Text message marketing is a widely used, powerful strategy for businesses and other organizations looking to engage their audiences—but it’s fairly regulated in the United States. Understanding U.S. texting laws, specifically when it comes to SMS opt-in practices, is essential for any organization that uses SMS marketing.
Even if you feel a law or regulation may not apply to you or your use case(s) directly, you should expect to be impacted by how messaging providers and carriers interpret them. That interpretation will ultimately limit your ability to send messages, despite your best intentions.
To help get your team on the same page about SMS compliance, we’ll explore:
This article only pertains to SMS opt-in laws in the U.S., so be sure to research additional regulations in Canada and the EU if your business operates outside America.
Disclaimer: Please note that the following recommendations are for informational purposes only and are neither intended nor should be substituted for consultation with appropriate legal counsel and your organization's regulatory compliance team. The information provided is "as is" and may be updated or changed without notice.
In order to send marketing messages legally via text, you must get the recipient’s express, written consent. This involves asking the recipient to “opt-in,” in which recipients say yes to receiving promotional messages from your business. They can still “opt-out” at any time if they change their mind, and your business must respect their decision and stop messaging them.
Let’s cover what compliant SMS opt-in and out practices look like in more detail.
Before you text a customer, you must ask for consent in the form of an opt-in. This consent to receive text messages on a mobile device can be collected wherever you gather mobile information. You can create paper, email, or website forms, or have your target audience text in a keyword to your organization over SMS or WhatsApp (such as “SIGN UP”).
For any of these consent forms to be valid, organizations must clearly disclose a few pieces of information:
While only one opt-in is legally required, we recommend covering your bases by getting a double opt-in. When you receive the initial opt-in (whether through an online form or a customer texting you a keyword), send a text asking to confirm that they want to receive text messages. If the person answers “YES,” this constitutes a double opt-in. Here’s what it might look like:
This active consent or relationship expires every 18 months. To ensure you stay compliant, use an automated SMS marketing app like Mogli to regain opt-ins 18 months after the initial day each user subscribes to your text messages.
No matter how amazing your product, service, or marketing is, there will always be someone who doesn’t want to receive commercial text messages—and you must respect that choice.
Your recipients should be able to opt out of receiving text messages from you at any time by texting words like “STOP,” “QUIT,” “UNSUBSCRIBE,” “OPT-OUT,” or “CANCEL.” It’s important to make opting out easy. The message carrier will see these messages and stop any messages from going out to that customer.
Additionally, if you offered an opt-in or double opt-in and the customer didn’t respond, consider that an opt-out. It’s safest not to reach out to customers unless they are expecting it.
SMS opt-ins are essential for staying compliant with U.S. texting laws. Failure to acquire written consent and comply with these laws can result in fines, penalties, and other legal trouble for your business.
When you gather opt-ins from customers, you gain access to an impactful marketing channel. SMS is a practical, relatively low-cost way to reach stakeholders across various industries, from financial services and education to commerce and nonprofits. Its efficacy comes not only from the convenience of cell phones and reaching people anywhere they go but from the variety of communications needs a text message can fulfill.
For example, using SMS marketing and a robust tool like Mogli allows you to:
Federal laws and regulations state that businesses cannot intentionally or unwittingly text unsolicited spam text messages containing irrelevant marketing information, products, services, or other offers. Nor may businesses collect personal data for any purpose other than to engage and provide value to those recipients.
Let’s explore an overview of the texting laws that govern U.S. text messages.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in the 1990s to protect against phone calls and robocall solicitations. It quickly evolved to include text messaging, as well.
The TCPA is still the primary law governing business text marketing in the USA. It limits telephone solicitations and the use of automated equipment, requiring businesses to obtain explicit documented written consent before sending text messages (i.e., an opt-in). Even if a company already has a relationship with an intended recipient or their phone number, it may only text them if it has opt-in consent. The only exception is a real emergency.
The takeaway: never hit send on a text message to ask for opt-in. It's illegal. You can land fines between $500-$1500 for each infraction, depending on whether you sent the message knowingly or to what extent you abused information. An unsolicited text or call (yes, each call or text message) counts as a violation of the law, which can quickly amount to millions of dollars in penalty fines. In 2013, Domino’s Pizza paid nearly $10 million for unsolicited text messages.
