Download Swimming against the spam - Content Marketing Association

Swimming
against the spam:
How to stay compliant
The humble mobile phone
They are by our side 24/7; they know all our friends’ names and
numbers and they ensure we’re never bored on a train journey
home. The humble mobile phone has gone from a clunky,
wholly optional device to become a key part of our lives – most
of us today wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without them.
Brands have cottoned on to the importance of mobile, and are
increasingly using text messages as a way to stay in constant
contact with their customers. Whilst most welcome messages
that remind them they need to go to the dentist or offer to save
them money, no one wants to be spammed.
Despite this, spam messages are still a problem. More than
175,000 complaints about spam text messages and cold calls
were made to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in
2014 alone. As a result, the ICO now has more powers than ever
before, meaning those guilty of sending spam messages are far
more likely to get prosecuted.
If you’re an honest marketer, who has obtained your
customer details legally and has no intention of spamming
them, it can be a very difficult task indeed to come across as a
spammer. That said, to make absolutely sure your customers
see the value of your messages and remain loyal, read on.
Why shouldn’t I send spam SMS messages?
Building and growing your opt-in database is not an easy task,
but it’s far better to obtain people’s details legally than to buy
them from a unscrupulous third-party.
Not only is it against the law to send people text messages
without having received their prior consent, it’s not going to
do your business any good either. Your brand will be associated
with spamming people who don’t want your messages, and it’s
unlikely these texts will result in any sales.
In short, it’s impractical and expensive, not to mention illegal.
The majority of companies that send out spam messages are
lead generation firms. Essentially, they want people to reply to
their messages, so they can sell on that number to the relevant
company. They are often looking for people who want to make
PPI claims, personal injury claims or to consolidate their debts.
Spam messages are damaging to the entire mobile marketing
industry, as customers who are bombarded with them are
unlikely to give away their phone number quite so freely to
other brands in the future. Therefore it’s every marketer’s
responsibility to ensure the messages they send are relevant,
useful and engaging.
Luckily, it’s getting easier to catch text spammers, as the public
can report dodgy messages by forwarding them to ‘7726’. The
ICO can then fine guilty companies as much as £500,000.
How do I ensure I’m following the
guidelines?
First and foremost, you need to make sure the receiver can
identify who you are straight away – don’t hide your contact
number or company name.
Most companies will use a short code (a five-digit text number),
as they can send 30 SMS or MMS messages a second. They are
also approved by the carrier, so the receiver knows the message
has been sent from a legitimate company, not a spammer.
Some registered companies are also able to display their caller
ID as a name, such as ‘John’s Florist’ or ‘NHS-NoReply’. Again, the
benefit of this is that the receiver is reassured that the message
is from a brand they trust.
Not only must you make sure your consumers voluntarily
opted-in to receive your messages in the first place, it is
imperative you give the option to opt-out at any time. Most
companies choose to let people unsubscribe by replying with
the word ‘STOP’, but you can tell them to text any word to any
number, so long as you state how to opt-out of future missives
at the end of the text.
How do I make sure my messages don’t look
like spam?
Unlike emails, text messages are not filtered. There is no spam
folder your SMS messages will land in if they contain certain
keywords or come from an unidentified source. Your customer
will see and (at least partially) read every single message you
send, so you need to ensure your texts don’t look like spam.
If the receiver can’t see who it’s from or what the recipient
wants straight away, they’re either going to delete it, report
it or unsubscribe.
This feature is, of course, a huge positive for the reputable
text marketer, as it means they have a much greater chance of
success than alternatives such as email or social media.
Avoid txt spk
Messages that are poorly worded, contain spelling errors and
use abbreviations are likely to irritate your customers, as well as
appear spammy.
We understand that at times it can be difficult to keep to the
character limit, but it’s possible to be concise without resorting
to abbreviations that your audience probably won’t understand.
Plus, Textlocal supports the use of long text messages, meaning
you actually have 612 characters to play with, if need be.
