Is It Legal to Text Advertisements
to My Customers?
Unsolicited
bulk messages - whether sent by e-mail or text message are in violation
of the ECA (Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. 2002
Chapter VII - Consumer Protection) in the United States unless certain
guidelines are adhered to.
You must provide, and honor, an opt-out option (FREE of charge).
If requested by the consumer, you are required to provide the source
of the e-mail address or phone number you sent the message to. You
may find yourself facings fines, if not.
As an example
- a major cell phone provider (not mentioning any names) was sued
for sending text messages to it's own customers advertising their
own service(s) and charging $.10 per text message! They ended up
not only paying a fine for being in violation of the ECA, they had
to reimburse their clients all of the money charged for the text
messages in question!
One more point
to keep in mind. A study has suggested a key reason to obtain permission
to text ads to your clients is because people tend to think of their
cell phones as being "more private" than e-mail.
From the "Electronic
Communications and Transactions Act. 2002
Chapter VII - Consumer Protection"
45. Unsolicited
goods, services or communications
1) Any person
who sends unsolicited commercial communications to consumers, must
provide the consumer
a) with the
option to cancel his or her subscription to the mailing list of
that person; and
b) with the
identifying particulars of the source from which that person obtained
the consumer's personal information, on request of the consumer.
2) No agreement
is concluded where a consumer has failed to respond to an unsolicited
communication.
3) Any person
who fails to comply with or contravenes subsection (1) is guilty
of an offence and liable, on conviction, to the penalties prescribed
in section 89(1).
4) Any person
who sends unsolicited commercial communications to a person who
has advised the sender that such communications are unwelcome, is
guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to the penalties
prescribed in section 89(1)."
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