The CAN-SPAM Act protects consumers from commercial text messages from companies with which they don’t already have a relationship.
For example, if your car insurance company sends you a transactional text message asking if you want to increase your coverage, that could be fine. It’s illegal, however, for a car insurance company with which you don’t have any relationship to solicit you over text message without your explicit written consent, as discussed above.
Additionally, CAN-SPAM requires that any commercial message be readily identifiable as an advertisement by the text message recipient. Consumers must also be able to unsubscribe (opt-out) from text messages whenever they please.
The CTIA, Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, promotes voluntary best practices while protecting consumers from unwanted messages. These best practices:
This way, consumers don’t get added to irrelevant or excessive text messaging campaigns.
The California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, gives California residents more control over the personal information that businesses collect. The law governs both US-based and international countries and includes the following privacy rights:
Now that you understand the importance of securing SMS opt-ins and honoring opt-outs, determine which method your business will use to collect opt-ins. There are several ways you can collect users’ consent, but here are five of the most common SMS opt-in examples.
Keyword queries are inbound marketing at its best. Create a call to action on your website or other channels, including advertisements and social media posts, that invites customers to text a specific keyword to your organization’s phone number.
The Walgreens website, for example, includes instructions to “Text JOINRX to 21525” to sign up for prescription text alerts.
We highly recommend the keyword opt-in method, as we’ve seen Mogli clients use them to ease the administrative burdens and painfully low conversion rates of analog or online methods. Our Salesforce-native SMS marketing app makes it easy to set up opt-in keywords and fully automate the process, helping your organization remain compliant while expanding your contact list.
Simple SMS opt-in forms are easy to add to your website and provide the proper information for compliance. For instance, the online form on the American Cancer Society website pictured above includes just a few fields to fill out, along with TPCA-compliant information about how to opt-out, get help, and read their privacy policy.
Remember that if you plan on selling the personal data you have collected, the CCPA requires you to include a separate opt-in checkbox titled “Check to permit sale of information."
To draw more attention to your SMS opt-in form, you can also use website pop-ups to ask text users for consent.
The example above from Figs Scrubs prompts users to sign up for text message promotions to get a 15% discount. The pop-up is small enough to feel unobtrusive while still including all the necessary information about the business’s text marketing practices.
If you want to highlight your SMS opt-in opportunities on your website without distracting from your main content, consider adding a small form or opt-in keyword to your website’s footer. This way, users can scroll down anytime and learn how to opt in without pushy offers on their feed.
On the Duluth Trading Co. website, you can scroll down to find the business’s text opt-in keyword, privacy policy, and terms. You even get a 20% discount!
QR codes are another easy way to collect opt-ins using a variety of other marketing channels. Add your QR code to social media posts, posters, flyers, your website, and even direct mail so your audience can quickly sign up to receive your texts.
The example above from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shows how you can add an SMS opt-in QR code to both physical and digital flyers to inspire opt-ins.
We’ve covered a lot of information about SMS opt-in and out laws in the U.S. To recap, here are the most essential best practices you should follow to maintain compliance:
While it’s ultimately your organization’s responsibility, Mogli simplifies complying with SMS opt-in laws. Our automated processes are built on the Salesforce functionality you know and love, facilitating setup and SMS opt-in and out management.
For instance, Mogli has an opt-out backup using standard Salesforce automation. This automation checks a box on Contact, Lead, or any other Object Record called the Mogli Opt-Out Checkbox, effectively blocking any text messages in Salesforce from being sent to that Contact, Lead, or other Object.
Mogli also helps clients with the template approval process and WhatsApp configurations, with the ability to customize automation that suits your Salesforce use case. If you have questions, talk with our team about how we can support your business’s SMS marketing strategy.
Follow these best practices and stay up to date with the latest texting laws and regulations, and you’ll be in good shape to connect with your audience via text. As long as you stay compliant, you can tailor your opt-in and out processes to your audience’s preferences once you learn more about their habits.
Excited to dive into the world of text messaging to engage your stakeholders? Check out our other guides: