Updated August 11, 2014

 

The iViP Instant Messaging Service is a powerful communication tool allowing you to get your messages out to anyone in your Phonebook quickly and effortlessly.  Although the primary purpose of the iViP Text Messenger is for 2-way chat-like communication between a service representative and their mobile customers, it also can be used to contact a specific group of customers with the same message. For instance, if a warranty or service subscription is about to expire for a group of customers, you can remind those customers that their coverage period is going to end and make an offer to renew their contract.  Or if a group of customers on a wait list have asked to be notified when a certain product is available, then you can quickly alert them via text when the item is back in stock.  Or at the end of the day when a car dealership has completed repairs on all the cars in their shop, the service worker can quickly notify the car owners by sending just one group text. 

 

THE LAW

 

Before using the iViP Messenger to communicate with specific groups of contacts in your Phonebook, there are a few rules that must be followed in order to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 - (PDF permalink).  Under the "Application to Wireless" section on the 2nd to last page, it states the following:

 

(1)  Mobile subscribers are not to receive mobile service commercial messages unless the subscriber has provided express prior authorization to the sender, and

(2)  Any recipients of mobile service commercial messages must have the option to indicate electronically a desire not to receive future mobile service commercial messages from the sender.

(3)  Mobile service commercial messages are excepted to paragraph (1) if there is a relationship* that exists between providers of such services and their subscribers.  The rules shall require such providers to allow subscribers to indicate a desire not to receive future mobile service commercial messages from the provider at the time of subscribing to such service.

 

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (first 2 pages) states a similar rule:

1)  PROHIBITIONS: It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States

A)  to make any call (other than a call made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system

B)  to initiate any telephone call to any residential telephone line to deliver a pre-recorded message without the prior express consent of the called party

C)  to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to another telephone facsimile machine

UNLESS:

(i)  the unsolicited telephone advertisement is from a sender with an established business relationship* with the recipient.

4)  The term unsolicited telephone advertisement means the initiation of a telephone call or message for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services, which is transmitted to any person, excluding

A)  any person that has given their prior express invitation or permission, and

B)  any person with whom the caller has an established business relationship.*

 

* DEFINITION OF AN ESTABLISHED BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

 

The FCC permits companies to contact their active customers for up to 18 months (section 10) from the date of the customer’s last purchase, rental or lease of the company’s goods or services, or a financial transaction between the customer and the company.  You are allowed to initiate one outbound call or text to a customer that has an Established Business Relationship (page 7) with your company, defined as engaging in a payment, sales transaction or shipment sometime in the past 18 months.  When composing this first unsolicited outbound text, you must give them the option to Unsubscribe from the service by including the phrase "Reply STOP to end."

 

You can read more about these laws here:

Spam: Unwanted Text Messages and Email on Mobile Devices  and  Unwanted Telephone Marketing Calls.

 

HOW THE LAW APPLIES TO YOU

 

1)  You may not add or import random Mobile #'s that you find somewhere (like on a purchased marketing list) into the Phonebook on your iViP Mobile account.

2)  You may not send texts that are "unsolicited telephone advertisements." This means asking people you do not know (who have never made a purchase from you) to buy something or visit your place of business.

3)  You may only import contact Mobile #'s that you have a prior, established business relationship* with - which means they have purchased a product or service from you before or have given you their mobile # in order to receive future communications from you.

4)  Whenever you send a text to multiple contacts at the same time (called a "Group Send"), you must:

A)  Identify your company (and also yourself) so that your existing customers will easily recognize who the text is from

B)  Conclude your text with the phrase "Reply STOP to end" - this opt-out phrase is required by law, especially when contacting your customers through iViP Mobile for the first time.  If your customers do reply with "STOP" or any related phrase, they will be automatically deleted (Unsubscribed) from your Phonebook.

5)  Make Proper Introductions First:  Always use the [1st] or [Full] Name Merge Field buttons so that each contact's first (or first & last) name will be merged into the outbound text.  This will make your text more personal, like it was specifically sent from you to your customer.

6)  Some organizations may want to encourage their active customers to contact them from now on via text.  If you would like to use the Messenger as your preferred business communication tool, then include this suggestion in your first introductory text.  Tell your customers that they can use this convenient number from now on to text in their order, schedule service, confirm appointments, or simply ask a customer service question.

7)  SPAM (sending unsolicited messages to people you don't know) is illegal. Attempting to send messages to people who have asked to be removed (have electronically unsubscribed) from iViP's texting service is also illegal.

 

CONSEQUENCES FOR VIOLATING THESE RULES:

 

1)  If iViP Mobile discovers that you are using the Instant Messenger to spam random Mobile #'s (or your own customers) with unsolicited texts, your account will be immediately turned off.

2)  Automated filters will detect replies from unhappy recipients of unwanted texts. Safeguards will automatically Unsubscribe these contacts from your Phonebook. If you re-enable contacts that have previously Unsubscribed, this will also result in account termination.

3)  If several of your contacts start ‘Unsubscribing’ themselves from your company Phonebook (by replying with an X, Quit, Stop, End, etc.) in a short period of time, this will trigger an immediate account suspension. We will then investigate why so many of your contacts were electing to ‘Opt Out’ of your Phonebook. Because of these built-in safeguards, the Messenger should not be used to initiate ‘first contact’ with potential sales prospects.

4)  iViP Mobile thoroughly screens our clients before giving them access to the Instant Messenger, assuring their intended use falls within these guidelines. Businesses will quickly discover that their customers will be happier if they receive personal, meaningful, one-to-one texts; and conversely, customers will complain loudly if they receive impersonal, promotion-only, meaningless texts.

5)  Lawsuits are often filed against companies or individuals who send unsolicited text messages to someone's private mobile device. The current legal rate for settling these lawsuits is $500 per spam text. There are cases on record where judgments of up to $47 million dollars have been won. You can Google lawsuits for marketing unsolicited texts to see for yourself!