Miscellaneous – SMS Text MEssage Guidelines

The type and frequency of SMS text messages you send are tightly regulated by service providers in order to protect their customers from unwanted spam, abuse, and fraud. While these restrictions can be a challenge to marketing endeavors, you can avoid difficulties and ensure your text message marketing effectiveness by understanding how SMS communication is handled.

First and foremost, wireless carriers separate SMS delivery methods into two general types: Person-to-Person (P2P) and Application-to-Person (A2P). P2P refers to messages sent back and forth between two or more actual persons, whereas A2P refers to computer systems that send automated messages to subscribers. Carriers do not generally impose restrictions on P2P traffic because the rate at which a person can send messages is limited by how many messages that person can physically send. Automated systems, however, can send messages thousands of times faster. To prevent mobile subscribers from being sent SMS spam at the same rate that they receive email spam, A2P text messaging can be subject to very strict filtering.

To make sure your SMS marketing reaches your leads, clients, and partners effectively, you can follow some general guidelines when designing and sending text message campaigns in BNTouch. Try to keep the following best practices in mind:

Service providers expect that their subscribers must explicitly agree to receive SMS communications before receiving A2P text messages. This means SMS messages should never be sent out to purchased lists of leads or to anyone who fills out an online form—unless the form states specifically that they are agreeing to receive SMS messages by submitting their information.

As a rule of thumb, do not send SMS marketing messages to anyone who has not specifically requested you to.

In addition to receiving explicit confirmation that a subscriber opts-in to SMS marketing, carriers expect that senders have a policy in place to re-confirm their opt-in status from time to time. Currently, mobile providers recommend confirmation of opt-in status once every 18 months. Users who do not explicitly ask to remain opted-in should be opted-out of campaigns at this time.

Subscribers should be able to safely assume that they can remove themselves from any SMS-based marketing by replying to any such text message with the all-caps reply, “STOP”.

BNTouch implements this standard as part of the BNTouch Voice text messaging module, but it is also advised to include a notice at the end of your SMS messaging campaigns to let the user know that they can opt out this way. Users who have opted out using this response are also able to opt back in by replying “START” to a number that they have previously sent a “STOP” reply to.

When sending SMS marketing communications, mobile carriers have soft limits on the quantity and frequency of messages. When these limits are exceeded, service providers are more likely to treat additional messages as spam and block their delivery. Carriers also analyze the content of SMS messages and may use those filters to block messages.

There are three types of numbers that can be used to send SMS messages: Local Numbers, Toll-Free Numbers, and Short Codes. Carriers approach each type of number with different restrictions, so you should find the right type of number for your text message marketing plan. Below is a breakdown of the differences between them.

For best results:

·         Don't exceed 10-15 text messages per minute

·         Don't send SMS messages to more than 200 unique recipients per day

·         Don't exceed 1000 total text messages sent in a single day

In addition, you can follow these general tips to reduce the chance of carriers blocking your SMS marketing:

·         Try to keep the ratio of incoming to outgoing messages as close to 1:1 as possible. If you send several more text messages to clients than you receive back from them, you may draw the attention of mobile service providers.

·         Avoid sending messages with the same (or nearly the same) message to multiple recipients. Even small changes you make to personalize your text messages can help.

·         Don’t send multiple long messages. Each SMS message can contain up to 160 characters; longer messages are broken into segments, sent separately, and reassembled after being sent. This can drastically raise the number of text messages sent to each recipient, therefore garnering more attention from carriers.

·         Avoid the use of obvious advertising/marketing-style keywords. If the message looks like a generic advertisement to an average person, carrier filters may block it. Sending text messages in all-caps or starting each message with “NEW OFFER!” will quickly flag your messages as spam.

Certain phone numbers with specific area codes, like “800” or “888”, are associated with business use and held to a separate standard to that of personal phone numbers.

·         Carriers are much less likely to filter messages sent from toll-free numbers based on the content of the message

·         Providers are also less likely to filter messages based on send rate (but they still reserve the right to do so)

·         The availability of most “800” or “888” numbers is limited (other toll-free exchanges, like “833” and “855”, are usually more available)

·         Toll-free numbers cannot send MMS attachments with their text messages

In addition to full 10-digit phone numbers, “Short Code” numbers can be used to send SMS messages.

·         A Short Code is a five- or six-digit number

·         Carriers allow unlimited messaging from these numbers and do not filter messages for content

·         These numbers have very expensive monthly fees and initial setup costs, making them an option only for very large-volume SMS marketing

SMS text message marketing is available in your BNTouch CRM via the BNTouch Voice add-on module. To learn more about sending SMS messages to clients and partners, choosing phone numbers to send your messages from, and using SMS messaging in your marketing campaigns, please check out the “BNTouch Voice” manual article or training video.

By default, you will only be able to activate and use “Local”-type phone numbers for your SMS messaging in the BNTouch Voice module. If you are interested in registering a Toll-Free or Short Code phone number for your account, please contact our support team directly or open a support ticket from within your CRM.