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Writing texts
Appointment reminder wording that gets replies
Two trials put numbers on reminder wording: a text cut missed NHS appointments from 11.1% to 8.4% by naming a £160 cost. What it means for your 160 characters.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Rules and trust
Bought-in lists: why they fail the PECR test
PECR says the person must have told you, the sender, that they consent. Why a list broker's tick box rarely does that, and the ICO fines that followed.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
Charity texting and the new soft opt-in
From 5 February 2026 a charity can text supporters about its cause without a ticked consent box. PECR regulation 22(3A), its conditions and the ICO's view.
17 October 2026 · 10 min read
Rules and trust
PECR, the ICO, Ofcom and the codes that apply to texting customers.
Rules and trust
Bought-in lists: why they fail the PECR test
PECR says the person must have told you, the sender, that they consent. Why a list broker's tick box rarely does that, and the ICO fines that followed.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
Charity texting and the new soft opt-in
From 5 February 2026 a charity can text supporters about its cause without a ticked consent box. PECR regulation 22(3A), its conditions and the ICO's view.
17 October 2026 · 10 min read
Rules and trust
How long should you keep text message records?
No one law sets a period for text records. What the ICO, the Limitation Act and HMRC say about consent, opt-outs, message logs and VAT, with a retention table.
17 October 2026 · 10 min read
Rules and trust
Review request texts and the DMCC Act 2024
Fake and hidden-incentive reviews have been banned since 6 April 2025. What the CMA says about incentives and selective asking, and how to ask by text.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
Sender ID spoofing and the MEF registry in numbers
The MEF SenderID Protection Registry has grown from 172 trusted sender names in 2020 to over 700, with 3,750 blocked variants. What it stops and what it misses.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
Smishing in the UK: what the fraud figures say
About 100 million suspicious texts a year reach UK phones, Ofcom reckons, and APP fraud hit £576.4m in 2025. What scam texts copy and how not to look like one.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
Texting other businesses: where PECR draws the line
PECR's consent rule for texts protects individual subscribers, and 57% of UK businesses are sole traders. What that means before you text a trade customer.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
The CAP Code and your promotional texts
A marketing text is an advert, so the CAP Code applies. The rules on misleading claims, "free", closing dates and alcohol, with the ASA rulings about texts.
17 October 2026 · 10 min read
Rules and trust
The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and your texts
A marketing text that breaks PECR can now cost up to £17.5m, up from £500,000, and charities got a soft opt-in on 5 February 2026. What changed and what didn't.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
What happens when someone reports your text to 7726
Ofcom counts 100 million 7726 reports a year. Where a report goes, what the networks and the ICO do with it, and how a real business stays out of the pile.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
What the ICO's text marketing fines tell you
Eight ICO penalties for unlawful marketing texts, 2022 to 2026: who sent what, how many, what went wrong, and what a firm texting its own customers can learn.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Rules and trust
Writing a consent request that stands up
What UK GDPR article 4(11), article 7 and the ICO require of consent for marketing texts, with worked opt-in wording and the records that prove it.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Writing texts
Wording, length, timing and the small choices that change how a text lands.
Writing texts
Appointment reminder wording that gets replies
Two trials put numbers on reminder wording: a text cut missed NHS appointments from 11.1% to 8.4% by naming a £160 cost. What it means for your 160 characters.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Writing texts
Emoji in business texts: what they cost
One emoji drops a text from 160 characters to 70 and can treble its price. What the GSM standard says, which emoji take four places, and when one is worth it.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Writing texts
Links in texts: how to look legitimate
Half of UK mobile users got a scam text with a link in three months. What Ofcom, the NCSC and GOV.UK say about links, and how to write one people will trust.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Writing texts
The 98% open rate myth
Every SMS vendor quotes a 98% open rate and none can say where it came from. What a text can measure instead: delivery receipts, clicks, replies and opt-outs.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Writing texts
Write texts the way GOV.UK writes
GOV.UK's writing rules (short words, 25-word sentences, the point first) applied to a 160-character text, and what GOV.UK Notify found when it rewrote its own.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Writing texts
Writing texts for older customers
Ofcom's 2025 tracker has 27% of over-75s on a mobile that is not a smartphone and 32% with no internet at home. How to write a text they can read and act on.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
By the numbers
What the published data says about texting in the UK.
By the numbers
Delivery updates: what the parcel data says
Ofcom counted 4.2bn UK parcels in 2024-25; Citizens Advice found 37% of people had a problem with their last one. What the figures mean for a delivery text.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
By the numbers
Email vs SMS: what the benchmarks show
The DMA puts UK email at 35.9% opens and 2.3% clicks. A text has no open rate at all, so here is what it can measure, and the vendors' own SMS click figures.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
By the numbers
From 10p to 3.5p: what a text costs in the UK
A pay-as-you-go text cost 10p on Three in 2021; a business text costs 2.4p to 5p today. What Ofcom's revenue figures say about where the price of a text went.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
By the numbers
How many texts the UK still sends
Ofcom's figures put UK mobile messages at 21.5bn in 2025, down from a 151bn peak in 2012. What the series counts, where the messages went, and why that matters.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
By the numbers
Missed appointments: what the NHS data shows
Patients missed 8.1m outpatient appointments in England in 2024-25 and 16m GP slots in 2025. The rates, the cost quoted and what the reminder trials found.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
By the numbers
Nuisance texts: what the ICO's complaint data shows
ICO spam text complaints fell from 21,257 in 2021/22 to 6,649 in 2025/26 while 7726 reports passed 100 million a year. What the series counts, and why it fell.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
By the numbers
What GOV.UK Notify's numbers say about texting at scale
GOV.UK Notify has sent 5.7 billion texts since 2016 and over five million on one weekday. Its live figures, its prices, and what a public service sends by text.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
By the numbers
Who you reach by text and not by email
Ofcom's 2026 tracker puts mobile use among over-75s at 89% and home internet at 78%. Who sits in that gap, how big it is, and what it means for your list.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
How particular kinds of business use texts, with the figures behind each.
