Introduction
SMS marketing has gained significant popularity among businesses in recent years. However, as SMS becomes an integral aspect of marketing campaigns, numerous regulations have been set in place to ensure ethical practices. Major businesses have faced serious repercussions due to non-compliance with these regulations. As a responsible marketer, it's important to understand the regulations surrounding SMS marketing to avoid legal repercussions. In this definitive guide, we will explore best practices to maintain SMS marketing compliance to ensure smooth and ethical operation.
What is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing involves sending promotional text messages to consumers. These messages may contain information on products or services offered by businesses. SMS marketing ensures that the text message lands right in the recipient's pocket. Research indicates that around 98% of SMS messages are read within three minutes of being delivered.
Why is compliance important in SMS marketing?
Compliance refers to an organization or a business adhering to regulations and ensuring ethical processing of data. In SMS marketing, compliance includes explicating confidentiality and consumer privacy when sending text messages. Failure to comply with these regulations may result in hefty fines, credibility loss, and an initiative going digital. It's therefore important to have in-depth knowledge of regulatory laws and ethical practices.
What are some compliance strategies in SMS marketing?
The following strategies help marketers maintain SMS marketing compliance and ethical behavior:
Provide opt-in and opt-outs
Providing subscribers with an opt-in and opt-outs improves your compliance with regulatory laws. The regulatory authorities require marketing companies to acquire explicit consent from subscribers before sending them marketing text messages. By providing an easy subscription process with opt-in, subscribers can learn about offers or promotions. They, in turn, provide explicit consent before they start receiving promotions. Likewise, providing easy opt-out can assure them that they have full control over the information they receive.
Avoid anonymous sender IDs
Your SMS sender ID may either appear as your brand name or a number like shortcode. Most subscribers are more likely to receive promotional text messages they can recognize as legitimate. Therefore, offering a brand sender ID can boost subscriber morale, reinforce messaging legitimacy, increase open rates, and foster overall thought leadership and self-expression.
Obtain user permits to limit messages
The regulatory authorities require companies to ensure six months or longer time limit intervals between messages. Companies must collect permits to contact their users within 90 days from the sms marketing till during the new thread initiation with an opt-in. Implementing message consent reduces spam messages, safeguards the credibility of your marketing campaign, and validates data obtained from SMS surveys.
Exercise discretion in timing of SMS messages
The timing of sending SMS marketing messages is significant in maintaining compliance. Sending text messages at late hours or too early in the morning may not only cause distraction, but also attract a hefty fine. Ensure text messages are sent during reasonable business hours to maintain compliance.
Ensure adequate confidentiality of private information
Protecting customer information and securing sensitive text information means complying with legal regulations. With the CSIRO's guideline, regulate your data, update security profiles to include authentication modalities and implement security protocols to cover interlocking network utilizations with alternatives to the possibilities of SMS sessions overhearing.
Conclusion
To maintain compliance, you need to understand the regulatory provisions completely and equip yourself with reliable tools and resources to ensure compliance and ethics in your SMS marketing strategy. Understanding these regulatory frameworks allows businesses to strengthen relationships between them and regulations pertaining their clients, dramatically affect mass communication sentiments, and national authorities alike. Explore Roezan, an SMS marketing software entails several features that help entrepreneurs get more from SMS marketing campaigns.
