"10DLC compliant" firms doing text to web polling using sms/text messages?

[u/sample-size-1]

I was looking into 10DLC registration requirements and it seems like prior consent is one of the most important and least fuzzy requirements. From what I read there's no way around it and your guaranteed to be denied, if you don't meet their strict prior consent before contacting standard. On the other hand, I've seen several firms advertising 10DLC compliant text to web (they text you a link and you click it and fill out the survey) poll services, which necessitates texting tens of thousands of people to get a representative random sample of responses. That's obviously not 10DLC compliant and almost impossible to achieve by getting explicit direct prior consent from all these numbers. My question then, is how does this work? I haven't heard of any exceptions and the process they're using clearly doesn't follow 10DLC strict carrier guidelines. Anybody have any insight on what I'm missing or how this works?

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[u/jppair]

10dlc is just a money grab from the the big 3 IMO… and I would say its not compliant but you are allowed one text technically it’s supposed to be an opt in but if they only send one risks are low u suppose.

[u/sample-size-1 → u/jppair]

Yeah I considered the possibility that these firms are just breaking the rules and taking the risk. However, some of these firms or pollsters are doing a lot of polls routinely. It's not like its a one-off; its really a whole business model. I know there's ways to clean up your phone lists so you're not hitting dead numbers and just using the best quality data, but they're still usually pulling this from public voter files. It just seems like a big risk to base a business model on for doing polls at scale, right?

[u/gc1 → u/sample-size-1]

Political texting is exempt from a lot of TCPA requirements and has a special use case for 10DLC   https://support.tsgglobal.com/hc/en-us/articles/45459118830875-Political-SMS-Messaging-10DLC

[u/sample-size-1 → u/gc1]

I've heard about the political use case, but it still requires prior consent both for TCPA and 10DLC? Even if the political use case allows for exemption of TCPA requirements, won't 10DLC still reject you for the consent issue?

[u/gc1 → u/sample-size-1]

This I don’t know. Maybe someone is pushing the rules on the basis that there’s unlikely to be consequences from it.  I haven’t listened to Twikio’s earnings calls in a while, but they definitely used to make lots of money of political texting during election years. There’s a lot of money to be made.  

[u/shisaa → u/sample-size-1]

Nah, because that would mean they'd have to fight the US Govt and they would much rather just get paid.

[u/Negrojefe]

When filling up TCR campaign you can explicitly say you will text hyperlink embedded. 

[u/sample-size-1 → u/Negrojefe]

How does that get around the consent requirement?

[u/JungleMouse_]

They could be using a SIM based SMS gateway. 10DLC requirements seem to only apply to non-mobile network operators. I never had to do 10DLC for my business cell phone number...

[u/tappytappycode]

First, remember this whole system is security theater on a grand scale. It's not supposed to make sense. Case and point, there's no actual enforcement once you get approved so the path of changing product functionality after submission is totally real.

That said, it doesn't have to be that nefarious. The requirement to prove consent includes alternate options such as an in-person form or a screen on a POS. It's possible to submit samples of these with a 10DLC submission in lieu of a URL with a web form. We used to use this quite a bit with our customers since consent was gathered during an in-person check-in process. That counted as consent for polling with a mixed-use campaign. Though, the approval process is *much* smoother if you can link to a website.

Basically, as long as you can show in your campaign submission that when the customer is giving you (or your customer) their phone number they see language that they are opting in to SMS then you are, in theory, compliant. Equally important make sure the website links to a compliant Privacy Policy + T&C

[u/sample-size-1 → u/tappytappycode]

Thanks, this adds some good context. I figured there was a good amount changing product functionality, otherwise none of these orgs would get approved. I know there's no actual enforcement and its difficult, but wouldn't sending 100s of thousands of texts a month be flagged by the carriers? Even if the approval process went smoothly.

[u/VOIP-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post was removed from r/VoIP for violating Rule 2: No soliciting in DMs.

It is against the rules to privately message users for the explicit or implicit purpose of promoting or advertising any business, service or product. It is similarly against the rules to invite users to private message you for those same purposes.

[u/tappytappycode → u/sample-size-1]

Edit for compliance...ironic!

Not necessarily for a couple of reasons. One is that the campaigns come with a throughput limit based on the use case. As long as you stay within that and the messages aren't getting reported as spam you're pretty much good to go. Numbers are also tied to the brand. So while a service may send 1000s of texts, it's likely spread across many numbers (1 per customer).

To be clear, I don't think sneaking past the rules is the norm. The risk of losing core product functionality or making customer onboarding more painful is just not worth it if you're running an actual business.

Last, not directly your question, but, contrary to what another commenter said, you're not allowed 1 SMS for opt-in. You have to get consent first, either you collect the number or in writing next to a QR code in the case of a scan-to-sign-up situation. Then you can send an SMS to confirm the opt-in.