Why did the CTIA SMS marketing rules change? In January 2014, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile agreed to stop billing customers for premium short code messaging. With a considerable amount of the previous rules regarding SMS marketing being about premium messaging, getting rid of premium messaging gave the CTIA the opportunity to rewrite the rules for SMS marketing, allowing them to focus solely on standard SMS messaging, multimedia messaging service (MMS), and free-to-end-user (FTEU) short code programs. 

You can download each SMS marketing template in PDF form by clicking on the images below, or you can download the entire set of SMS marketing templates here.

SMS Advertising Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant when advertising your SMS campaign to customers.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

SMS Terms & Conditions Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in your SMS campaign’s terms & conditions.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

Web Opt-In Message Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in the SMS message a customer receives when they opt-in from the web.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

Opt-In Message Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in the SMS message a customer receives after they opt-in.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

HELP Message Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in the SMS message a customer receives when they text the word “HELP” to your short code.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

STOP Message Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in the SMS message a customer receives after they unsubscribe from your campaign.

 (Click Here to Download PDF Template)

If you’re interested in downloading the actual revised CTIA Short Code Compliance Handbook, you can do so by clicking here.

The post CTIA Updates SMS Marketing Rules – Is Your Campaign Still Compliant? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest post by Derek Johnson, Founder & CEO of SMS marketing provider Tatango. You can text him at (206) 334-4012 or email him at derek@tatango.com.

Want to know what the biggest lie an SMS provider will tell you as a client? It’s that you can’t take your SMS subscriber database to another SMS provider. This lie isn’t told by all SMS providers of course, but recently I’ve seen an increasing amount of clients trying to migrate their SMS databases to Tatango, only to be told by their current provider that it’s not possible.

Why do SMS providers do this? It’s simple, they don’t want to lose your business, so lying to you about the many reasons why they can’t migrate your subscriber database usually makes it seem like you have no choice but to stay with your current SMS provider.

Below are some of the most common lies told to clients about why they can’t migrate their SMS subscriber database to another provider, and why these lies are complete BS.

1) Sorry, but we don’t have a way to export your customers’ mobile phone numbers from our platform. Seriously? Any junior developer, or anyone with MySql experience should be able to export the needed data from any SMS provider in a matter of minutes, with no issues.

2) Sorry, but since we take on the liability for the SMS campaign, we can’t allow you to use your customers’ mobile phone numbers on another SMS platform. While the courts have found that all parties involved in sending text messages are liable for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (see the case against TextMarks and Heartland Automotive), this doesn’t mean the SMS provider is still liable for what a brand does with their customers’ mobile phone numbers after their contractual relationship is terminated. Also, while you may hear a sales person or account manager say that their company takes “the liability for the SMS campaign”, I guarantee you that as you move up the food chain within that company, that answer will very quickly change to “Hell no, we don’t take the liability for any SMS campaign, as we’re just the platform.”

3) Sorry, transferring your customer’s mobile phone numbers from one short code to another is against the CTIA guidelines. This is complete BS; the CTIA has no restrictions or rules whatsoever for transferring mobile phone numbers from one short code to another. Don’t believe me? Feel free to read their entire playbook here.

4) Sorry, transferring your customer’s mobile phone numbers from one short code to another is against the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) Best Practices. This is complete BS as well, but there are some best practices that the MMA advises when making the switch from one short code to another. You can watch a video on these guidelines here. Remember though that the MMA best practices are just best practices, so this isn’t enforced and isn’t required when transferring short codes.

5) Sorry, transferring your customer’s mobile phone numbers from one short code to another is against the law. You mean the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which is a federal law? There’s no mention whatsoever of not being able to move customers’ mobile phone numbers from one SMS provider to another in the TCPA, and there isn’t any case law either that mentions this. This is complete BS, and definitely a tell tale sign that your current SMS provider doesn’t know the first thing about the laws governing text message marketing under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

So next time your current SMS provider tells you that you’re unable to transfer your customers’ mobile phone numbers to another provider, just send ’em this blog post.

