Per SBT’s Acceptable Use Policy and the service agreement signed with your company, your company is required to comply with all wireless carrier compliance rules, industry standards, as well as applicable law, in the use of any SBT-managed gateway.
Opt-In Consent
Recipients of your text must provide consent to receive your text messages from your company. The type of consent–express or express, written–required depends on the content of your company’s recurring message campaign. There are several ways that your company’s recipients can opt-in to receiving messages from you. In each case, however, your campaign’s opt-in message flow must meet compliance standards set by the law, industry standards, and the wireless carriers. The industry compliance standards for US Short Code opt-ins can be found in the CTIA Short Code Monitoring Handbook. As a courtesy, we’ve outlined them below:
Handset Opt-In:
Sending a text message from a mobile phone to a short code
When a recipient signs up from a mobile handset, a double opt-in process is advised, but not required. The message flow might look like this:
Recipient: {Keyword}
Short Code: Welcome to {Campaign Name} {Description} Alerts! Msg&data rates may apply. {Message frequency} Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel.
- The “description” should be a single word to define the kind of alerts, e.g. “Account Alerts,” “News Alerts,” “Promo Alerts,” etc.
- The message frequency must be accurate, but can be any interval, for example: “1 message per day,” “4 messages per month,” “2 messages per transaction,” etc. If the message frequency will vary based on user interaction, “1 message/user request” is standard. It is acceptable to say that “message frequency will vary” or similar language.
Non-Handset Opt-in:
Asking to receive text messages and giving your mobile number to a website, mobile app, paper form, via verbal agreement, or otherwise opting in without using a handset.
When a recipient initially signs up by any means other than from a mobile handset, a double opt-in process may be utilized but is no longer required for recurring message programs. The message flow might look like this:
(Recipient signs up without using mobile handset, and receives a text message from the short code asking to confirm opt-in)
Short Code: Text YES to join {Campaign Name} {Description} Alerts. Msg&data rates may apply. {Message frequency} Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel.
Recipient: YES
Short Code: Welcome to {Campaign Name} {Description} Alerts! Msg&data rates may apply. {Message frequency} Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel.
Note: Rather than confirming opt-in with a text message keyword such as YES, recipients may confirm by entering a verification code online instead. Once the verification code has been entered, a compliant opt-in confirmation message must be sent to the handset.
These guidelines are based on industry standards and wireless carrier requirements that are applicable to all gateways, including Short Codes and 10DLCs. We recommend that your review the full set of standards outlined in the CTIA Short Code Monitoring Handbook and CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices. You should expect that your Short Code or 10DLC campaign will be audited at some point by a carrier or industry organization. Please note that each wireless carrier reserves the right to suspend Short Code or 10DLC service for any user at any time, so compliance with the above guidelines is extremely important.
The specific legal and compliance requirements will depend on numerous factors, including the details of your text message campaign and your company’s industry and business practices. Your company should consult with your legal counsel to ensure that your text messaging campaign complies with the wireless carrier’s standards, industry standards, and with the law applicable to your campaign.