Creating a SMS Opt-In Contact List

The one question that is asked repeatedly from businesses who wish to send SMS but are understandably uncertain of the proper and legal way to go about it is how to build a contact list.

You cannot broadcast messages to mobile numbers that are randomly gathered, for example from customer lists, old databases, numbers recorded in spreadsheets etc. The customers have to expressly request to be included in the list, hence the word ‘opt-in’. So how do you do this?

The first avenue is advertising with an incentive. You need to be able to offer an incentive to the prospective customers for them to actively want to sign up; some of these incentives could be:

• Receive discount offers that are not available to standard customers
• Be invited to special promotions or exclusive events
• Receive sale offers one day before sales actually begin
• Receive sms-coupon to receive free product; such as free scone with purchased coffee by presenting the message at the cashier counter

The second avenue is running instore promotions. This is where people actually fill out a form within your business, stating that they wish to receive SMS alerts when entering for a prize draw (for example); this could be anything from a hamper to a voucher (for instance).

The third avenue is gathering contacts via online sales; on the purchasing web form itself, have an option where people can actively tick a box to be included in future SMS broadcasts.

To  spread the word and run an effective gathering campaign, advertising and promotions can be done through traditional means such as application forms, flyers, newspapers, leaflets but increasingly it has extended into social media platforms such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Another platform is your own website ( a sign-up location section) or indeed advertising on websites of your target demographic.

Once you have your opt-in list created, you must always be aware that anybody should be easily able to opt-out, or leave, the list at any time in as simple a process as possible. Whether they reply “Stop” to your message, email you, ring your employees, fill out a form on your website. It must be a fluid and intuitive process; “STOP” mobile sender reply is usually the easiest and most standard method but you would need to discuss this with your gateway provider.

Creating SMS Opt-In List