TCPA Compliance Text Marketing Checklist

Mobile marketing is one of the most effective ways to get your products or services in front of potential buyers. However, what many mobile marketers may not realize is that the TCPA applies to automated marketing text messages (SMS) making them subject to the same requirements and restrictions as telemarketing calls. This knowledge gap has made text marketing the hottest area of TCPA litigation, which has seen an unprecedented explosion since 2015. Before you begin your next text marketing campaign, take a minute to check off the items on this text marketing checklist.

• Do you have express written consent? Under the TCPA, you may only send automated marketing text messages to contacts who have given their written consent and opted-in to your program. If you do not have proper express written consent, you must remove the phone numbers of DNC (Do Not Call) registrants from your text campaigns and then transmit messages only manually.
• Have you removed known TCPA litigators and professional plaintiffs from your contact lists? Seems obvious, yet companies unknowingly market to serial plaintiffs and TCPA litigators every day. Approximately 1 in 3 TCPA-related claims are brought forth by plaintiffs and/or litigators who have already sued under the TCPA. This group is clever, adaptive and highly skilled at slipping into lead generation programs unnoticed and building massive class action lawsuits right under your nose. Our award-winning Litigator Scrub® identifies hidden litigators before you text them.
• Are you confident you are texting the correct person?
  Texting the wrong person is easier than ever and it carries stiff penalties under the TCPA of $500 to $1,500 per text. With over 100,000 mobile phone numbers being reassigned every day and the recent striking down of the 1 call Safe Harbor rule, the issue of reassigned phone numbers is creating an increasingly high risk situation for mobile marketers. Getting a real-time reassigned number validation before you text greatly decreases your TCPA liability.

This content was created for informational purposes only; the information herein is not intended to be legal advice; anyone reading this should not act, or refrain from acting, upon any of the information herein without consulting an attorney.