Obtaining Consumer Opt-in

If you are using Zaius’ SMS solution, you must comply with opt-in requirements as outlined in CTIA Principles and Best Practices.

The CTIA requires that you:

• Obtain a Consumer’s consent to receive messages generally
• Obtain a Consumer’s explicit written consent to specifically receive marketing messages
• Ensure that Consumers have the ability to revoke consent

All of your SMS recipients must give you explicit consent and be opted in and/or should be expecting communications from you (e.g. Transactional SMS messages) prior to receiving SMS communications from you. The FCC monitors for consent and reserves the right to block messaging service or suspend your account if abuse is reported. Learn more about how to set explicit consent in Zaius.

Best Practices for SMS Consent

Provide Clear and Conspicuous Notice

“Notice” is the message that prompts consumers to opt in to your SMS campaign. You are required to provide your customers with a clear and concise notice about the type and purpose of the messaging they will receive. Ensure that consumers are aware of:

• The program or product description
• The phone number from which the messages will originate
• The specific identify of the organization represented in the initial message
• Any associated fees or charges
• Other applicable terms and conditions (e.g. how to opt-out, customer care contact information, any applicable privacy policy)

Additionally, subsequent messaging should not contain any deceptive language, and opt-in details should not be obscured in terms and conditions.

Content for Consumer Opt-In

If you plan to send multiple messages as part of your promotional SMS campaign, follow the CTIA’s best practices for recurring messages:

• Your recurring messaging campaigns should provide your consumers with a confirmation message that clearly informs the consumer they are enrolled in the recurring message campaign. You also need to provide a clear and conspicuous description of how to opt-out from the campaign.
• After your consumer has opted in for a recurring campaign, send your consumer an opt-in confirmation message before sending any additional SMS messages. Your confirmation message should include:
  • Program name or product description
  • Customer care contact information
  • Opt-out instructions
  • Disclosure that the messages are recurring and the frequency of messaging
  • Clear and conspicuous language about any associated fees or charges and how those charges will be billed

Content for Consumer Opt-Out

You need to provide consumers with a choice to terminate messaging communications, regardless of whether the consumers have consented to receive the message. You should acknowledge and respect Consumers’ opt-out requests consistent with the following guidelines:

• Ensure that consumers have the ability to opt-out of receiving messages at any time
• Support multiple mechanisms of opt-out, including phone call, email, or text
• Acknowledge and honor all consumer opt-out requests by sending one final opt-out confirmation message per campaign to notify the consumer that they have opted-out successfully. No further messages should be sent following the confirmation message. 

State in your messaging how and what words affect an opt-out. Standardized “STOP” wording should be used for opt-out instructions, however, opt-out requests with normal language (i.e., stop, end, unsubscribe, cancel, quit, “please opt me out”) should also be read and acted upon, except where a specific word can result in unintentional opt-out.

The validity of a consumer opt-out should not be impacted by capitalization, punctuation, or any letter-case sensitivities.

Types of SMS Content

In some cases, you may not have a customer’s explicit consent but you need to contact them via SMS, for example, for transactional messages or when the customer initiates the conversation.

You can refer to the table below to understand the levels of consent expected for various types of messaging. Please note that the examples below do not constitute or convey legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for obtaining legal advice from qualified counsel.

Example for Promotional content

Example for Transactional/Informational content

Example for Conversational content

Prohibited Content

In addition to providing guidelines for consumer opt-in, the CTIA outlines best practices for SMS content. You are not permitted to send content associated with:

• Engaging in an activity in connection or conjunction with any pornographic and/or adult entertainment industry purpose, regardless of whether such activity is lawfully permitted
• Depictions or endorsements of violence, hate speech, or otherwise engaging in threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, libelous, deceptive or fraudulent behavior
• Content related to the sale or promotion of substances that are classified as controlled substances under federal law, including marijuana

Prohibited Campaign Types

Unless expressly authorized by Zaius, you may not use SMS campaigns for the following purposes:

• Third-party or affiliate lead and/or commission generation (see definition below)
• Advertisements for loans
• Credit repair offers
• Debt relief
• Debt collection
• Work from home, secret shopper, or other similar advertising campaigns