The following is a guest contributed post from Todd Bryant, the president and founder of Bryant Surety Bonds.

Recently, the telemarketing industry has been falling under tighter regulations. Just last year the FCC gave robocall-blocking technology the green light in an effort to protect consumers from unwanted phone calls.

This year, it’s the FTC that has proposed new regulatory rules in the forms of amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). The majority of these amendments have been in effect since Feb. 12 2016, so it’s important for telemarketers to know them in detail. Failure to comply with them can trigger a claim against their telemarketing bond, as well as other punitive action. So what should telemarketers be careful about?

#1 Making or Accepting Remote Payment Orders

Effective June 13, telemarketers will not be allowed to receive remote payment orders, whether inbound or outbound. This is an attempt at cutting a fraudulent practice where a telemarketer can debit funds from a client’s bank account for a sum larger than the payor agreed upon. Experience shows that payments like this are then harder to reverse by the bank, leaving numerous consumers disgruntled.

Of course, many telemarketers use remote payment orders just out for convenience, but this would no longer be possible. Even if a payor agrees that you generate a payment order with their payment details and then deposit it on their behalf, you still shouldn’t do it.

#2 Requesting Cash-to-Cash Transfers

Another frequently spread practice that is getting banned by the FTC is cash-to-cash money transfers, using services such as MoneyGram or Western Union. A cash-to-cash service is one way fraudulent telemarketers can request money from one location, pick it up at another and leave with the money without offering any real service.

Another similar method being banned is that of “cash reload”, where funds are added to a prepaid card. Major cash reload providers are already using a safer alternative, called the swipe reload process. Both measures are also coming into effect June 13.

#3 Oral Authorization of Charges

Amendments to the rule will require a tape recording with the buyer’s express verifiable authorization to be charged for a particular telemarketing transaction. This recording should clearly state and describe the goods, services or charitable contribution the payor is agreeing to. While a recording of the oral authorization of charges is not something new, the description of the purchase must now always be in it.

#4 Collecting Advance Fees on Non-Telemarketing Transactions

A ban is introduced on collection advance fees for loss recovery services on telemarketing transactions, but now the language of the TSR has been amended to include non-telemarketing ones as well. The purpose of this is mostly to include online scams under the ban.

#5 Calling People from the DNC Registry

There are a few exceptions introduced to when a telemarketer can call a person who is in the Do Not Call (DNC) registry. One of them is if you can prove you have an existing business relationship with the person you are calling. The second one is if you obtain an express written consent. Keep in mind: telemarketers are prohibited from calling a person at their workplace in an effort to circumvent the DNC. It’s also illegal to split the cost of accessing the DNC registry with another seller.

#6 Interfering With People’s Right to Be on the Entity-Specific Do Not Call List

There has been numerous attempts to prevent telemarketers from persuading people in any way to opt out of the DNC registry. The TSR amendment explicitly states a few examples to make the rule more clear:

• harassing consumers who make such a request,
• hanging up on them
• failing to honor the request
• requiring the consumer to listen to a sales pitch before accepting the request
• assessing a charge or fee for honoring the request
• requiring the consumer to call a different number to submit the request
• requiring the consumer to identify the seller or charitable organization making the call or on whose behalf the call is made.

As you can see, the amendments to the TSR introduce some important changes to the telemarketing industry. Make sure you read the full text of the rule, so you can stay out of surety bond claims and other legal issues.

What do you think of the amended rules? How are you going to protect your business, so you are not in violation of them? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The post New FTC Rules: How Are Telemarketers Affected? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

What to do? A Mobile Marketing Association webinar will provide both answers and insight. The webinar — “FCC Proposes New TCPA Laws – What Every Retailer Needs to Know About The Telephone Consumer Protection Act” — is set for Wednesday, August 5 from 1 to 2 p.m. (CDT).

It’s especially timely.

“On June 18 the FCC issued new requirements for those engaged in text and telemarketing,” reports the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), sponsor of the free webinar. “What do these new rulings mean to your company? Is your company at risk when making automated outbound calls or sending texts? Is your company taking the right steps to mitigate TCPA risks?”

The MMA is working with partner Neustar, a good source of authoritative information. Federal Trade Commission veteran and Neustar Chief Privacy Officer Becky Burr will be one of the presenters. She’ll be joined by Neustar’s Adam Russell, who will discuss how authoritative consumer intelligence is helping to mitigate risk while also driving operational efficiencies.

Webinar topics include: what retailers need to know about the FCC’s new regulations under TCPA; best practices for mitigating TCPA compliance risk; why verifying consumer data is critical to both risk mitigation and operational efforts; and how the constant change in consumer data requires the most extensive, up-to-date, and accurate data.

