Legal Compliance

Follow our guide to ensure you get the most from your text activity

What does the law say?

It is vital that you follow the regulations by the Data Protection Act and The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003. Whichever way you choose to compile your database, it is important to always make sure you stay legally compliant.

In summary, The ICO (Information Commissioners Office) state that organisations may not send a text message if the recipient has not agreed to it, unless;

• the sender has obtained your details through a sale or negotiations for a sale
• the messages are about similar products or services offered by the sender
• you were given an opportunity to refuse the texts when your details were collected and, if you did not refuse, you were given a simple way to opt out in all the text messages you received

For more information on staying compliant, visit The ICO.

So, if you are sending texts to existing customers then follow the bullet points above. If you are sending texts to prospects then they have to have opted in to receive them first.

How Textlocal helps you stay compliant

Messenger comes equipped with a FREE easy-to-use opt-out path on all messages that you send. All numbers which request to opt-out are immediately removed from your contact list straight away and added to your opt-out list. Further numbers can also be added manually – if for instance they phone to be removed.

What’s more we ensure you always stay compliant. For instance, if at a later date you create a new text group and add new numbers to it and one of the numbers in this group was a number that has previously opted-out they will automatically be removed to ensure you can’t text them.

Some things to remember

To ensure you get the most from your campaign please have a look at our Top 10 Tips. To get the most from you data consider the following:

• Message frequency – Be aware of how often you text your contact list. Texting too often may result in a surge of opt-outs.
• Data sources – Whilst you can rent ‘Opted In’ data, we don’t recommend this approach as the mobile is personal and the person won’t have a relationship with your company and so may consider your message spam. Instead please look at our How To Build An Opt In List.
• Transparency – Make sure your text messages clearly state who the message is from and how the recipient can opt-out should they wish to.

Please note that all the data you upload to Messenger is safe and will not be shared with any third parties. For more information on this please see our Security and SLA page.