The post The Biggest Lie SMS Providers Tell Their Clients appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Have you noticed recently the abundance of QR code marketing hate out there? Don’t get me wrong, there has always been QR code haters, but recently it seems like these numbers are starting to multiply at an alarming rate. I can understand the hate towards the design aspects (design is always subjective), but you’ve gotta be stupid to think that marketing through QR codes isn’t here to stay, in a big way.

When I speak to this ever growing mob of QR code marketing haters, all of their arguments can usually be boiled down to three points. While I usually refrain from arguing with people that don’t know what they’re talking about, in this post I’m going to make an exception because someone has to stick up for the QR code. Below are the arguments against marketing with QR codes, and why these people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

Argument #1

“Derek, consumers don’t know what QR codes are, they don’t know how to scan them, and they aren’t interested in scanning them.”

You are right in that only 6.2% of consumers have scanned a QR code, but that’s a vanity metric, a metric that is interesting to look at, but has no weight. You want the real metric, the one that means something to advertisers. Nearly 40% of consumers age 25-34 have scanned a QR code, even better is that 1 out of 3 consumers that have scanned a QR code have a household income of at least $100,000. If the 25-34 year old age demographic is any indication of what is to come for other demographics, QR codes could quickly become the holy grail for mobile marketing.

Those numbers also don’t take into account that only 40% of consumers have a smartphone, meaning that 60% of consumers, even if they wanted to scan a QR code, aren’t able to at this time. As smartphone adoption continues to creep up, the majority of consumers will soon be exposed to QR code engagement.

Argument #2

“Derek, QR codes are going to be crushed by Near Field Communication (NFC).”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m just as excited about the adoption of near field communication (NFC) as the next person. I can’t wait for that moment when I can replace my bulky wallet with my mobile phone, and I think NFC will get us to that place. You’ve gotta be stupid though to think that NFC will ever replace QR codes in marketing.

While there will be certain situations where marketers will be able to replace QR codes with NFC, the majority of QR code scans come from marketing channels that don’t work well with NFC (either from a technical or cost function), such as printed magazines/newspapers, product packaging, websites, posters/flyers, business cards, storefronts and TV. I just don’t see magazines or newspapers installing individual NFC chips in each advertisement, do you?

Argument #3

“Derek, like bellbottoms in the 1970’s, QR codes will be the marketing fad of this decade.”

A”fad” is defined as something that is short lived, but with a direct correlation between smartphone and QR code adoption, this would mean that smarthphones will be short lived as well. Seriously, smartphones short lived? Have you seen reports on growth of smartphone adoption, or even recently how many new iPhones have been purchased? If you truly believe that QR codes are a fad, then you will also have to believe that smartphones are a fad, which would make you more stupid than I thought.

This whole thing reminds me of the story my father told me where back in the late ’80’s he tried to expense a mobile phone to the company he was working for. His bosses response after seeing the expense, “a mobile phone isn’t a business expense, it’s a toy… you can’t expense toys to the company”. Like his boss back then, and QR code haters now, you will eventually look back at your comments and think to yourself, how could I have been that stupid? Maybe it’s time to stop hating and start embracing, the consumer-engaging and soon to be ubiquitous Quick Response Code.

The post Why You Think QR Codes Suck and Why You’re Stupid appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

There’s been a lot of noise lately in the mobile marketing industry about long codes, some are even questioning if these will be the death of short codes. I’m still bearish on long codes as the carriers have yet to come out publicly and give their approval for long code A2P (application to person) messaging. This post though isn’t about long codes being approved or not approved by the carriers, or even if long codes are a good substitute for short codes. This post is about why I feel text message spammers are on the verge of a mass exodus away from short codes to long codes.

Here are my three reasons why text message spammers will love long codes, and in-turn will make the migration.

