Knowledge Base > SMS Best Practices (AU)
When sending out bulk SMS it is important that you comply with the laws regarding electronic messaging.
The Australian Government (Australian Communications and Media Authority - ACMA) has put together a website (http://www.acma.gov.au/spam) explaining your obligations when sending electronic messages.
Any message that doesn’t meet the following three conditions is defined as spam:
- Consent
- The message must be sent with your consent
- Identify
- The message must contain accurate information about the person or organisation that authorised the sending of the message
- Unsubscribe
- The message must contain a functional ‘unsubscribe’ facility to allow you to opt out of receiving messages from that source.
one2many has an Anti-Spam Policy which all customers must agree with on sign-up. This page will help you comply with this policy as well as the governments requirements.
Here are ways you can satisfy the Spam Act criteria using one2many:
Consent
Whether you’re targeting new customers or managing existing databases, you always need a person’s consent before you can send them commercial electronic messages. There are two types of consent: express and inferred.
Express consent may be gained in a variety of ways - for example by filling in a form, ticking a box on a website, over the phone, face-to-face or by swapping business cards - as long as the recipient is clearly aware that he or she may receive commercial messages in the future.
If an organisation has a strong business relationship with the holder of an electronic address (Mobile Number) - for example, the address holder is a member of a club, a subscriber to a service, or a client it deals with on an ongoing basis - consent to receiving messages from that organisation may be inferred.
Identify
When using one2many for personal use, the best way to identify yourself is to use your personal mobile number as the Sender ID. (see How to send a message)
The Sender ID is also useful for identification when using alpha numeric Sender ID’s such as ‘one2many’ which we use to identify the source of messages we send to you.
Sometimes it is hard to fit your identity in 11 characters or less so it is also a good idea to include your company name in the body of your message.
Unsubscribe
If the message being sent is a once off message this point does not apply.
If you are using one2many to send out regular SMS’s you must provide a way for customers to opt-out. You can do this by including your number in the message (or Sender Id) and appending a message such as "to opt-out reply ‘stop’" or "to opt-out call 1300 797 636"
In addition to this you can combine an incoming number with one2many bulk SMS to automatically receive and blacklist opt-out requests from your customers who no longer wish to receive your SMS's.
This page is offered by one2many to help you understand how the Australian Spam Act 2003 relates to you when using one2many. This page is not comprehensive and the Spam Act may change without notice. For full details on the current Spam Act see http://www.acma.gov.au/spam