To register or to learn more, click here.

The post What Every Retailer Needs to Know About the TCPA, Reducing Litigation Risk appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“Retailers face considerable challenges in complying with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA),” reads the webinar overview. “Over the last few years, the cost of non-compliance has risen dramatically due to the rapid increase in the amount of litigation around TCPA and the very large settlements associated with class action litigation.”

If you’re not familiar, just last week the FCC issued new requirements for those engaged in text and telemarketing.

What do these new rulings mean to your company? Is your company at risk when making automated outbound calls or sending texts? Is your company taking the right steps to mitigate TCPA risks?

These are the questions posed. The answers will come during the July 14th webinar presented by the MMA and Neustar.

FTC veteran and Neustar’s Chief Privacy Officer, Becky Burr, will address the current regulatory landscape. Also, Neustar’s Vice President Dorean Kass will discuss “how authoritative consumer intelligence is helping to mitigate risk while also driving operational efficiencies.”

To learn more or to register to attend, click here.

The post MMA Webinar to Focus on FCC Proposal of New TCPA Laws appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The answers to those questions may prove critical when Minnesota jurists consider a lawsuit in Minnesota lobbed at the AMC theater chain.

Andria Addison has alleged in a complaint just filed that AMC violated a federal text spam law. Addison is seeking class action status on the case.

“As part of their effort to promote business, defendants engaged in an especially aggressive and deleterious form of marketing: the transmission of unauthorized advertisements, in the form of ‘text message’ calls to the cellular telephones of consumers throughout the nation,” states the complaint, as reported by MediaPost.

Addison was upset when the chain sent her an unsolicited coupon via text in late April. The phone message may have been sent to all consumers enrolled in AMC’s “stubs” program. Addison admits she enrolled in “stubs” in 2012, but says she allowed her membership to lapse within a year.

“Her lawsuit alleges that transmitting the message violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which prohibits companies from using automated dialers to send text ads to consumers without their written permission,” notes MediaPost. “Addison also accuses the Leawood, Kansas-based theater chain of violating the anti-spam law with a mobile marketing campaign that involved offering consumers incentives — like a $1 soda coupon — in exchange for their cell phone numbers.”

SMS efforts have been under fire in recent years. Most firms say they do not rely on automated dialers, but work from generated lists of consumers who have agreed to receive notifications of various sorts.

The post Not All Popcorn and Skittles in Theater Biz: AMC Chain Accused of Text Spam Violations appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

First of all there are just a few different ‘carrier approved’ methods in which a marketer can collect an SMS database; Enter a phone number online, Click a button on a mobile webpage, Send an MO message containing an advertised keyword and Sign up at a POS location.

Each of these methods of cell phone collection is acceptable by the carriers and falls under the term ‘express written consent’ which is now a strict requirement according to the newly amended TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act).

For this blog post let’s get into the first two methods listed above; enter a phone number online and Click a button on a mobile webpage. These are basically web form opt-ins; a website that has a registration form and there is a space for entering ones cell number. When using a web form in this manner there are two rules you must follow:

1. You must display the proper ‘carrier required language’ in close proximity to the cell phone submit field (box).
2. You must verify the handset (cell phone) owner’s possession for the actual handset number being submitted in your cell phone number ‘submit’ box.

In a nutshell, items 1 & 2 simply mean that you need to let subscribers know some basic program details and then send a confirmation text to the cell number being submitted to you. Number 1 can be accomplished by adding a couple simple lines of text ‘in close proximity to’ the cell submit field. There are several items that you need to include in this ‘carrier required’ language:

• Program Description ( Alerts, News, Special offers etc.)
• Messaging Frequency ( 5/messages a week, 2 messages a month)
• Messaging costs (Msg & Data rates may apply)
• A link to ‘comprehensive’ SMS T&Cs or Privacy Policy
• If the Program is recurring then STOP instructions are required
• Help instructions

All of these items can be summarized very succinctly into a few lines of text that look like this:

• mobileStorm Weather Alerts: News and Forecasts for local weather. Msg&Data rates may apply. 4 msg/mo. Text HELP for Help or text STOP to end messages. Terms & Conditions. View our Privacy Policy.

As far as Item number 2 is concerned, “Verifying handset owner possession” this is simply a matter of sending handset an immediate confirmation text message as soon as a cell number is submitted on your web form. This confirmation message needs to contain all the above bullet points listed for the web form registration and must have a ‘Reply Yes to confirm your subscription’ call to action.

