What are the Rules on SMS Marketing?

What are the Rules on TEXT (SMS) Marketing?

The act of marketing by text is covered within the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. This legislation states that organisations “must only send marketing text messages to individuals who have agreed to receive them, except where there is a clearly defined customer relationship.”

Direct Marketing Guide

For companies who use text marketing within their strategy, it’s well worth understanding your duties. The ICO’s Direct Marketing Guide covers in detail what is expected of companies that market this way. Click HERE to read it.

What About Texts from Overseas Sources

The ICO can only investigate complaints about marketing text messages from identifiable UK senders. However, due to an increase in the number of texts coming in from abroad, it has taken steps to combat this. The ICO recently entered into an agreement with a number of overseas bodies to “cooperate and exchange information”. This should help in its attempts to clamp down on such nuisance texts coming in from overseas.

How Can You Avoid or Stop Unwanted Spam Texts?

Be very careful who you give your mobile number out to. Make sure they don’t give it out to anyone else without your consent.
Make sure you tick or untick any relevant boxes on order forms, website opt-ins and literature. If possible, tell the company you do not want to receive marketing information by text.
Don’t advertise your mobile number, for example don’t put it on social media like Facebook or LinkedIn.
Always check privacy policies and marketing opt outs carefully.
Do not respond to a marketing text message from someone or a company you do not know, even if it says “Reply STOP to unsubscribe”. Sometimes text messages are sent to random numbers and by responding, it confirms that your number is live.
In the event that you receive an unsolicited text message, contact the company via landline or email and ask they cease immediately.
In the event that the sender is unidentifiable to you, or if point 6 above proves unsuccessful, contact your network operator. They may be able to block these numbers.

In the event that points 6 and 7 prove unsuccessful, report it to the ICO via their online reporting tool

About
Latest Posts

Joanne Clayton

Director at Data Bubble Consultancy Ltd

If you are looking for new customers, I can help.

I help companies to get more new business by providing Business Data for Direct Marketing campaigns such as Postal, Telemarketing & Email broadcasting campaigns.

If you need any information, call me on 01274 965411 or visit http://databubble.info