Sectors
Dental recalls by text
Four in ten adults in England saw an NHS dentist in two years. NICE sets recall intervals of 3 to 24 months. How a recall text brings them back, with samples.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Event nights by text for pubs
The UK has 9,000 fewer pubs than in 2009 and more people working in them. How a pub fills a quiz night by text without breaking the CAP Code or its licence.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Fundraising texts after the 2025 Act
CAF's giving figures, the charity soft opt-in since 5 February 2026, the Code of Fundraising Practice, and sample texts for appeals, events and thank-yous.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Gym member texts and retention
ukactive counts 12.2m UK gym members and 679m visits in 2025. The texts that keep people turning up, the figures behind them, and the consent rules.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Hotel guest texts from arrival to checkout
England's hotels ran at 79% occupancy in 2025 and took 89.6m domestic overnight trips the year before. The texts that help a stay, with the rule on each.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Sectors
MOT reminder texts for garages
DVSA counted 33.3 million car and van MOTs in 2025 to 2026 and 27.51% failed first time. The free gov.uk reminder, and the texts a garage sends around a test.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
On-my-way texts for trades
ONS counts 160,064 one-person construction firms in Great Britain. The quote, arrival window, on-my-way and invoice texts a trade sends, and the rules on each.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
One-time codes by text: what NCSC and the fraud data say
NCSC ranks codes by text last of five. NIST calls them restricted and caps them at ten minutes. What the guidance and UK fraud figures mean for sending codes.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Payment reminder texts and late payment
DBT research puts late payments owed to UK businesses at £26bn at any one time. The reminder texts that get invoices paid, and the interest the law adds.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Restaurant no-shows and booking texts
Zonal and CGA's survey puts no-shows at 14% of consumers, and 17% of those say they forgot. What a confirmation text and a reminder text do about it.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Retail texts: click and collect, stock and sales
Online is 28.8% of GB retail sales, so the text that says an order is ready matters. Collection and back-in-stock wording, and the CMA's rules for a sale text.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Sectors
Salon reminder texts that fill the diary
Nearly half of UK salons told the NHBF they only break even. What the figures say about no-shows, deposits and the reminder texts that keep a column full.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Shift alerts by text
ONS counts 1.23m people on zero-hours contracts, 337,425 in hospitality. The shift texts that work, and what the Employment Rights Act 2025 will ask of them.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Texting tenants under the Renters' Rights Act
The Act's dates and duties from 1 May 2026, the 4.7 million private renting households, and the service texts an agent can send with no marketing consent.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Sectors
Vet practice reminders by text
PDSA's 2026 report puts 92% of UK dogs with a vet and 82% on regular boosters. The reminder texts a practice sends, and where the ICO draws the marketing line.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Behind the scenes
How texts travel, what the standards say, and building on the API.
Behind the scenes
RCS in the UK: what it means for business texts
iPhones have had RCS since iOS 18, on networks that switch it on. Which UK providers have, what RCS changes for business texts, and why SMS is still the floor.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Behind the scenes
Scheduling texts around the clock change
On 29 March 2026 the hour after 01:00 did not exist in London; on 25 October it happens twice. What the law and the tz database say, and how to schedule texts.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Behind the scenes
Sending a text exactly once: idempotency
A dropped connection leaves you not knowing whether a text went. The Idempotency-Key header, what the IETF draft and Stripe say, and how to build a safe retry.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Behind the scenes
SMS pumping: the fraud that targets your signup form
Twitter said it lost $60m a year to bot-driven verification texts. How SMS pumping works, what Enea and Twilio say it costs, and how a UK form stays out of it.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Behind the scenes
The 3G switch-off and your texts
Every UK 3G network is now off and 2G follows from 2029. Why SMS kept working through it, who is still on an old handset, and what a sender should check.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Behind the scenes
UK mobile numbers: what the numbering plan says
Not every 07 number is a mobile. Ofcom's Numbering Plan gives 070 to personal numbers and 076 to pagers, and its weekly data file shows who holds the rest.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Behind the scenes
Webhook signatures: why HMAC and how to check one
What RFC 2104's HMAC does, why a signed webhook beats a secret in the URL, how to compare in constant time, and the replay window a receiver should enforce.
17 October 2026 · 8 min read
Behind the scenes
What "delivered" means (and what it doesn't)
A delivery receipt is a network's word that a text reached a phone. What the 3GPP and SMPP standards say it proves, what it never can, and how to read a report.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Behind the scenes
Why a text can arrive late
Store and forward, validity periods and the 72-hour window: what 3GPP TS 23.040 and GOV.UK Notify say happens to a text that cannot be delivered right away.
17 October 2026 · 9 min read