Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

With the use of social media and text messaging, many people live in a real-time updates world. Consumers can shop from social media platforms, make purchases, and receive text message updates without having to change platforms or devices. In this interconnected environment, ethics is more important than ever. With an understanding of ethical considerations and best practices, marketing professionals can ensure that text message marketing remains respectful, useful, and legal. 

 

Why Does SMS Text Marketing Require Ethics? 

As a highly convenient form of communication, text messaging provides a viable way for companies to market their services directly to customers. Consumer Affairs reported that 98% of Americans own a mobile phone, and about 90% own a smartphone. Being able to access customers anytime creates new opportunities to track views, engagement, conversions, and other KPIs in social media marketing. 

With this level of accessibility, marketing professionals need to maintain ethical standards for communication using these increasingly popular options. Without this consideration, companies may tread into abusive practices that harm their customers and their branding. 

 

What Are Common Ethical Considerations in Text Message Marketing? 

Decades ago, businesses marketed products or services without much consideration for how their tactics might affect the consumer. Outside of legal guidelines that companies have to follow, ethical standards provide a framework for organizations to provide meaningful information to customers. Common ethical considerations in text message marketing include: 

• Consent to receive communications 

• Honesty in marketing 

• Transparency in data collection and usage 

• Value prospect to customers 

In short, ethics offers a pathway to direct marketing without running over customers’ preferences or inundating them with junk. 

 

Best Practices for SMS Marketing 

Get consent 

To start sending text marketing messages, companies should gain approval from the customer to receive these messages. Consent is largely a legal consideration, but businesses should consider ethics as well. It’s not always true that many people have unlimited free texting as part of their mobile phone plans. Extra charges can be a hardship for some consumers. Additionally, certain people simply do not want to receive messages. 

Set clear terms 

In the original agreement, businesses should set clear terms about the purpose of messaging and the extent of usage. Important factors include: 

• Frequency and timing of messages 

• General content of messages, such as promotional content or order status information 

• Data collection practices 

• Data usage practices 

Being honest about these practices may also be a legal requirement, but companies can improve brand trust by looking at transparency as a decent way of doing business. 

Maintain systems to opt out 

People sometimes change their minds about messaging preferences, and the opt-out process should be clear and respectful. Best practices for opt-out strategies allow customers to opt out through the messaging platform or through their customer profiles. When consumers choose to opt out of messaging, that request should be honored as quickly as possible. Continuing to message recipients who have requested communications to stop may lead to legal challenges.

Respect recipient needs 

Treating every messaging recipient as a potential long-term customer may help companies to see them as people with unique needs that deserve respect. People often don’t want to feel bombarded with text messages while they are sleeping. They may grow irritated with content that feels aggressive or vaguely dishonest about promotions. In general, businesses should aim to provide clear, useful content that avoids constant repetition, clickbait, or obvious spam. 

Keep branding consistent 

Although text messaging can be more casual than other marketing channels, businesses should work to streamline branding to include this one. Customers pay attention to branding, especially when it seems to conflict with the company’s social media, websites, or stores. The organization’s name should be clearly identified in the text, with a voice that feels consistent with existing brand strategies. 

Integrate with social media 

Although text messages are a completely separate platform, interconnectedness can provide unique opportunities for both companies and customers. People spend about 2.5 hours on social media every day, often while on their phones. Integrating messaging with social media can simplify the ways that prospective customers get useful information about the business, sign up for more information, or get alerts about a purchase. 

Improve user experience 

Even the best marketing strategy could use improvement, which companies can achieve by focusing on the user experience. Text messaging can be a big part of customers’ engagement with a business, and they often have practical feedback. Asking recipients about their experience with the company’s text messaging can highlight problems or offer new ways to look at the value prospect. 

Building a viable marketing campaign using text messaging requires a careful consideration of ethics. By factoring responsible practices in the content, timing, and frequency of text message communications, companies can ensure that they meet customers’ needs and maintain their branding. 

 

Author bio:

Andrew Davis is the Vice President of Marketing at TextUs, a SaaS-based texting platform. He leads demand generation, marketing operations, and brand strategy, driving growth through data-driven marketing and inbound strategies.