Sounds like a lot of work? Well, the good news is that mobileStorm can do both of these things for you automatically. Our web forms can be easily enabled to send a confirmation message and we have customized boilerplate language on our web forms that include all the necessary carrier required language. This article is just the first in a multi-part series on how to acquire, message to, advertise for and maintain a healthy, opt–in SMS Database. Stay tuned for more!

The post How to Properly Collect an Opt In SMS Database (Part 1 of 2) appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Cashier: “…and may I please have your email address for your receipt?”

Customer: “ Why do you need my email address?”

Cashier: “ It’s for your receipt”

Customer: “ Oh, ok. It’s blahblah@whatever.com”

Cashier: “ Thank you”

The cashier then issued her a Williams Sonoma Gift Card with a credit amount on it. Initially I thought that because this customer was returning an item then maybe an email address was somehow required for some sort of verification. I thought to myself “if this is the method that Williams Sonoma uses to collect email addresses for their newsletters and e-marketing efforts then surely they would disclose that the email address would be sent some promotions, right?”I mean, why would a brand like William Sonoma collect email addresses under false pretenses?

My suspicions remained in place when the same process happened again for the next person in front of me, also there for a return. The conversation was slightly different this time around; apparently this customer had been through this before:

Cashier: “…and may I please have your email address for your receipt?”

Customer: “You’re not going to email me stuff again, are you?

Cashier: “ We just need your email address for your receipt”

Customer: “ Oh, ok. It’s…wait, you know what I don’t need a receipt, I have this (customer holds up the newly issued Williams Sonoma Gift Card) “

Cashier: “ Oh, ok”

The cashier then proceeded to print out her receipt regardless.

So, it was now apparent that an email address was not truly needed in order to generate a receipt and it seemed that collecting the email address at the register was in fact a ploy to add a customer to some sort of mailing list (according to the comments from the customer ahead of me in line). Now it was my turn at the register to pay for the items I wanted to purchase. After my items were scanned and I swiped my credit card for payment the conversation went like this:

Cashier: “…And can I please have your email address?”

Me: “ No thank you“

Cashier: “ Oh, ok”

Short and sweet. I received a receipt and walked out of the store. Thinking about this process left me a bit concerned about Williams Sonoma and other retailers that collect email addresses the same way. Data collection practices like this seem a bit shady. For starters the cashier made it seem as if an email address was required in order to get a receipt which was not the case.

Secondly it seemed apparent that your email address would in fact be added to a mailing database if you chose to give it to the cashier; the customer in front of me confirmed this via their comments.

In this day and age of Email and SMS marketing prevalence most technology-savvy consumers are aware that relinquishing their personal contact information will likely result in a brand sending you marketing materiel. Since this is the case then why not just be honest and up front about it?

Moral of the story: You’re only hurting your brand by collecting contact information under the false pretenses. If a consumer likes your stuff then let them sign up to receive it on their own accord, don’t try to pull the wool over their eyes. If you ambush them with newsletters and texts you run the risk of making an enemy out of your customers and betraying their trust; or risk getting sued if you collect and then message to cell number the wrong way.

The post Williams Sonoma Email Address Collection: Just be Honest and Let Us Know! appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

So far, the IAB has dropped part one of the guidelines, which are designed to help the marketing industry provide more transparency to consumers around ‘native’ advertising.

“The guidelines provide advertisers, publishers, agencies and advertising technology companies with clear and practical steps to make it easier for consumers to spot native advertising – digital ad formats designed to look and feel like editorial content,” the IAB UK said in a news release.

Supported by ISBA, the Association for Online Publishers (AOP) and the Content Marketing Association (CMA), the guidelines meet the UK advertising industry’s CAP code, which is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

Although the guidelines are quite comprehensive, two of the key guidelines for native advertising formats are:

1. Provide consumers with prominently visible visual cues enabling them to immediately understand they are engaging with marketing content compiled by a third party in a native ad format which isn’t editorially independent (e.g. brand logos or design, such as fonts or shading, clearly differentiating it from surrounding editorial content)
2. It must be labeled using wording that demonstrates a commercial arrangement is in place (e.g. ‘paid promotion’ or ‘brought to you by’).

To review the guidelines in full, download the document from the IAB here.

The post Native Ad Guidelines Enter the Global Spotlight appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Why did the CTIA SMS marketing rules change? In January 2014, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile agreed to stop billing customers for premium short code messaging. With a considerable amount of the previous rules regarding SMS marketing being about premium messaging, getting rid of premium messaging gave the CTIA the opportunity to rewrite the rules for SMS marketing, allowing them to focus solely on standard SMS messaging, multimedia messaging service (MMS), and free-to-end-user (FTEU) short code programs. 

You can download each SMS marketing template in PDF form by clicking on the images below, or you can download the entire set of SMS marketing templates here.