Avoid marketing hype too, such as “order now!” or “this is an
AMAZING offer”. Whilst it’s important to contain a call to action
in your message, people don’t want to feel pressured.
You should use your text messages to communicate with your
customers; don’t just focus on sales.
Below is an example of what a message with a call to action
should look like:
“Example Co’s summer sale is now on! Use code SMS50 to get
50% off all swimwear. Offer ends Saturday. Text STOP to 8181 to
opt out.”
Don’t act like a needy ex
Marketers constantly struggle with the dilemma of how often
to send text messages. Do it too infrequently and you’ll miss out
on potential sales, but send them too often and you’ll annoy
your recipients.
There is no golden rule regarding how often you should contact
your customers, but it is generally considered bad practice to
send more than one message a day. You should also never,
ever send the same message twice, as this will make your
text look like spam.
The type of message you’re sending will also depend on how
often you send a text. For example, if you’re a retailer, you
can message your recipient based on how often they make a
purchase on your website. On the other hand, if you’re
simply sending a reminder for an appointment, you may
want to message them a week or day before they are due
to see their doctor.
Alternatively, you can simply ask your customers how often
they wish to receive messages before they sign up.
Make sure you also give them the option of altering this
frequency at any time.
A good example of a company that understands how often to
send texts is Dominos. Depending on the customer, it tends
to only send people text messages on Tuesdays, to remind
recipients they can get two pizzas for the price of one.
Remember, there’s no point sending a text message for the sake
of it – you must have something to offer.
Don’t wake people up
We all know that feeling: you’re just about to drop off into the
land of nod, and then your phone buzzes and wakes you up.
You’re annoyed, but maybe it’s an important message that
simply couldn’t wait…
Nope, it’s a text from your local coffee shop telling you can
claim a free muffin with any hot drink. It’s 1am. Said coffee shop
is closed.
In this scenario two things are probably going to happen:
• The customer will forget about the message, meaning you’ve
wasted your time as well as theirs.
• They’ll opt out of your service then and there, because you
woke them up at 1am.
The set time(s) that your messages are scheduled to send
matters; not only because you don’t want to drive away your
subscribers, but because your texts are more likely to convert at
certain times of day.
Moreover, you want to ensure that people have a sufficient
amount of time to take advantage of whatever you’re offering
them – there’s no point texting your customers an expired
voucher or a message reminding them of something that’s
already happened.
It is, however, down to you to work out what times and days it’s
best to send certain messages, as success will entirely depend
on your audience, your business and what type of message
you’re sending.
Send texts at different times and on various days to see which
messages get the highest response rate. If you’re an ecommerce
site, it’s a good idea to send out promotional texts when people
are most likely to visit your website, as then you can turn those
visitors into buyers.
Take note of what succeeds – and what fails – then use this to
inform timings of future campaigns.
Offer something, and make it clear
When composing a text, you need to consider three things:
• Is it clear who the message is from?
• Is it clear what’s on offer?
• Is there a point to the message?
50%
OFF
If your text message is generic, not at all useful and from a
mysterious sender, the receiver will probably think it’s just spam
and delete it.
Even if recipients know who it’s from, if it doesn’t offer them
anything useful (i.e. a voucher or reminder), they’re going to be
much more likely to unsubscribe. You may be happy about your
new website design, but your customers are less likely to care.
If you want people to see your new website, give people a
reason to visit.
How can Textlocal help me stay compliant?
There are two types of SMS spammers. The worst of the two use
stolen SIM cards to send thousands of messages to randomly
generated phone numbers and wait for someone to reply.
Those that do reply, whether to opt-out or show their interest,
become the victim of further spam, as they have indicated their
number is active, so the spammers sell it on.
Alastair Shortland, CEO and founder of Textlocal, explains that
these businesses are damaging the whole industry because “it
fuels the perception that mobile messaging is intrusive.”
