Texting rules for coupon texts

The opt-out lineCopy Anchor Link

Every coupon text ends with Reply STOP to end, HELP for help. unless you change that. This line tells the customer how to stop your texts.

• CTIA, whose guidelines US carriers apply to business texting, says senders should state in the message how to opt out, using the standard word STOP.
• Twilio, which carries your texts, requires the first message you send someone to say how to unsubscribe (for example "Reply STOP to unsubscribe"), and calls a clear reminder in later messages best practice for texts you send on an ongoing basis.
• Your texting registration (A2P 10DLC) was filed with sample messages that carry this line. Texts that look different from what was registered are more likely to be filtered by carriers.

Type {footer} in your message to move the line somewhere else in the text. It still counts toward the length.

Leaving the opt-out line outCopy Anchor Link

Typing {no_footer} sends the text with no opt-out line. We allow it because it is your decision, but we do not know of an official rule that says a marketing text to a list may leave it out, and doing so may put you out of compliance.

What the sources say, as we read them:

• The first text someone gets from you must say how to opt out (Twilio). The sign-up confirmation a customer receives when they join your list includes it, but your coupon texts are separate messages.
• For texts you send again and again, a reminder of how to opt out is expected as best practice (Twilio), and CTIA says the message should state how to opt out.
• Twilio does not require you to name yourself in a follow-up message within an ongoing conversation. A coupon sent to your list is not a reply in a conversation the customer started.

What can happen if you leave it out: carriers may block or filter the text, your texting number can be suspended, and a customer who did not know how to stop your texts is more likely to report them as spam. Customers can still reply STOP, and you must honor it.

Our suggestion: keep the line on coupon texts. If a text is too long, shorten the message itself, or use {footer} to place the line where it reads best.

Say who the text is fromCopy Anchor Link

Twilio requires every message, except a follow-up in an ongoing conversation, to clearly identify the business that got the customer's consent. That is why each coupon text starts with your name, and why that part cannot be edited.

Consent, and honoring STOPCopy Anchor Link

• Marketing texts need the customer's permission first. The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the FCC's rules set out when written consent is required.
• Under the FCC's rules, a customer can withdraw consent in any reasonable way. Replies such as stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe count, and so can other words a reasonable person would read as a request to stop. A request has to be honored within ten business days at most.
• CTIA expects one final confirmation after an opt-out, and no further texts after it.
• Some states have their own texting laws with stricter rules, such as hours you may not text. Check the rules where your customers live.

Links in a textCopy Anchor Link

CTIA says links must not hide who is sending the message. Where a link shortener is used, it should be one dedicated to the sender alone, so carriers commonly refuse texts and registrations that use public shorteners (the kind anyone can use). Use your full web address instead. The coupon link GetSetReply adds through {coupon_link} is a full address and is fine to use.

Official sourcesCopy Anchor Link

These are the documents this page summarizes. They are the ones that count: if anything here disagrees with them, they are right and we are wrong.

• CTIA: Messaging Principles and Best Practices (May 2023)
  The wireless industry's guidelines that US carriers apply to business texting. Sections 5.1.2 and 5.1.3 cover opt-in confirmations and opt-outs; 5.3.2 covers links.
• Twilio: Messaging Policy
  The policy of the carrier partner that sends your coupon texts: identifying yourself, opt-out language and honoring opt-outs.
• Twilio: Programmable Messaging and A2P 10DLC
  How the business texting registration your number was filed under works.
• US Code (Cornell LII): 47 U.S. Code § 227, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
  The federal law behind consent for marketing calls and texts.
• eCFR: 47 CFR § 64.1200, the FCC's TCPA rules
  The FCC's rules, including paragraph (a)(10) on revoking consent by any reasonable means and honoring it within ten business days.