TCPA SMS Compliance: A Complete Guide 

Introduction 

Disclaimer: This information is not intended to provide legal advice, and is only for informational purposes. 

SMS has become a great vehicle to communicate marketing messages to consumers. That’s obviously because SMS has an open rate of 98% and a response rate of 45%. It is only ideal for businesses of today to utilize SMS to their advantage and reach out to more people, thereby increasing their customer base. However, before you roll up your sleeves to pick up that phone and start texting people, did you know that there are regulations in place to text your customers? Enter: TCPA. 

The Telephone Consumers Protection Act of 1991, which comes under the FCC sets guidelines for businesses with regards to sending marketing messages to their customers. In this guide, we’ll help you understand all things related to TCPA SMS Compliance, the inclusions, exemptions, and best practices. Get ready for some detailed insights to make the best use of SMS for your business. 

What Is TCPA? 

The Telephone Consumers Protection Act was enacted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1991 to regulate telemarketing practices in the USA. Later on, this act was applied to text messages as well, because a majority of businesses have started using SMS to send marketing communications to their customers. 

This act requires all businesses to adhere to the TCPA SMS compliance guidelines for texting their customers. Broadly, there are two fundamental TCPA SMS compliance guidelines that businesses must follow: 

1. Businesses must always take the express written consent of their customers before sending them any marketing messages. 
2. When consumers opt-in to receive marketing messages from a business, the business must disclose their intention or scope of sending messages clearly. Additionally, businesses should provide clear opt-out instructions to customers if they wish to stop receiving the messages. 

You must be wondering what would happen if you fail to comply with the TCPA consent requirements. Well, you’ll need to pay anywhere between $500—$1500 as a penalty per text message! Therefore, if you’re leaning towards SMS to conveniently communicate and engage with your customers, then you need to be abreast with all things related to TCPA. 

TCPA Penalties Explained 

Before we move any further to explain all things TCPA, it is important to know that there is no workaround for this rule. You must follow it because if you don’t, the penalties can go up to millions of dollars. This is something that you would not want to deal with when you have a business to run and a million things to focus on. 

Now that you know the basics of TCPA texting, you need to be aware that there are penalties for non-compliance, and those penalties are hefty. Each text message that you send can be penalized from $500 to $1500. So if you sent a text message to 10000 customers, and were charged with a penalty of $500 per text message; that’s a total of $5 million that you need to pay. 

Let’s familiarize you with how the penalty system works: 

• You sent unsolicited text messages to 10000 people, and since you didn’t ask for the consent of those people, you breached the TCPA consent requirements. 
• One of those 10000 people, one customer went to court and raised a complaint stating how they received a text message that they didn’t sign up for. The TCPA lawyer that the customer hired looked into the third-party service provider that the business sent text messages from. 
• The lawyer then created a subpoena and sent it to the third-party service provider asking for details of all other 9999 people that the business sent messages to. 
• If the service provider refused to share sensitive contact details of the customers, the lawyer went to court and got permission to get all the details from the service provider. 
• Once the service provider shared the contact information and message details with the lawyer as per court orders, the lawyer reached out to those 9999 people.
• The lawyer asks those 9999 people whether they also received such unsolicited messages and if they say yes, the lawyer now represents 10000 people. 
• After the court finds out that the messages were indeed sent without prior informed consent, they levy a penalty of $500 per text. This means for 10000 messages, the total penalty amount is a whopping 5 million dollars! 
• Remember that only you will be held liable for the TCPA breach, not the third-party service provider that you used to send those messages. 

Imagine the kind of impact such a penalty would have on your business in terms of your finances, reputation, customer trust, and overall operations. It is important to be careful while sending marketing messages because any negligence can cost you a lot more than you think. 

What Not To Do When Using Texting?

If you’re a business wanting to make the right use of SMS for communicating with your customers, then you must know the do’s and don’ts of texting. 

1. Do not send any messages without the written permission of the recipients 
2. Do not send any messages during quiet hours 
3. Do not send any messages promoting hate, tobacco use, sexual abuse, etc. 
4. Do not send any messages without fully disclosing the scope of those messages
5. Do not ignore the state-wise TCPA opt-in requirements for sending marketing texts 

Why Should You Care About TCPA Compliance? 

Did you know that the FTC receives about 250,000 complaints pertaining to TCPA violations per month?  