The second type of spammer buys lists of mobile numbers from
a broker. Although the data is classed as opt-in, Alastair notes it
is not true opt-in data:
“Has the end user requested to receive marketing from that
specific sender? Of course not, so the sender is simply wasting
their time and money. As long as a business is sending
messages to customers who have chosen to receive them
and they offer a simple opt out path (reply STOP) then
they are compliant.”
Alastair also states how businesses that have followed the rules
for some time have no reason to fear a ‘crackdown’ on spam
messages, especially the most recent.
“The law hasn’t changed to anything other than enforcing that
proper spammers can be fined without having to prove that
‘significant distress’ has been caused,” he says.
So how do we identify who and who isn’t a spammer? An SMS
spammer is a business that does one of the following:
• Hides its identity
• Sends messages to harvested or random numbers
• Does not provide an opt-out path
• Sends texts to someone it has not had a trading relationship
with for at least two years
Here at Textlocal, we work hard to ensure no spam get through
our system.
“We police our traffic,” Alastair explains. “Every single client is
vetted to ensure they are not sending spam or anything that
resembles it.
“We pride ourselves on promoting an ethical text messaging
service, based on pure opt in, consent, and timeliness of
messages. Ourselves, our platform and our clients are as far
removed from spam SMS texting as you can possibly imagine.”
What happens when brands get it wrong?
Even the most prestigious and well-known brands don’t always
get their mobile marketing right, but no matter how big your
business is, sending spammy texts to your customers is a surefire way to lose sales.
One company that made such a mistake is Coca-Cola.
The business was sued by a customer in America when Coke
failed to include an option to opt-out of its SMS marketing
campaign.
Even though she replied to the messages with the word ‘STOP’
and was told by a representative from Coke that she had been
removed from the opt-in list, she continued to receive text
messages.
As previously mentioned, not including an opt-out option is
against the law. To prevent you from making the same mistake,
every Textlocal account comes equipped with free opt-out
systems which can be added to the end of your messages. You
really have no excuse.
Brands that got it right
98
-3
89
03
4
98
0
98
98
03
48
03
48
9-
3
9-
3
Furthermore, Orange never spammed its customers. People
were not sent a text every week – they only received a message
if they had requested a code. The following week, they were
then sent another message reminding them it was Orange
Wednesday, but if the receiver didn’t respond to this text, they
were left alone until another code was requested.
AD
MI
ON T
E
IT
M
AD E
ON
Although it came to an end in early 2015, for 12 years cinephiles
flocked to the cinemas every Wednesday with a mate to see
the latest film for half the usual price. The key to the campaign’s
success? Not only did it provide customers with something
useful (2 for 1 cinema tickets), it was incredibly simple and easy
to remember. All Brits had to do was text the word ‘Film’ to 241.
To ensure the code and number was firmly fixed into people’s
minds, Orange recruited film stars to take part in its humorous
adverts, which were shown before the start of every film.
9-3
Orange’s ‘Orange Wednesdays’ campaign is easily one of the
biggest success stories.
34
8
It’s much easier to get it right than it is to get it wrong – you
only have to follow a few simple rules to avoid being classed
as a spammer, after all. The brands that have succeeded in text
marketing have seen some hugely positive results.
Takeaway points:
Remember that customers do not pay for inbound messages,
so as long as they’ve signed up to them and they provide a
valuable service, consumers are more than happy to receive
text messages from brands.
A customer has willingly given you their mobile phone number,
along with other sensitive information, so don’t abuse the
power that you have. Mobile phones are very personal devices
– no one wants to be bothered by cold calls or spam texts when
they’re out and about. They will, however, be happy to get that
half-price coffee you’ve just offered them…
To summarise, here are some quick takeaway tips on how to
avoid coming across as a spammer:
• Never hide your identity
• Make sure your consumers have opted in,
and let them opt out
• Sending spam can damage the industry,
your brand’s reputation and result
in huge fines
• The timing of your texts is important
• Avoid the use of capitals, abbreviations and
marketing hype
• Don’t over use SMS marketing as a sales
tool - use it to communicate with
your customers
• Don’t send messages too frequently
• Your texts should always provide value
to the customer