Email to SMS Abuse

South African law in terms of unsolicited mobile messaging relates to how technologies, such as email to SMS, are used. Irresponsible messaging could kill your brand…

So what do we mean with irresponsible messaging? Well, let’s assume for a second that email to SMS is being used as the impetus to drive your messages to the handsets of your clients. Irresponsible messaging would be to:

• Send SMS messages to individuals who have never opted in for any of your email to SMS campaigns, or those who decided not to partake in your campaigns and, subsequently, opted out.
• Send SMS messages filled with content in no way related to that which the client opted in for, be it appropriate or inappropriate content.

Statistically speaking, your average John Smith receives more or less 5 or 6 unsolicited SMS messages each week. These do not include “please call me” messages that are either accidentally or purposefully sent to mobile phones (because, if you haven’t noticed, some of them include advertising).

So what can be done about them?

Well, in a sense not much – South African law states that the transmission of unsolicited messages is an acceptable practice, until a recipient chooses to opt out. This applies to communication methods other than (email to) SMS communication. Once the recipient has opted out, the sender can be brought to justice if continual unsolicited messaging occurs. Need more info? Read Managing Bulk SMS Opt-in.

Alternatively, John Smith can take matters in his own hands by getting in touch with the originator of the email to SMS message (note: not the sender) and thereafter get in touch with the sender. South African website, SMS c.o.d.e. provides the means necessary to track down the originator of the mobile message.

But there’s a little bit more to irresponsible messaging than meets the eye, something that companies who pursue this illicit form of communication seem to forget:

Using email to SMS or any other technology to push unwanted content to the mobile handsets of your target market creates brand distrust. Would you buy from a company you don’t trust? Probably not, and neither would John Smith. This not only means that purveyors of the finest unwanted content are driving their clients away, but also that they are wasting their money.

What You Should be Doing with Email to SMS

Without being lengthy about it, here’s what you should be doing with email to SMS or whichever SMS technology you prefer to make it worthwhile for both you and your contacts:

• Use creative opt-in programs to get your contacts – it can be as easy as putting up an in-store notice.
• Give your customers the opportunity to opt-out, request more information or help. Just having those options available will give your customers peace of mind, even if they never ever, ever (pinkie swear) plan on opting out.
• Provide targeted content – this not only supplies your customers with the information they want, but you with targeted marketing where the possible response rates could be much, much, higher.

Now if you’re new to SMS and are wondering how you can get into the SMS game, then simply consider the email to SMS application programming interface (API) that’s so easy to use that you’ll have to hide it from your own mother. Here’s an example message:

user:xxxxx
password:xxxxx
api_id:xxxxx
to: 448311234567
text:Meet me at home

See? Simple. Read more by following the link to our email to SMS page.

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