SMS marketing
SMS marketing for UK businesses
Send offers and news by text to the customers who've said yes to hearing from you. Each campaign goes to a list, now or at a time you choose, with your opt-out line on the end.
What is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing is sending promotional texts, such as offers or event news, to customers who have agreed to receive them. In the UK it's covered by PECR: you need consent or a soft opt-in, and every message needs a simple way to opt out. CaptiFi Connect adds an opt-out line to campaign texts and handles STOP replies for you, so opted-out numbers are never texted again.
How campaigns work in CaptiFi Connect
A campaign is a named send to one of your lists. Write the text (merge fields welcome), choose the list, and send it now or schedule it. Once it's going, its row on the Campaigns page shows how many texts have gone and how many have been delivered, and if you spot a mistake you can cancel it before it's sent.
Campaign texts go out through a licensed A2P route, which is how business messages at volume are meant to travel. If you have an approved sender name, the campaign can go out under it, so the text arrives from your business name. Leave the sender on Default and it goes under our default sender.
Each campaign text gets your account's opt-out line on the end. It reads 'Reply STOP to opt out' unless you change the wording in settings, and you can switch it off for a campaign that's purely a service message.
What you can do
The parts of CaptiFi Connect you will use most for marketing:
- Import customers from a CSV with column mapping, and keep the people who agreed to marketing in their own list.
- Personalise texts with {first_name} and the other merge fields.
- Schedule campaigns up to a year ahead, and cancel them before they go.
- Follow progress and delivery counts while a campaign goes out.
- Keep one opt-out list per account, checked on every send.
- Export the results from message history as CSV.
The rules for marketing texts
Marketing texts to individuals are covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, usually shortened to PECR. You need the person's consent, or the soft opt-in. The soft opt-in covers existing customers who bought or negotiated to buy from you, gave you their number at the time, and were offered a simple way to opt out then and in every text since, as long as you're marketing your own similar products or services. Sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals here.
You mustn't hide who you are, and every marketing text needs a simple, free way to opt out. 'Reply STOP to opt out' does that when people can reply. A text from a sender name can't be replied to, though, so if a campaign goes out under your name, edit the opt-out line to offer another easy way out (a link to an unsubscribe page, for example) and add anyone who uses it to your opt-out list.
Consent is yours to collect and to keep records of. CaptiFi Connect gives you the opt-out line and STOP handling, but we have no way of knowing how a number got onto your list. Our guide to the UK rules goes through it properly.
For developers
POST /api/v1/campaigns creates a campaign from a name, a list_id, the body and an optional sender, with append_opt_out to control the opt-out line. POST /api/v1/campaigns/{id}/send starts it, either now or at a schedule_at time, and POST /api/v1/campaigns/{id}/cancel stops it before sending.
Test keys can't launch campaigns, so check the text and its cost with POST /api/v1/messages/quote first. STOP replies arrive as opt_out.created webhooks, so your CRM can stop marketing to that person as well.
Run your first campaign
- 1
Build the list
Import only the people who agreed to marketing texts, or who fall under the soft opt-in.
- 2
Write the text
Say who you are, keep it short and use merge fields where they help.
- 3
Check the opt-out line
Leave it on for marketing, and make sure it gives a way out that works for how you are sending.
- 4
Send or schedule
Send it now or pick a time, then watch the progress and delivery counts.
Service text or marketing text?
| The text | Which it is | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A reminder of tomorrow's appointment | Service | It is admin about something the customer has already booked. |
| A note that a monthly payment has failed | Service | It tells the customer about their existing account. |
| The same payment message with a line about a new offer | Marketing | Any promotional content turns the whole text into marketing. |
| News that a local branch now stocks certain brands | Marketing | It promotes products, however neutral the wording. |
Questions people ask
Do I need consent to send marketing texts?
To individuals, yes, unless the soft opt-in applies: they're existing customers who gave you their number when buying or negotiating to buy, you're marketing your own similar products or services, and they were given a simple way to opt out at the time and in every message since. Sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals.
Is an appointment reminder a marketing text?
Not on its own. The ICO treats reminders and other admin messages as service messages. Add anything promotional, even one line about an offer, and the whole text counts as marketing.
Can I turn off the opt-out line?
Yes, per campaign. It's on by default because marketing texts need an opt-out, so only turn it off for a campaign that's purely a service message.
Can I buy a list of numbers and text them?
Not under the soft opt-in, which only covers details you collected yourself. Consent on a bought list only counts if the people on it agreed to texts from your organisation by name, and you would need records of who agreed, when and how.
Who is responsible if a campaign breaks the rules?
The business that sends or instigates the marketing. The ICO's guidance says a service that only provides the technical means of sending, such as a bulk email platform, isn't normally responsible for the messages. You stay responsible.
How much do marketing texts cost?
Campaign texts use credits like any other text: one credit per SMS part to a UK mobile. Packs start at £25 for 500 credits (5p a text) and fall to 3.5p on the biggest pack, plus VAT; the pricing page has the table.
Send your first text this week
Set up your account and contacts now; we check every new account before it can send.