1. Low Messaging Costs – There is one thing that all spammers have in common, if there are two methods of spamming that achieve the same results, they will always pick the cheapest method. Sending messages through a long code is significantly cheaper than through a short code, especially when you factor in the cost to setup and manage a short code.

2. Easy Setup – Screw applying for a short code, waiting, signing contracts with aggregators, waiting, submitting campaigns to the carriers for approvals and waiting some more. With long codes, there are no approvals, no setup fees, really nothing getting in the way of spammers sending their first text message.

3. No Stupid Rules – Spammers don’t want to have to comply with stupid rules and audits of those rules, that kind of stuff just gets in the way of spamming. With long codes, no one is watching, so feel free to say fuck you to the MMA Best Practices, the mobile carriers, the CTIA, etc.

4. Hiding is Easy – Have you ever tried to find out who to blame for those long code spam messages you’ve been receiving? It’s nearly impossible, even with the almighty Google. Spammers love staying anonymous, and with short codes that is hard to do with things like the U.S. Short Code Directory. With long codes though, spammers are able to cycle through batches of different phone numbers with each and every campaign, dodging detection with every message.

Now that I think about it, I actually love long codes. It’s a fact of life that there will always be people wanting to send text message spam, but with the rise of long codes, these spammers will now have a new home. After this migration to long codes, short codes will once again be a spam-free haven for SMS marketing.

The post 4 Reasons Why Spammers Love Long Codes appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Last week our company released a text message spam infographic, based off a survey we conducted regarding consumer experiences with text message spam. Our survey showed that on average 68% of respondents had experienced text message spam, with teenagers reporting a staggering 84%. Needless to say, these findings definitely raised a few eyebrows across the web.

These statistics further my argument that all SMS providers should stop the practice of allowing their clients the ability to import mobile phone numbers into an SMS campaign, bypassing the need for consent from the owner of the mobile phone number. As I’ve written many times before, I believe this practice to be the source of the majority of text message spam.

Why are SMS providers not listening? As Puff Daddy, or whatever the hell he’s calling himself nowadays says, “it’s all about the Benjamins baby”. For these SMS providers engaging in this practice, it’s too lucrative to stop, even if it’s destroying the future of our industry.

To illustrate this point, I’ve created two hypothetical SMS campaigns and graphed their growth in list size below. Each SMS campaign hypothetically grows by the same new subscribers each month, yet one campaign was allowed to import mobile phone numbers at the beginning, while the other had to start at zero.

While the above graph is interesting, what’s more interesting is the difference in revenues the two SMS campaigns generate for the SMS provider. After two years, the SMS campaign that was allowed to import five hundred mobile phone numbers at the beginning, would generate nearly three times the revenue for the SMS provider as the campaign that started out at zero mobile phone numbers.

With three times the revenue per SMS campaign, saying this practice is lucrative for SMS providers is an understatement. What’s unfortunate about this situation is that these SMS providers are driven by short-term profits, and ignoring the long term effects this practice will have on our industry. Really though, when in history have businesses worried about the future, when a fortune can be made in the present?

The post It’s All About The Benjamins appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is the weekly guest series by Derek Johnson, Founder & CEO of mobile marketing company Tatango. You can text him at (206) 334-4012 or email him at derek@tatango.com.

When I first saw the title of the press release last Thursday, “Augme Technologies Enters Into Agreement to Purchase Assets of Mobile Marketing Pioneer JAGTAG“, the first thought through my head was WTF?

A little background on what JAGTAG does, for you that aren’t familiar. JAGTAG believes that “no one should feel left out”, which is why they developed a mobile barcode that could be used by any mobile phone. More specifically though, they developed a technology that would allow any feature phone, (a modern low-end mobile phone that is not a smartphone) which represents 70% of U.S. mobile phones, to interact with mobile barcodes.

