Country-Specific SMS Guidelines

SMS Text Messaging in the UK:

SMS text messaging in the United Kingdom is highly regulated.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) which provide guidelines to the regulations governing the unsolicited text marketing messaging in the UK for commercial, charity or political purposes. PECR builds on the strict data protection legislation that is in place relating to the use of personal data. The recently amended Data Protection Act (2018) sets out the protection of consumer data when processed via electronic channels.

SMS text messaging in the United Kingdom is highly regulated.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) which provide guidelines to the regulations governing the unsolicited text marketing messaging in the UK for commercial, charity or political purposes. PECR builds on the strict data protection legislation that is in place relating to the use of personal data. The recently amended Data Protection Act (2018) sets out the protection of consumer data when processed via electronic channels.

Organisations must not send marketing texts to individuals without their specific, valid and prior explicit consent. This consent must be recorded and kept as proof of consent. There is a limited exception for previous customers, which is known as the soft opt-in. A soft-opt in only applies if the organisation have obtained the contact details in the course of a sale (or negotiations for a sales) of a product or service to the customer; they are only marketing their own similar products or services; and they gave the customer an opportunity to opt-out of the marketing, both when first collecting the details and in every message thereafter.

Privacy and Data Protection

Consumers have the right not to receive unsolicited marketing communications via SMS and must be informed of how their personal data is to be processed by an organisation. An organisation will also needs consent to pass customer details on to another organisation.

Message Content:

The content of marketing messages must be appropriate to the intended audience and will not be likely to offend, upset or harm, etc, any recipient of the message, whether deliberately or otherwise. In this regard, you must comply with all applicable laws and industry standards that apply to the marketing to children.

Unsubscribe:

Organisations must stop sending marketing messages to any person who objects or opts out from receiving them. The universally recognised method of opting out from receiving marketing communications via SMS is for a consumer to send STOP to a message they received. You also need to honour an opt-out request via other channels you can be contacted on, for example, via email or telephonically. A STOP confirmation message must be sent to the consumer to confirm the opt-out. This message should include the name of your company and the following words: “You have opted out. You will not receive additional messages”. Records of opt-out communications need to be kept.

SMS to Landlines:

SMS-to-voice functionality is in widespread use in the UK. Consequently,  YakChat’s SMS service provider will not reject messages sent to landlines. Please be aware, though, that even if SMS messages to landline numbers are not rejected, they  may not be delivered because the phone numbers themselves may not allow inbound messages to be received.

Some General Best Practices:

1. Messages must contain a low (or no cost) way for the recipient to stop getting messages (to ‘opt out’ or unsubscribe).
2. Get opt-in consent from each end user before sending any communication to them, particularly for marketing or other non-essential communications.
3. SMS campaigns should support HELP/STOP messages, and similar messages, in the end user’s local language.
4. Do not contact end users on do-not-call or do-not-disturb registries.