What to keep in mind before sending out event-related text messages

What to keep in mind before sending out event-related text messages

Now that texting is officially mainstream, brands are exploring ways to send event updates and promotional information to cell phones. B-to-b event managers are trying it out, as are consumer brands like Heineken, which sent event updates to attendees at this summer’s AmsterJam music fest in New York City.

But even if customers willingly give you their cell phone number before an event, you don’t have free reign. Before you send out mass text messages, each consumer has to opt in to the service.

Here’s the 411 on the text messaging regulations you need to know:

It’s a common misconception that text messaging laws fall under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which covers mass emailing. In fact, texting rules are covered under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the same act that regulates telemarketing.

If you use an automatic dialing machine (basically, anything other than sending a text message from one phone to another) to send messages to cell phones, targets must opt in to the service. A popular way to get consumers’ permission is instructing them to text a specific number order to a preset number or email address to opt in. At business seminars or events, customers who want the service can select the option on the event registration form. “It is your burden as the marketer to make sure you can evidence that you’ve received this consent,” says Ellen Traupman, an attorney specializing in privacy and data protection at Washington, DC-based law firm Venable LLP. “It’ll be on your shoulders to make that representation.”

So keep records, and good ones, in case any unhappy customers forget what they signed on for.