SMS (Short Message Service) campaigns are a popular marketing strategy used by businesses to reach out to their customers through text messaging.  SMS has one of the highest points of contact for any communication service with a 98% open rate and a 90% read rate within the first three minutes. This makes SMS a smart move for any business.

Guidelines for SMS campaigns are important for several reasons:

1. Compliance: SMS campaigns are subject to legal regulations such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Following the guidelines ensures that the campaign is compliant with these regulations, avoiding any potential legal consequences.

2. Optimal messaging: Guidelines help businesses ensure that their SMS messages are effective in engaging their target audience. These guidelines often provide best practices for crafting concise and engaging messages that are more likely to resonate with the audience.

3. Customer experience: SMS campaigns can be intrusive and annoying if not done correctly. Guidelines help businesses avoid overwhelming customers with too many messages or irrelevant content, and instead provide value to the customer by sending relevant, timely, and personalized messages.

4. Reputation management: SMS campaigns can have a significant impact on a business's reputation. By following guidelines, businesses can avoid negative feedback and maintain a positive relationship with their customers.

Overall, following SMS campaign guidelines is crucial for businesses to run effective and compliant campaigns that provide value to customers, protect their reputation, and ultimately drive business growth.

1. Is the Call to Action (CTA) precise?– This is how somebody signs up for a campaign. Did a customer sign up online for more info, did they sign up at a car dealership for a free hot dog?

2. Is there an Opt-out message? – Simple, we need a text of the OPT OUT message for each campaign.

3. Is there any SHAFT-C content? – NO Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, and/or Tobacco/Cannabis can be listed on the business website. For example, if you’re a doctor and sell CBD cream, you will be denied.

4. Does the business have a website and/or online presence?– Every business that uses SMS needs to have a decent website.  The lack of a website is instant denial.

5. Content attributes – if you select "no" for the embedded link, you can’t go back and change it. This needs to be perfect on the first approval.

6. Sole Proprietor Campaign - If you waste time on a campaign that does not fit any of these guidelines you will be hit with a $15 one-time fee for wasting everybody’s time.