CTIA Best Practices – Help & Stop Messages

Want to make sure your SMS marketing campaign is following CTIA SMS marketing best practices? A good place to start is to make sure that when your customers text message the words “HELP” or “STOP” to your short code, you’re returning the right information to your customers. What does the CTIA require to send back in return to “HELP”, or “STOP”? Glad you asked, as that’s what we’re going to cover in this blog post. Want to make sure your entire SMS marketing campaign is following CTIA SMS marketing best practices, download our free guide on CTIA compliance.

Lets first start with what you need to send in return to your customers texting the word “HELP” to your SMS short code. When a mobile subscriber responds to any of your messages with the word “HELP,” you are required to send a message in return with the following information:

Business name (e.g., Bob’s Burgers)
Program name (e.g., Mobile Coupon Program)
Stop instructions (e.g., “Text STOP to opt out”)
Help instructions (e.g., “Text HELP for help”)
Messaging frequency (e.g., five messages/month)
Disclosure that message and data rates may apply (e.g., “Message and data rates may apply”)
Toll-free support number or website (e.g., “For more help, call 1-800-123-5678”)

Below is an example of what a CTIA compliant ”HELP” text message should look like when you combine all the required things above.

Next lets cover what needs to be sent in return to a customer texting any of the words STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE or QUIT to your short code. The CTIA requires that you send a message in return with the following information, in addition to removing that customers immediately from your SMS program: