“Compliance” is an intimidating term, for sure. You want to know you’re doing it right (but you don’t want to spend forever learning about it). We got you.
Texting is so powerful, it’s protected. There are many organizations and laws that govern business texting, like:
These regulations protect consumers from spam texts (among many other things). And that protection means texting as a business is a highly effective way to reach your audiences.
With all these rules, though, it can be tough to know — with confidence — if you’re doing it right.
Business texting compliance starts as simple as:
Now, I totally get that this ^^^ sounds easy. But when I started at SimpleTexting and was learning everything I could about texting compliance, I had questions like:
So if you’re a newbie to text messaging for your organization (like I was), I’m hoping you’ll dig this handy guide to understand texting compliance.
My goal here is to:
For this first page, I’ll simply give you an overview of business texting compliance (like a TL;DR SMS compliance checklist) and a simple example of how to start a compliant texting program. The subsequent pages go into more detail on implementation.
Let’s go!
⚠️ This advice is for informational purposes only and is neither intended as nor should be substituted for consultation with appropriate legal counsel and/or your organization’s regulatory compliance team.
9 essentials of business texting compliance:
Your organization can text from a local ten-digit long code (e.g. 123-456-7890), toll-free number (e.g. 800-123-4567), or dedicated short code (e.g. 123456).
All of these numbers require registration to ensure your messages are delivered through the wireless carriers to your contacts as effectively as possible.
💡 As a best practice, we recommend you text from the number you use to conduct business currently or select a new business number from which you’ll text and accept phone calls. This should be your state-registered phone number, if applicable.
Note: SimpleTexting guides you through the number registration process after you start your trial. For you, registering your number is as simple as filling out a form — we’ll follow up with questions and submit the information on your behalf to The Campaign Registry or Short Code Registry.
There are three types of business texts:
Depending on the types of texts you send, there are different types of consent.
That said, if you collect express written consent from the very beginning, you may send any of these three types of business text messages — all 100% compliant (as long as you also follow the other rules).
Compliant opt-in call to action example to get express written consent:
Brand Name: By texting KEYWORD to 123-456-7890, you agree to receive promotional messages sent via an autodialer. You also agree to the term of service (website.com/terms) and privacy policy (website.com/privacy). This agreement isn’t a condition of any purchase. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out; HELP for more information.
After a contact subscribes to receive texts from your organization, send a consent confirmation text message as soon as reasonably possible.
Compliant consent confirmation message example:
Note: SimpleTexting is the only online texting service that automatically sends compliance messages for you at no cost (so you don’t need to do this yourself — we got you).
💡 As a best practice, we recommend also texting a welcome message that includes program-specific expectations immediately following your consent confirmation message. This should include some context as to what kinds of content the subscriber can expect to receive from your texting program.
Best practice welcome message example:
Your opt-in calls to action and confirmation messages should include instructions to receive customer care and how to opt out of future messages:
Reply STOP to opt out; HELP for more information.
You must reply when someone asks for help with the business, program, or product name and provide further information on how to receive customer care.
Compliant customer care response message example:
Note: SimpleTexting automatically sends a customer care response message like this for you when someone texts “help” to your number (so you don’t need to do this yourself — we got you).
💡 As a best practice, we recommend monitoring your Inbox regularly to reply to inquiries as needed.
You must send a message to confirm opt outs and then send no further messages.
Compliant unsubscribe request response message example:
Note: SimpleTexting automatically sends an opt out confirmation message like this for you when someone texts “stop” to your number (so you don’t need to do this yourself — we got you). That said, we recommend monitoring your Inbox regularly to reply to inquiries as needed. To stay compliant, you must make a reasonable effort to monitor for various wording of unsubscribe requests like “please opt me out” or misspellings like “tsop”.
You don’t need to include “Reply STOP to opt out” in every program message you send. However, you must include opt out instructions at least once per month in one of your texts for promotional and informational messages.
💡 As a best practice, we recommend that you include opt out language in every promotional text you send. This way, you won’t risk “forgetting” to include opt out instructions in a given month.
In the United States, you may text from 8 a.m.-9 p.m.
There are some local exceptions, though. For example, states like Oklahoma and Florida only allow texts between 8 a.m.-8 p.m. in those respective time zones.
💡 As a best practice, we recommend texting between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern Time, such that you can ensure you will send within 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific Time (i.e., this hourly range encompasses the time zones for the continental United States).
Many states have different rules for how many times you may send promotional texts per day, ranging from one every eight hours in Maine to no more than three per day total in Florida.
That said, most consumers (48%) want businesses to text them once every other week. Another 36% of consumers want businesses to text them once per week.
💡 As a best practice, we recommend not overdoing it with your promotional text messages. Err on the side of fewer, more impactful sends following consumer trends: Text promotions once a week or once every other week.
Note: You may reply as many reasonable times as necessary if a contact texts you unsolicited.
Inappropriate content includes sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, tobacco, spam, misleading messages, depictions of violence, profanity, cannabis, and endorsement of illegal drugs (among others).
Including content related to any of these topics in your call to action to join your text list or any of your text messages is one of the highest violations and may result in your business being banned from sending any further messages.
That said, there are a few exceptions to this rule. For example, you may send messages about happy hour specials. In instances like these, you must have an age gate preventing people under the age of 21 from signing up for your texts.
Note: If you plan on sending texts about alcohol or tobacco, check with SimpleTexting’s support team first so we can help ensure that you’re remaining compliant.
Some states like Oklahoma and Florida limit texts to no more than three per 24-hour period.
Other states like Minnesota allow texts from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. And some states like Alabama don’t allow solicitation telecommunication messages on Sundays.
At the end of the day, it is up to you to research and stay up-to-date with your local regulations and abide by them to send compliant text messages from your business.
To help you visualize how you could start texting for your business, I’ll walk you through your first:
Your texting program begins by building a compliant text message contact list.
In this example, we use a text-to-join keyword with a compliance notice to get express written permission:
After someone joins your text list, you’ll send a consent compliance message as soon as reasonably possible.
In the instance of a text-to-join keyword, this compliance message will send automatically after joining the list:
You don’t need to send a welcome message to be compliant. But it is a best practice to remind subscribers of what they’ve subscribed to receive from your business (and feel free to provide instant value like a coupon):
Promotional business texting requires express written consent. You can enable a subscription confirmation text in addition to your compliance and welcome texts to confirm opt in (thus further verifying express written consent):
If a legal situation ever occurs, it is your responsibility to prove a contact provided consent before you texted them. Double opt-in further validates express written consent.
Now you’re ready to send promotional campaign texts.
Every outgoing promotional text message must include your brand name in it somewhere. A best practice is to begin your texts with your brand name followed by a colon, then the remainder of your message.
You must include opt out instructions at least once per month in your promotional texts. As a best practice, we recommend including opt out info in all promotional texts.
⚠️ This advice is for informational purposes only and is neither intended as nor should be substituted for consultation with appropriate legal counsel and/or your organization’s regulatory compliance team.
By Nathan Ellering, published January 22, 2024