Does your Mobile Marketing Campaign Comply with the Latest TCPA Regulations?

You may already be aware that in the year 2012 the Federal Communications Commission revised the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) with the objective of adding new guidelines to protect the interests of mobile wireless consumers. These regulations have been in effect since October 16th, 2013.

The revised TCPA presents both challenges and opportunities for mobile marketers. According to the new guidelines, marketers cannot send autodialed text messages for advertising purposes without the express auditable and written consent. Of course, this is not good news for mobile marketers. But before you press that panic button, remember that the changes also present a great opportunity to launch a smarter and more creative marketing campaign. 

If SMS is an important part of your cellphone marketing strategy, you will definitely want to explore newer and more effective ways to encourage more and more people to subscribe to your messages.

Make it fun and relevant

Depending upon the scope and nature of your campaigns, you may have to re-opt potential consumers. If you intend to include other advertising methods in addition to this campaign, you will probably have to do a double opt-in. This can sound daunting. But it is also an opportunity to start fresh.

What you need to do is to launch user friendly mobile opt-in campaigns to allow consumers to express their interest by giving you their phone number and/or email address and permission to send messages to them. Remember that quality and quantity are not always mutually exclusive. You cannot expect consumers to opt-in if you do not give them something of value.

Offer content to gain consent

Under the revised TCPA guidelines, a straightforward web page can serve as written consent. This allows you to easily leverage existing resources. Offer a free app, a song download or movie clip to encourage consumers to opt in. Include a checkbox and your terms and conditions in straightforward language. When consumers check the box, they also agree to receive your text messages at the cellphone number they have provided.

Target recently tested the efficiency of this method by allowing people to download a song for free. People who were interested in downloading the song had to call a certain number to receive a message that contained a link to a landing page. The campaign asked them to check a box and reveal their email address before they could download the song. This strategy enabled Target to quadruple consumer engagement.

Launch contests and sweeps that pair social and mobile

The revised TCPA guidelines are not applicable to one time campaigns where you ask users to call or text a number to receive a message that includes a hyperlink to download a song or an app, a sweeps entry, or a single coupon. These campaigns are exempt provided that they do not contain additional advertisements. That means by adding sweepstakes to your existing marketing efforts, you can reap rich benefits. Sweepstakes can be implemented pretty easily. They are also a great mechanism to measure the efficacy of your media placements.

Here is how Wendy took advantage of this: To promote their new sandwich launch, Wendy offered their customers several prizes for uploading a video clip shot with a mobile phone. They launched a mobile-optimized website for the campaign, included a hashtag and allowed participants to upload the video on Twitter, Vine, or Instagram. The participants had an opportunity to win an American Express gift card worth $6,000. The campaign was hugely successful.

There is a certain degree of ambiguity and uncertainty around recent regulatory changes. But launching marketing campaigns that comply with the guidelines are not all that difficult.

 

What Does the Revised TCPA Act Mean for Telemarketers?

The Federal Communications Commission (FC) amended the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in February 2012. The revised TCPA Act requires telemarketers to obtain written consent from consumers before sending them automated telemarketing calls. The revised TCPA act went into effect on 16th October 2013. Here is an overview of the new rules and guidelines:

Telemarketing calls to cellphones

According to the old TCPA act, prior express consent - written or oral - was required for sending pre-recorded telemarketing calls to cellphones.

The new act says that prior express written consent is required. That said, verbal consent may be enough if the calls are purely informational.

Telemarketing calls to residential telephone lines

Prior express consent - it could be verbal or written - was required for making automated marketing calls to residential telephone lines, unless of course, the caller had an 'established business relationship' with the consumer. The new rule has eliminated the exemption for 'established business relationships’. Now prior express written consent is mandatory for all automated telemarketing calls. Here again, no consent is required if the call / SMS is purely informational.

In other words, the new rule has made prior express written consent necessary for both mobile and residential calls. There is still an important difference. Verbal consent is still necessary for informational and non-marketing calls to mobile lines.

What exactly is meant by telemarketing calls?

The term telemarketing calls is used to refer to those calls that are made with the objective of promoting products and/or services to potential consumers. Any call made to encourage people to buy a product or service, will be considered as a telemarketing call. In general, all text messages or calls which are not informational in nature constitute telemarketing.

What are dual purpose calls?

These calls serve two purposes. They are informational in nature. They also serve a telemarketing purpose. Examples are: calls or SMS text messages send to customers to remind them that their coupons or gift certificates are going to expire. These calls, too, are considered as telemarketing calls.

The following calls are not considered telemarketing calls:

·         Calls made on behalf of nonprofit organizations are not deemed telemarketing calls.

·         Debt collection calls

·         Any call made for political purposes

·         Any call made by a loan servicer regarding a home or consumer loan modification

·         Refinance calls made by a loan servicer

·         Calls made for non-commercial purposes. These include airline notification calls, school / university notifications, bank / credit card balance or fraud alerts, survey or research calls, package deliveries etc.

What is meant by 'Prior Express Written Consent'?

The term 'prior express written consent' refers to a written agreement that authorizes the seller or other person acting on behalf of the seller to send telemarketing messages using an automated system to the person who signed the agreement. A digital or electronic signature that is recognized by the federal law is also acceptable. This includes permission obtained through a webpage or email.

Written consent checklist

The telemarketer needs to identify each company / seller to whom the consumer is giving consent. The written consent should include an affirmative statement like I agree or I consent. It should reveal that the consumer is permitting the telemarketer to send telemarketing calls or message using automated technology. The consent form should obtain a handwritten or electronic signature. The consent form should also reveal that the consumer is not signing the form as a condition of buying any goods, property or services.

What about existing customers?

Businesses can no-longer rely on verbal forms of consent. Businesses that already have prior written consent from their consumers should evaluate whether they have obtained all the necessary consents. If any of the consents required by the revised TCPA act are missing, they will have to obtain them.

TCPA best practices

Specifically tell consumers that you plan to send promotional SMS text messages. Obtaining written consent early in the relationship is advised.

Specifically identify all sellers in the consent form.

Encourage online consumers to manually check a box after reading the clearly provided disclosures and/or click the submit button after entering their telephone number manually.

Use phone lists directly obtained from consumers. Exercise caution while buying phone lists.