At gBlast, we take permission very seriously. By creating an account and agreeing to our Terms of Use, you are also agreeing to this anti-spam policy.
The law isn’t enough, it’s permission that counts
While the CAN-SPAM laws are a step in the right direction for reducing the spam problem, we don’t feel they go far enough. Our definition of spam goes beyond the laws in most countries and encompasses what we believe to be true permission SMS marketing.
Spam is any SMS you send to someone who hasn’t given you their direct permission to contact them.
But that’s not enough. Permission is a fuzzy word open to interpretation. Let’s get into some specific scenarios so it’s clear what does and doesn’t constitute permission.
What kind of phone numbers are OK to send to with gBlast?
To send an SMS to anyone using gBlast, you must have clearly obtained their permission. This could be done through:
- A subscribe form on your web site.
- An opt-in checkbox on a form. This checkbox must not be checked by default, the person completing the form must willingly select the checkbox to indicate they want to hear from you.
- If someone completes an offline form like a survey or enters a competition, you can only contact them if it was explained to them that you would be contacting them by SMS AND they ticked a box indicating they would like you to contact them.
- Customers who have purchased from you within the last 3 years.
- If someone gives you their business card and you have explicitly asked for permission to add them to your list, you can contact them. If they dropped their business card in a fishbowl at a trade show, there must be a sign indicating they will be contacted by SMS about that specific topic.
Basically, you can only ever use gBlast to contact anyone who has clearly given you permission to SMS them specifically about the subject you’re contacting them about.
What kind of phone numbers ARE NOT OK to send to with gBlast?
Anything outside the examples above doesn’t equal permission in our eyes, but here are some examples to make sure we’re crystal clear. By using gBlast, you agree not to import or send to any phone number which:
- You do not have explicit, provable permission to contact in relation to the topic of the message you’re sending.
- You bought, loaned, rented or in any way acquired from a third party, no matter what they claim about quality or permission. You need to obtain permission yourself.
- You haven’t contacted in the last 3 years. Permission doesn’t age well and these people have either changed phone number or won’t remember giving their permission in the first place.
- You scraped or copy and pasted from the web. Just because people publish their number doesn’t mean they want to hear from you.
Sure, some of these people might have given you their phone number, but what’s missing is your permission to send them commercial messages. Blasting promotional messages to any of these people won’t be effective and will just serve to increase your costs and reduce the effectiveness of your campaigns.
What content MUST I include in my messages?
Every SMS you send using gBlast must include the following:
- 1. Clear Opt-Out intrusctions that when followed instantly removes the subscriber from your list. Once they unsubscribe, you can ONLY message them again if they re-subscribe to one of YOUR lists.
- 2. an ADV tag at the beginning of the message, this step is not necessary if the message is used for internal corporate communications.
How we’ll know if you don’t have permission
gBlast has numerous layers of approval and monitoring to ensure you comply with our anti-spam policy. Here’s a few of them:
1. Until your account has been approved by a member of our team, every SMS you send will need to be approved.
- 2. All complaints received about campaigns are logged against relevant campaigns. If a campaign run by you achieves a complaint rate of higher than 2%, it is automatically brought to our attention for investigation.
- 3. Our team verifies all large lists imported into our software. Until we’ve given it the all clear, you can’t send to it.
- 4. We monitor blacklists and our abuse accounts all day every day. We can pinpoint who is causing us delivery problems or attracting complaints very easily.
If we do discover that you’re text messaging people without their permission, we will terminate your account with gBlast immediately.
In the end, it’s really common sense. Take off your marketing hat and put yourself in your recipient’s shoes. If they don’t recognize who you are or aren’t interested in what you’re sending, they’ll think you’re a spammer. It’s that simple.
If you have any questions about our Anti-Spam Policy, or if you want to report spamming activity by one of our customers, please contact our abuse department at:
Postal Address
gBlast
41B Neil Road
Singapore
088824
Telephone
+65 6222 0350
Fax
+65 6222 0351
Email
abuse@gblast.com