flightrisk

good read for those businesses that want to blast customers

Papa John's faces $250 million spam lawsuit - Nov. 13, 2012

Steve Solem

Wow - I'd heard of Jiffy Lube getting in trouble for texting customers without permission but this is a nice judgement against PapaJohns here

I'm glad these laws are being enforced because companies like this that break the rules only make it harder for this to become a more accepted and legitimate means of marketing.

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xlfutur1

I recently had a bakery contact me saying they were interested in text message marketing. They had phone numbers of about 900 past customers and they wanted to send them text messages with specials, coupons, etc.

When I learned what they wanted to do, I explained to them how they needed to have customers give permission to them by "opting in" by either making a phone call, or sending in a keyword to subscribe their sms list. They had no idea that was necessary.

Most business owners don't have a clue to this stuff, so be sure to educate them and make sure they don't get sued like Papa John's. I am doing a presentation to a local business association on Jan 10 and I'll be sure to point out this Papa John's example!

Nail Yener

You are absolutely right Steve. In my country people believe that "internet marketing" = "spam or scam" mostly because of such companies that don't do their marketing as it should be done.

Good to hear that serious action is being taken against people/businesses who send spam SMS. Even though I am a lot protective about my personal cell phone number, I still get about 10 promotional SMS a week. The annoying thing is that some of them keep sending SMS even after I call them to opt me out. As far as I know spam laws for unsolicited emails/SMS are still not in practice in my country, hence there is no way to report such businesses. Hopefully, it will be possible soon.

We need more of such cases from all over the world for a better internet and a better marketing world.

laird

I have this conversation with about 60% of any new SMS client that has an existing database of customers. They seem to think that the minute they collect that information, they can use it for marketing purposes.

I let them know that all subscribers must OPT-IN to the SMS list before they receive any text messages and that no prior customers/clients will be manually-added to their list.

Protects the consumer. Protects the business. Protects YOUR business.

Jerome Y

I knew this was coming sooner or later. It's so rampant and just because the majority of people don't say a thing about it doesn't mean people aren't getting irritated by these SMSes.

Makes you wonder how they get our numbers in the first place.

MoneyMagnetMagnate

Though I'm not crazy about 'Papa John' (for other reasons)...he seems to be the foil...
OnTime4U is the one initially at fault in this case...they were negligent in processing the SMS, and they should have taken immediate steps to correct the situation.

Argynon

It seems that anyone who is running a sms white label gig and letting their customers handle their own message platform out of it can be exposed to this type of spam lawsuit.

MoneyMagnetMagnate

So it was a platform that allows the client access? I didn't know that - that is a slippery slope to tread - easily abused...

Argynon

I was making a general statement concerning anyone using a sms white label provider and letting their customers do their own thing on it. I have mobile marketing competitors in my area doing that exact thing right now. It gives mobile marketing a bad name IMHO.

I have no idea if this was the case with this particular lawsuit.

It would be interesting to follow this case and find out.

ASUService

Interesting info indeed and I've been predicting this would happen for over a year.

When I released my SMS system I got pretty beat up because I refused to code an import function for this exact reason. Coming from the email marketing world I didn't want to see mobile marketing get trashed for the reasons email has. I knew it would be a controversial item and probably would lose some buyer but I really could bring myself to be a facilitator.

Sure ... someone can sit and enter each client's info by hand but we all know most are way too lazy to do that.

Best Regards,
Mike Allton
ASU Service, Inc.
The LAST SMS Platform You'll Ever Need! Easy Money!

wackiin

haha i find it funny i told guys when SMS was first getting big here the shit would hit the fan when it got big and spam can would apply to everything .... they though i was nuts

xlfutur1

SMS in the wrong hands can be a problem, but its no different than email or anything else. SMS maybe a popular topic in this forum, but I don't see many businesses in my town utilizing it at all, and they could be very effectively.

This is probably the case of a bozo manager at a Papa John's franchise thinking he could capture every number that called in to order a pizza and just sign them up for text messaging. People don't get pissed off if they opt in knowing what's going on, and then every message gives them a way to opt out with a keyword reply.

Robert Michael

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I love their pizza!!

hope this doesnt effect them too bad, but they should have known better.

Brent Young

250 mil is a lot of pizza

WillR

Well I'm glad these guys are being punished as it sends a very strong message (pardon the pun) out to other businesses who are thinking of doing the same.

I hope they are trying to stop sms marketing from getting as out of hand as email marketing did. The only way they can do that is to be very strict right in these early stages.

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Valdor Kiebach

They got my number because I didn't see the tiny opt-out tick box when I used one of those insurance comparison sites.

I wish those PPI claim companies would get sued. I am getting fed up of texting STOP

wackiin

I wanting them are some other big million dollar company to start spamming me now so i can join the fun

yukon

Lol, who's your papa now?

wackiin

Ill call any of them big ones papa if they will blast my phone a few times

This time around i dont see it being the msn/hotmail guys etc getting the million dollar suits i see it getting bigger until the carriers get them a piece of the pie (I mean they all want there fair share??)
as in att, Verizon etc

John Ayling

It's good to see - really don't want it reaching the proportions of email spam, but with the incredible rate of growth of mobile it probably will

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Riz

One of the objections our reps face from smaller businesses is the need for a text marketing system in the first place.

They question why they need our system when they can simply store customer numbers in their own mobile phones, create a customer group and blast out messages and it costs them nothing as they have an unlimited text plan with the provider.

Apart from the obvious reasons that can be easily explained, stories such as this simply make the sale with our potential clients easier.

Riz

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Charles Harper

When I talk to non marketers, some are under the impression that if they enter a contest, that they are not necessarily giving you the right to continue contacting them. Most of the best practices here have risen to giving more notification. But in earlier days, I don't think that was always the case.

S3Ware

Definitely a lot of potential pitfalls when dealing with mobile ... specifically SMS ... lots of great resources here to make sure you play within the rules: Mobile Marketing Association