How did this work? A consumer would take a picture of a special JAGTAG mobile barcode on their phone, then if they were on the Verizon or AT&T network, they would MMS the picture to the short code 524824. If the consumer was on one of the other 178 wireless networks in the U.S., they would text or email the picture to an email address specific to the campaign, like contest@jagtag.com. If this sounds confusing, you aren’t alone. For a funny read, check out the post by my friends at Mobile Marketing Fail about their experience with a JAGTAG.

So why my WTF response after hearing of the JAGTAG acquisition? Two reasons.

1. The JAGTAG technology will be obsolete very soon. Yes, I realize that currently their technology allows that 70% of the market to interact with mobile barcodes, but times are changing, and fast. With 70% of all new phone purchases being smartphones with the ability to scan mobile barcodes without the JAGTAG software, it will only be a short matter of time until the JAGTAG technology will be rendered obsolete. When I heard about the acquisition of JAGTAG, with their technology that is becoming more ancient every day, you can see why my WTF response was justified.

2. The sale price math didn’t add up to a success for JAGTAG. According to the company’s form D filing, they raised a round of equity financing in late 2009 to the tune of $3,628,372. This most likely was an Angel round as there was no VC associated with the deal and their form D filing identifies 30 different investors participating in the round. For hypothetical sake, lets investors bought 20% equity in JAGTAG for their investment of 3.6M. That means JAGTAG’s pre-money valuation would have been just north of $18M in 2009. With Augme acquiring JAGTAG for $5.25M, that means that JAGTAG had lost over two thirds of it’s value in the last couple of years, prompting another WTF moment from myself. These numbers to me represent that JAGTAG management saw the coming trends and the future of their product, or lack their of, and decided to abandon ship before it actually sank.

So why did Augme acquire JAGTAG? Two reasons in my opinion.

1. Talent – It’s reported that JAGTAG’s CEO will become the chief financial officer of Augme, and all employees will be hired by Augme. This deal will add a considerable amount of value to Augme, as JAGTAG looked to have a significant amount of talent in both sales and mobile at the time of acquisition.

2. Clients – JAGTAG has an extremely impressive client base including well know brands such as 20th Century Fox, Dell, Unilever, Pepsi, IBM, Sybase, T.G.I. Friday’s, Nine West and LG. These brands coupled with Augme’s mobile offering will add significant value to Augme’s stock.

It’s pretty clear to me that Augme didn’t acquire JAGTAG for their technology, and I would wager that after the completion of the acquisition, we can officially say goodbye to the JAGTAG.

If not for the acquisition, would JAGTAG have become another drop in the mobile deadpool? What do you think?

The post JAGTAG Acquisition WTF? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

I spend  a lot of time with clients at Tatango helping them come up with the perfect SMS keyword for their campaign. When discussing options with a client, we go through the basics that everyone in the industry knows when picking an SMS keyword.

• Keep it short – Too long of an SMS keyword and potential subscribers will avoid your campaign like the plague.
• Avoid special characters – It’s a pain in the ass to tab from letters to numbers/symbols on any mobile phone.
• Make it memorable – Sometimes potential subscribers only are able to give an SMS keyword a few glances, make sure it sticks in their head when they look down at their mobile phone.
• Avoid using multiple words –  A lot of SMS providers aren’t as baller as we are at Tatango and won’t be able to tell that the SMS keyword “PIZZA DEALS with a space is the same as “PIZZADEALS” without a space.

Are you ready for the top secret tip to picking SMS keywords? Are you really ready? This is some shit that has never been talked about before and will change the way you look at every SMS keyword from now on. Ok you’re ready, so here is the top secret tip to picking SMS keywords:

PLAN FOR THE AUTO CORRECT!

That’s right, I’m talking about the same auto correct that has given us the gem of a website in Damn You Auto Correct. If you want a laugh, check out the top 15 auto correct mistakes, but as you pee your pants, think about how easily people let auto correct land them in some of life’s most awkward situations. Now think about your SMS campaign, could an auto correct failure happen just as easily? The answer is yes, most certainly. When an auto correct failure happens between two people it’s usually something that can be fixed with a simple explanation. Unfortunately though, when an auto correct failure happens while a customer is trying to opt-in to an SMS campaign, it can easily result in a lost subscriber.