SMS Advertising Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant when advertising your SMS campaign to customers.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

SMS Terms & Conditions Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in your SMS campaign’s terms & conditions.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

Web Opt-In Message Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in the SMS message a customer receives when they opt-in from the web.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

Opt-In Message Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in the SMS message a customer receives after they opt-in.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

HELP Message Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in the SMS message a customer receives when they text the word “HELP” to your short code.

(Click Here to Download PDF Template)

STOP Message Blueprint – Use the following template to remain TCPA & CTIA compliant in the SMS message a customer receives after they unsubscribe from your campaign.

 (Click Here to Download PDF Template)

If you’re interested in downloading the actual revised CTIA Short Code Compliance Handbook, you can do so by clicking here.

The post CTIA Updates SMS Marketing Rules – Is Your Campaign Still Compliant? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the company, calls are a “critical way to measure offline ad engagement and, for many categories, are a must-have part of the attribution toolkit.”

“Most digital and mobile ad campaigns help drive offline purchases, making it critical for today’s marketers to ensure they have strong attribution programs in place to effectively prove the offline impact,” said Bill Dinan, president of Telmetrics, who recently spoke about mobile attribution at SMX East 2014. “Calls are a powerful piece of the offline attribution puzzle as rich call analytics can help marketers not only accurately identify the source of the lead but also reveal purchase indicators and conversions.”

What does Telmetrics suggest? Here’s their sage counsel from a provided statement this week:

1. Include contact information up front – Clear contact information is one of consumers’ most sought-after mobile features and more than 60 percent of mobile consumers say it is very important to be able to call a business in the purchase phase.

2. Go beyond the last click – Click to call or tap to call is commonly used to track how many consumers connect to the business they are searching, but attribution shouldn’t be based on clicks alone. End-to-end call measurement technology can reward with rich lead generation data and qualify lead quality.

3. Close the online-offline gap – Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI) seamlessly replaces phone numbers with call tracking numbers on an advertiser’s website or landing pages based on how the visitor arrived at the site or page. This practice allows marketers to tie calls back to the specific originating digital or mobile campaigns.

4. Track calls for all digital programs, including display – Call attribution isn’t just for search programs. Attribution best practices should be used for display ad programs as well: 30 percent of display ad secondary actions are calls.

5. Complete the purchase loop – Call attribution metrics can help optimize advertising programs in a number of ways. Marketers should measure and test campaigns using multiple variables, e.g., various display creative, ad networks, distribution partners.

6. Ensure quality calls are delivered – Spam and telemarketer calls (and even wrong number calls) are not only a nuisance but also can dilute advertiser call response data. A call-blocking feature is essential and marketers should test their provider’s success.

The post Telmetrics Talks About Call Attribution Best Practices appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

This week, Sprint Corp. was ordered to pay a $7.5 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The penalty comes in response to supposed violations of the Do-Not-Call rule.

The fine is the biggest settlement ever reached over this rule, and Sprint will also have to implement a two-year plan to ensure it complies with FCC requirements… Among other stipulations, Sprint will have to ensure its employees are properly trained on how to record consumers’ Do-Not-Call requests so that their names and numbers are removed from marketing lists.

According to MarketWatch, Sprint will also need to designate a senior corporate manager as Compliance Offer to ensure the company adheres to the FCC guidelines.

From wireless carriers to mobile marketers, fines – and hefty ones at that – are on the minds of many these days.

In October 2013, the FCC began enforcing a strict new set of rules governing marketing calls and text messages directed at consumers on their mobile phones.

New provisions in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) introduced these tighter restrictions on mobile marketing and mobile messaging.

Almost overnight, the revamped rules wrought confusion upon marketers uncertain of how these changes and corresponding mandates would impact their mobile marketing efforts.

In response to the new laws of the land, Mobile Marketing Watch, along with our sister sites mHealthWatch and mGamingWatch, hosted an emergency webinar last fall for marketers and related professionals across numerous industries who must urgently educate themselves on a variety of emerging issues related to consumer privacy, location based services, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

The webinar, which featured expert insight from attorneys Ross Buntrock and Michael Hazzard of Arent Fox, Rip Gerber of Locaid, and Jared Reitzin and Darren Withers of mobileStorm, is now available to view online.

As a follow up to the well-received webinar, mobileStorm recently published a new whitepaper tackling the critically important issue of mobile marketing compliance.

So what exactly should you be doing in order to make sure that your policies and practices are in compliance with these confusing and controversial new rules? A good start would be to download the comprehensive guide to mobile marketing compliance at no charge from mobileStorm here.

The post Sprint Slapped with Massive FCC Fine for Do-Not-Call Violations appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.