Here are some benefits you derive when you follow TCPA regulations for SMS compliance: 

Avoid hefty fines

The TCPA penalizes businesses $500 per text message upon the violation of guidelines, but the plaintiffs can demand up to 3X of the penalty amount. Imagine paying three times the amount per text message if you violate the guidelines. With TCPA SMS compliance, you avoid paying such hefty fines. 

Avoid getting blacklisted

If you don’t follow the TCPA SMS compliance rules, then your messages can get marked as spam. Worse, you can get blacklisted from sending marketing messages to your customers. 

Build trust 

With TCPA SMS compliance, you ensure that you only send relevant text messages to your customers. This further helps build trust with them and maintains the relevancy of texts along the way. 

Protect your business’s reputation 

Any violation of TCPA SMS compliance can significantly impact your reputation, which further poses a risk to your business operations, customer base, and revenues. TCPA SMS compliance helps protect your reputation.  

Improve response rates

When you send relevant text messages to customers, not only will you end up saving a lot of time by only sending messages to your customers who opt-in to receive messages; but will also improve response rates significantly. This will further improve conversions and revenues.  

TCPA Compliance Checklist for SMS Marketing 

Obtain express written consent 

The TCPA states that all businesses must obtain the express written consent of their customers. But what does ‘express written consent’ mean? It means that you must ask the permission of your customers explicitly in written form before adding them to your subscribers’ list. TCPA states that you must document the consent obtained. Here are some ways to obtain consent: 

• Ask your customers if they want to opt-in to receive marketing messages from you. For example: ‘Hey David, we’re offering a flat 10% off on all our cleaning services. Grab the offer before it’s gone! Want to receive more exciting offers like these? Subscribe by clicking here -<add link>’.
• You can give your customers an online form to fill that states that they subscribe to receiving marketing communications from your business. 
• You can also send a message to your customers and ask them to respond with a certain keyword if they wish to receive marketing communications from you. Here’s an example: ‘Hey Jess, it’s raining offers this Christmas on our website! Change your wardrobe with the hottest trends. Reply with CHRISTMAS24 to avail more such offers!’ 

Obtaining consent in the aforementioned ways will ensure that only the customers who wish to opt-in are added to your subscribers list, while also helping you avoid any potential penalties or legal action by TCPA. 

Provide disclosure with an opt-in message 

Once the customer has given their permission to receive marketing communications from your business, it is your duty to provide full disclosure of your business. Make sure to follow up with a message that includes your business name, the purpose of sending messages, the intended frequency of text messages, access to terms and conditions, and opt-out instructions. 

Here’s an example of a comprehensive full-disclosure text message: 

‘<Business name>, Purpose: Sales, Marketing, Alerts. Frequency: 3 texts per week. Standard data rates are applicable. Reply STOP to opt out. Reply HELP for additional information.’ 

Communicate terms and conditions clearly 

While sending messages to your customers, make sure to state the terms and conditions correctly. Sometimes customers forget that they have opted in to receive messages from your business. Constantly sharing terms and conditions with your customers is a smart way to remind them about your SMS policy. Also, make sure to include a link to your T&C for customers to view it comprehensively and inform them if the conditions change. 

Make sure to communicate during business hours 

The standard time for sending business messages to customers is between 8 am and 9 pm local time. The local time here means the time your customers receive the text messages, not when you generate those texts. 

If you message customers anywhere beyond this time frame, then you can invite angry complaints from customers, which can further put you in trouble. In addition to the TCPA, 7 states have their own guidelines with respect to the timings during which you can send business text messages to your customers. The table below will help you understand the guidelines for the states: 

Make sure to keep these state regulations in mind before sending marketing messages to your customers. 

Give clear opt-out instructions

When you send messages to your customers, make sure to give clear opt-out instructions to them if they wish to unsubscribe. Also, ensure that your opt-out process is user-friendly. Avoid adding links that direct the customers to some lengthy process for opting out. Instead, give them easier instructions to unsubscribe. Here’s an example:

‘Hey, Lisa! Here’s a flat 20% discount just for you! Do not wish to receive messages from us? Reply STOP to unsubscribe.’ 