For example, take the following SMS campaign that is using the SMS keyword “FROYO”.

Looks like a good SMS keyword right? Not really if you factor in auto correct. Check out what my iPhone below auto corrects the SMS keyword “FROYO” to. If a subscriber isn’t careful they will be texting “GROUP” to the SMS short code 86677 and this yogurt shop will be losing a potential SMS subscriber. So what the heck can you do to take into account the auto correct factor when selecting an SMS keyword?

There are four things I do when planning for the auto correct when selecting an SMS keyword.

1. Test different operating systems – Any SMS provider worth their weight should have multiple mobile phones, with multiple operating systems to test the chance of auto correct with SMS keywords.
2. Append a number – I know above I said to avoid SMS keywords with a number appended to the end, but usually a number added to the end of an SMS keyword will stop the auto correct.
3. Claim the auto correct SMS keyword – If you can’t live without a certain SMS keyword, make sure to claim the different versions of auto corrects.
4. Change your SMS keyword – Sometimes instead of appending a number to the SMS keyword or claiming all the different variations of that SMS keyword, it’s just easier to pick one that doesn’t auto correct. As a rule of thumb, most words in the dictionary don’t auto correct, but I’m still surprised when I find words that defy that logic. Remember to always test, especially when it comes to auto correct.

The post Top Secret Tip To Picking SMS Keywords appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

I feel like all of my efforts to curb text message spam within the text message marketing industry aren’t making any progress. I’ve done a post about how text message spam will be the death of text message marketing and written an open letter to the Mobile Marketing Association. Recently I went so far as to commission my own text message spam report to show the industry how big of a problem we have on our hands. The report will come out in early August and without giving too much away, our findings show that text message spam is more than a problem, it’s a pandemic. Even with all of these things I’ve done, it seems like the majority of text message providers don’t give a crap as they continue to engage in shady, borderline illegal activities without any regard to consumers, the industry or the rules put in place by the mobile phone providers.

So instead of continuing to fight what I now see as a losing battle, the next best thing is to empower the consumer and teach them how to fight off text message spam individually. Here are my 6 steps on how to stop unwanted text messages.

Quick Note: The steps below are meant for short code text message spam, which comes from a 5-6 digit phone number. If you’ve received text message spam from a 10 digit phone number (which are sometimes called long codes or long numbers) or a phone number that looks like an email – 2063344012@att.com (which is called SMTP messaging), I’ll be honest, you’re kind of screwed. These types of  text message campaigns aren’t approved by the mobile phone providers and aren’t held to the same standards as short codes are. If you do receive a text message spam from a long code, skip to steps #5 & #6.

Step #1 – Opt-Out

If the short code provider is following all of the rules, opting out of a text messaging campaign should be pretty simple. All you have to do is reply to text message spam with any of the words STOP, END, QUIT or UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the text message. You will know if it works because you should receive a text message back to your mobile phone confirming that you have successfully opted-out of that text message campaign. If one of the words doesn’t work, I would try the others just in case. If this doesn’t work, move on to step #2.

Step #2 – Help Command

Similar to step #1, reply to any text message spam with the word HELP in the body of the text message. If the short code provider is following all of the rules, you will get a message back with information about the short code provider, such as a toll free support phone number, email address and a website. Use that information to contact the text message spammer and tell them to stop. If you don’t get anything back after replying HELP, move onto step #3.

Step #3 – Identify The Sender

Look for any unique identifiers in the text message campaign to help you figure out who is behind the text message spam. Look for things like a phone number, an address, a business name, etc. If you’re able to find any of these within the text message spam, contact the offender and tell them to stop blowing up your mobile phone with text message spam. If you can’t find any of this information within the text message, move onto step #4.

