3 April 2003

As the use of the short message service (SMS) to deliver commercial messages to cellphone users increases, the Marketing Federation of Southern Africa (MFSA) has launched a new web site and code of conduct to curb the abuse of this direct marketing tool.

The MFSA, MTN, Vodacom and Cell C, as well as over 30 service providers and interested companies, have co-operated in developing the SMSCode web site.

The site enables cellphone users to identify which service provider sent them a commercial SMS, to contact service providers to be un-subscribed from their list, or to report an unsolicited commercial SMS to the MFSA.

Cellphone users will not receive a direct response to reports made to the MFSA. However, their reports will either be forwarded to the correct service provider, or the MFSA will collate and transmit these reports to the relevant network operator, especially if a number of complaints are received about a single sender.

“Something would obviously need to be done if too many complaints are received about a particular commercial SMS”, says Rowan Brewer, CEO of Tutuka.com and a member of the MFSA’s e-business group.

Brewer explained that in most instances service providers send commercial SMS’s on behalf of another company. Service Providers, therefore, submit “unsubscribe” requests from customers to sender companies.

The SMS code site is run by the MFSA, which also acted as a neutral forum for drafting the SMS Code of Practice in collaboration with MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and over 30 service providers in South Africa.

The joint initiative aims to protect customers against unsolicited commercial SMS messages by providing a channel for resolution and promoting the responsible use of the SMS as a marketing medium.

Ground rules
The collaborative effort also formulated a set of ground rules for the use of the commercial SMS as a marketing tool. The rules stipulate, inter alia, that:

• Companies cannot send a commercial SMS unless the recipient has requested the SMS, or has a prior commercial relationship with the company and would reasonably expect to receive marketing communications from them.
• Where the company has no prior commercial relationship with the recipient, the organisation supplying the originator with the recipient’s information must first procure the recipient’s consent to do so for the purpose of sending commercial SMS’s.
• Companies must allow recipients to unsubscribe from commercial messages sent via SMS through notifying the sender directly or through the service provider that sent the SMS.
• Message originators must include their names or identifiers in commercial SMS messages, while service providers must include a valid originating number in all commercial SMS messages.
• Network operators must provide the originating numbers issued by them to the service providers, as well as their names and contact details to the MFSA, for inclusion on the newly established web site as part of their contractual agreement with the service provider or message originator.

“SMS marketing is very valuable, but the web site is an effort to stop the abuse of this marketing strategy,” says Brewer, adding that SMSCode represents a win-win solution for all concerned.

“On the one hand, it affords cellular users the opportunity to identify and trace message originators so that they can be unsubscribed if they so desire. On the other hand, it protects network operators, who usually aren’t the originators of commercial SMS’s, from irate customers calling to be unsubscribed.”

Source: Marketing Federation of South Africa

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