About SMS Legalities

SMS Insider

Text Message Marketing Made Easy For Small Business Owners:

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)."