Step #4 – Identify the Short Code Provider

If you are unable to identify the sender of the text message spam, you need to move up the SMS totem pole. You will now need to figure out which short code provider the sender is using to spam you. There are two methods that work really well, which are explained below. Once you find the short code provider, contact them and tell them you’re fed up and want to be removed from all text message campaigns.

Google Method – Use Google and the following search terms with the offending short code number in place of [short code number]. This should point you to the short code provider’s website where you can find contact information.

• [short code number]
• Text [short code number]
• Short code [short code number]
• SMS [short code number]
• Stop to [short code number]
• Help to [short code number]
• SMS marketing [short code number]
• Text message marketing [short code number]

SMS Directory Method – You can search for the short code at the U.S. Short Code Directory, which may have information such as the brand running the text messaging program, and their support contact information.

Step #5 – Call Your Mobile Phone Provider

If you can’t find any information online about the sender or short code provider that is spamming you, now it’s time to call your mobile phone provider. When you call them, be sure to have the short code number and when you received the text message spam handy. Usually mobile phone providers can help resolve text message spam issues, or at the very least give you the information you need to stop receiving the spam. Below are the support lines for the top 10 mobile phone providers in the United States. I tested them personally and they all work, so as of July 20, 2011 these are accurate.

• Verizon –  (800) 922-0204
• AT&T – (800) 331-0500
• Sprint/Nextel – (800) 639-6111
• T-Mobile – (800) 937-8997
• Tracfone – (800) 323-2366
• MetroPCS – (888) 863-8768
• Clearwire – (888) 253-2794
• U.S. Cellular – (888) 944-9400
• Cricket – (866) 384-4425
• Simple Mobile – (877) 878-7908

Step #6 – Call Your Attorney

I’m completely serious on this one. If you arrive at this step without a resolution to your text message spam issue, it’s now time to teach the spammers a lesson, and the only way to do this is to hit them where it hurts; inside their wallets. With past multi-million dollar text message spam lawsuits, you can be sure to find an attorney very quickly that will fight for your case.

The post How To Stop Unwanted Text Messages appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

With the explosion of the mobile internet over the last few years, I regulary get asked if clients running SMS campaigns can place a URL within a message to their SMS subscribers. This URL usually points to a mobile enabled website, mobile video, or to a social networking profile on sites such as Facebook or Twitter. I tell customers there is no problem, but I always give them the following warning. A high percentage of SMS subscribers will not be able to access the URL on their mobile device as they’re not web enabled.

How high of a percentage you ask? Recently we did a case study with one of our clients that looks at the open rates of SMS campaigns with web links and found that only 26% of subscribers opened the URL on their mobile device. This matches up with the comScore 2010 Mobile Report, which shows that only 25% of the mobile phone-owning population has a smartphone (in the U.S.).

One question that I never hear clients ask is if they can place a phone number within an SMS campaign. In theory, placing a phone number into an SMS message allows the recipient to easily click-to-call directly from the received message. But to be completely honest, I wasn’t really promoting this tactic, until one political SMS campaign opened my eyes to the power of a phone number inside an SMS campaign.

It was late November 2009 when Tatango started working with Scott Brown, who at the time was a little known political candidate for the Massachusetts Senate seat. After creating his SMS campaign, supporters quickly opted-in, and within a month he had thousands of SMS subscribers. Then Scott Brown sent one text message that opened my eyes to the power of click-to-call phone numbers in SMS campaigns. The message received by all of his supporters is embedded below. FYI – Martha Coakley was running against Scott Brown in the election.

With the average text message being opened within four minutes of being received, it was no surprise that the radio station reported that 90% of all callers into that show were Scott Brown supporters. This one text message proved without a doubt that using click-to-call phone numbers within an SMS campaign message was not only doable, but it also produces tangible results. Such good results that Scott Brown went on to win the election, beating his opponent Martha Coakley.

While not everyone using SMS marketing is running a political campaign, I still see big benefits for all types of businesses in using click-to-call phone numbers within an SMS campaign message. Below are some of the ideas I have for other types of SMS campaigns to utilize click-to-call in their messages.