Honour the Do Not Call Registry

As a business, it is important that you respect the Do Not Call Registry. This list contains all the contacts that you must not call or text. Make sure to keep a list of do-not-call contacts, which means a list of contacts who have unsubscribed from your messaging list. Doing so will help ensure that those customers aren’t contacted, and will further keep you away from the costly TCPA penalties. 

TCPA Compliance Exceptions 

TCPA doesn’t require all types of messages to be compliant with its rules. Here is a list of some of the top TCPA exemptions for SMS: 

Text message alerts 

Businesses are allowed to send text message alerts to their customers. Whether it’s a change in schedule for scheduled appointments, a sudden closure, a thank you message, a transactional update, or a weather alert; these types of messages are exempted from the TCPA. Businesses can send these messages without asking customers to opt out or subscribe. Here are some examples: 

“Dear John, thank you for your purchase! You can track your order status here: <link>.” 

“Important: We’re experiencing a temporary service outage at the moment. Our team is working on it, and we’ll update you at the earliest. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience.”

“Hey guys, due to heavy rainfall, 88th Pass will be closed. Please take an alternate route.”   

Security updates 

Any security update is important for customers and hence TCPA doesn’t keep messages containing security updates under its radar. Businesses are allowed to send these type of updates without having to send opt-in confirmations or opt-out instructions. Here is an example: 

“Dear customer, you have just paid $300 to <service name> at <time>. Not you? Contact <link> for support.”  

Important appointment confirmations 

Let’s say you need to send an appointment confirmation text to your customers asking them whether they’d show up at the time of the appointment. You can send that text message without worrying about non-compliance because TCPA exempts such types of messages. 

Service upgrades or outage 

If your business is experiencing any service outage or undergoing an upgrade, as a result of which your services might get hampered for some time; it is impprtant to update your customers regarding the same. For such messages, you do not need the consent of your customers as they’re important to them. 

Appointment reminders 

Appointment reminders also don’t fall under TCPA compliance as it is important for customers to be informed about their appointments beforehand. For the same, you need not ask your customers to subscribe to your list or opt out from receiving messages from you. 

6 Best Practices For TCPA SMS Compliance

Now that you have a checklist of TCPA SMS Compliance handy, it is time to also follow some best practices to ensure compliance. 

Train your staff 

To ensure that you comply with TCPA as a whole, it is important to train your employees as well. Educate them about the TCPA texting rules and tell them why it is important for your business to stay compliant while sending text messages to customers. 

Always include your business name 

When you mention your business name in your messages, your customers will know that these are messages that they have opted in to receive. Hence they will not mark you as spam. Not only will it ensure compliance but it will also prove to be a strong customer engagement tactic. 

Communicate your intentions 

It is always a good idea to communicate your purpose of sending messages to your customers clearly. Tell your customers why they need your contact information. If the customers know your intentions, it will help you build trust with them. 

Give frequent opt-out opportunities

In order to maintain TCPA SMS compliance, give ample chances for your customers to opt out of receiving communications from you. It is a good practice to implement as it ensures that you’re compliant. An opt-out message once a month is enough. 

Respect time zones

Make sure to message your customers within the business hours. Sending any communications beyond those hours is a big no-no and will only invite trouble. Be patient and message customers within business hours. 

Ensure TCPA Compliance With Emitrr 

To help you ensure TCPA SMS compliance, Emitrr has certain built-in elements in place. For example, you can set up quiet hours for your campaigns that will ensure that you do not send any messages outside business hours. For example, if you create a campaign at 9 pm and hit send, but have switched on ‘quiet hours’, the message will not be delivered to the customers at 9 pm. Rather, it will get delivered during business hours the next day; thereby ensuring compliance on your part. 

Also, there’s another exciting thing you can do with Emitrr. If you send a reminders campaign to your customers, you can set up a start and end time for your messages, and toggle on the option of sending reminders during business hours. This will ensure that the messages you send are TCPA-compliant. Here’s how it will look like: 

Go to Settings > General Settings > Automation settings > Reminders 

Are you ready to start texting with Emitrr and take the necessary steps to stay compliant with TCPA text messaging rules? Book a quick demo here to learn more! 

FAQs Related To TCPA SMS Compliance

Conclusion 

Having acquired all the necessary information regarding TCPA and text messages, it is now clear that TCPA is something that you can never ignore. Ensure TCPA SMS compliance and you will never land in trouble. Happy texting!