-SPAM requires that any commercial message be readily identifiable as an advertisement by the text message recipient. It’s illegal, however, for a car insurance company with which you don’t have any relationship to solicit one over text message without your explicit written consent, as discussed above. The CAN-SPAM Act protects consumers from commercial text messages from companies with which they don’t already have a relationship.įor example, if your car insurance company sends you a transactional text message, that could be fine. In 2013, Domino’s Pizza famously paid close to $10 million for unsolicited text messages. An unsolicited text or call (yes, each call or text message) counts as a violation of the law, which can quickly amount to millions of dollars in penalty fines. This range depends on if you send the message knowingly or to what extent you abused information. You can land fines between $500-$1500 for each infraction. The takeaway: don't hit send on a text message to ask for opt-in. Even if a company already has a relationship with (or the phone number of) an intended recipient, it may only text message if it has opt-in consent.
It sets limits on telephone solicitations and the use of automated equipment requiring businesses to obtain explicit documented written consent before sending text messages. The TCPA is still the primary law in the USA. It quickly evolved to include text messaging, as well. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) created The TCPA, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, in the 1990s, initially as protection against phone calls and robocall solicitations. Nor may businesses collect personal data for any purpose other than to engage and provide value to those recipients.īelow is an overview of the governing laws and the resource to align with best practices. The Legalities of SMS and WhatsApp Compliance in the United Statesįederal laws and regulations state that businesses cannot intentionally or unwittingly text unsolicited spam text messages containing irrelevant marketing information, products, services, or other offers. Yet, companies who use text messaging must be diligent about compliance to avoid expensive penalties. These laws keep the channel clean and help preserve its advantages over other digital communications. These texts, of course, can include alerts, transactional updates, and announcements of events like your brand’s sales, but the possibilities are so much more robust than spray and pray text marketing.įurthermore, text messaging is the preferred and most popular communication channel amongst consumers due to stringent regulatory requirements that save them from spam text messages. run complex Salesforce Flow or Process Builder automation that creates elegant workflows connecting teams and communications channels, and automated conversations.collect payments via a true text-to-pay solution called MogliPay.send personalized bulk (one-to-many) or one-to-one messages.
conduct branching surveys for feedback and data collection.Its efficacy comes not only from the convenience of cell phones and reaching people anywhere they go but from the variety of communications needs a text message can fulfill. Text messaging is a practical, relatively low-cost way to reach stakeholders across various industries, from financial services and education to commerce and nonprofits. If there are so many text messaging regulations, why make it a pillar of digital communications? Be sure to read about Canada's (here) and the European Union (here) text messaging policies. It gives examples of best practices and how you can use Mogli in Salesforce to navigate this regulatory territory. national regulations regarding text messaging communications, including both SMS and WhatsApp. Legalities, best practices, and possibilities of text message marketing