Salons/Spas – “Make an appointment by the end of the day today and receive 20% any services. Call (206) 334-4012 and mention this text message. EXP 1/1/12”

Restaurants – “Too busy to cook tonight? Call us (206) 334-4012 and mention this text message to receive 15% off any take-out order. EXP 1/1/12”

Entertainment – “Tickets are now on sale for Dane Cook LIVE, call (206) 334-4012 immediately as there are only 200 available. Will go fast!”

Conferences – “New rooms have just opened up at the Hilton across the street. Call Now to make a reservation (206) 334-4012 and mention the discount code: MXY for complementary breakfast.”

Retail  – “We just received a case of 1787 Chateau Lafite Bordeaux wine, very rare. Call us now to reserve a bottle for your private collection (206) 334-4012”

What do you think about using phone numbers within an SMS campaign message? Do you have any examples of successful campaigns this has worked on? Any failures?

—————————————————

Scott Brown’s team did an amazing job with their SMS campaign during the election. For a quick video case study to see examples of other SMS messages they used during the election and the results, see the video below.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RraRmPtjSE8[/youtube]

The post Political SMS Campaign Teaches New Dog, Old Trick appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

At Tatango we use the Mobile Marketing Association’s (MMA) U.S. Consumer Best Practices as any Christian would use the bible. This document guides every company’s decision in the world of mobile marketing and is looked to daily for both insight and resolution.

Have you ever read the full 165 pages of the MMA U.S. Consumer Best Practices? If you haven’t, you can download it here. Fair warning though, it reads like a technical manual so I would start off with a Red Bull before taking the plunge. Like any good technical manual, this document is extremely cut and dry, as it should be to protect consumers in what some are still calling the “wild west” of mobile marketing.Like the Christian Bible, there are parts of the MMA U.S. Consumer Best Practices that at times can be confusing to one that studies it as intimately as I have. Unlike the Christian Bible though, the authors are still alive and that’s why I write this open letter to you at the Mobile Marketing Association, to ask for a revision of this document.

Dear MMA,

Why do I ask for a revision of your best practices? In section 1.5-5 of the document you state:

“Subscriber may initiate opt-in from a paper-based consent form.”

In plain english, this means a customer can ask to receive SMS messages from a business by writing their mobile phone number down on some sort of paper form. The problem though is that in section 1.5-3 you state:

“When opt-in occurs via the web or other non-mobile point of origination, the content provider must obtain verification that the subscriber is in possession of the handset being opted-in to the service.”

In plain english, the business has to confirm that that the customer is writing down their own mobile phone number, not the mobile phone number of a friend, relative or a random combination of 7 digits. When trying to apply this to a paper-based consent form, I would have to quote the French: c’est impossible!

This verification process is possible with both a Web and mobile originated opt-in, but not with a paper-based consent form. With an opt-in from a web interface you recommend a “PIN code” be sent to the subscribers mobile phone, which then is entered back into the web interface to confirm possession of that mobile phone. With a mobile originated opt-in (i.e. Text PIZZA to the short code 68398) the mobile originated message itself verifies mobile phone possession. As I see it, there is no possible way to obtain verification that the subscriber is in possession of the handset when opting into an SMS campaign from a paper-based consent form.

My solution, the phrase “Subscriber may initiate opt-in from a paper-based consent form” must be permanently removed from the Mobile Marketing Association U.S. Consumer Best Practices. By removing this phrase, you are not only making your document clearer to understand and implement, you will also be eliminating the majority of SMS spam. Without paper-based consent forms, SMS providers will no longer be able to use this loophole to justify letting their clients directly import mobile phone numbers into an SMS campaign. Once revised, all SMS providers will be required to use either a web interface or mobile originated opt-in, thus preventing the death of SMS marketing.

Sincerely,

Derek Johnson, Founder & CEO of Tatango.com

The post Open Letter To The Mobile Marketing Association appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.