Just like with email marketing, there are laws you should be aware of when it comes to marketing to your clients over text messages. The bulk of these laws can be found in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

According to the TCPA, you must have consent from your client before you can text them. Multiple ways exist to get this consent – even having the client check ‘Yes’ on the May We Text You? field for Online Booking (myStratus Only) can be considered consent. Consent can also come in the form of you having an “established business relationship with the recipient”. This means if you have been actively working with this client and they knowingly give you their mobile number, that can be considered consent as well.

So even if you do have an established business relationship with your client, it’s still a common courtesy to ask if it’s OK to include them in your SMS marketing when they give you their mobile number.

Another important part of the TCPA is that your clients must have the ability to opt-out of your marketing at any time. To accommodate this, we already have something built into our SMS feature. If your clients ever want to opt-out of receiving SMS messages, they can respond to your text with “STOP” and the system will automatically stop sending them texts. Whether you choose to include in your texts that clients can opt-out or not, this feature still exists.

The TCPA is an act for the United States, but other countries have their own SMS marketing laws as well. Many of the regulations described in this post are also in place for other countries, so it’s important to be aware of what laws affect you.

Click here for more information/pricing on the SMS add-on.