Introduction

Regulation F was created by the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) whose rules are enforced by the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB.) The rule was issued November 2020 and went into effect November 2021.

How are texting and emailing changing?

Email has been one of the most convenient way for a business to contact customers, that has changed a bit in the last few years.  Text messaging from businesses to customers is slowly becoming. amore popular option.

From phone bills to debt collection, customers have become more accustomed to receiving all sorts of text message communications from businesses. It only makes sense. More and more, the majority of customers are from a younger generation that is comfortable with text messaging. Phone calls just aren’t the main method of communication that the majority of people use anymore. 

In comparison to phone calls and emails, businesses find that customers respond to text messages very quickly. They don’t have to sift through mountains of spam in their email inbox or robocalls in their missed calls and voicemails. They can just respond. And if a customer receives a text when they are busy, that’s okay. People are more likely to respond to a text they didn’t originally notice than a missed call or email. Text messaging is more comfortable and less invasive. 

More to that point, businesses can create digital contact identities, so that when they text recipients, the customer knows exactly who they are interacting with. Text messaging, when well integrated into operations, offers the means for businesses to build trust with their consumers.

Still Hesitant?

Some businesses do have hesitations about whether or not they should get into using text messaging as a marketing strategy. Most of these hesitations revolve around compliance concerns, but can also be related to the lack of technology or resources available, or that a client isn’t quite ready to start using text messaging services.

In regards to compliance concerns, businesses already using text messaging services say that Regulation F lays out clear rules that can be simply followed. This means that businesses need to turn to their legal team in order to correctly navigate the use of a text messaging system under the limitations of Regulation F. But, businesses need to not forget that the business world has always been rapidly changing. And while hesitations exist for every new endeavor, new technologies and services are usually worth adopting. Not too long ago, businesses were hesitant to even think about recording phone calls for quality assurance purposes. Now, businesses everywhere record calls and customers don’t think twice about it. This is happening with text messaging as we speak. Text messaging is creating new channels of functionality for businesses and consumers with streamlined and powerful benefits.

For instance, imagine a business that is using text messaging successfully. This business has a customer who needs to pay a bill in five days. Conveniently, the customer is signed up for that business’ text messaging notifications and services. Five days before that bill is due, the customer receives a reminder text. Next, on the day the payment is due, the business sends out another message. This last text message connects the customer with a direct link to a quickly accessed payment portal. And even better, as guided by compliance, the customer’s payment information is saved on the payment portal. So, the customer clicks ‘pay’ and they’re done in just a few seconds. When implemented correctly, text messaging is an effective tool that encourages customers to stay connected with businesses.

If a business is still not convinced to jump right in and get started they can implement and test one feature at a time. This could look like a business starting with one way messages or notifications. Customers would not be able to respond to the messages they receive with one way messaging. But, it could be a simple way for businesses to try out text messages without risking too much time or money.

If a user is ready for more, two-way text messaging is the way. Two-way messaging allows businesses and customers to interact and exchange information both ways. This means the customer can pay bills, ask questions or even set up notification services.

Conclusion

Text messaging is an incredibly effective marketing strategy for businesses of all sizes, no matter the industry. What makes text messaging so effective is that texts are more likely to be opened than email (in fact, Cloud Contact AI offers up to 98% open-rates). Most people’s preferred method of communication today is texting. It just feels less invasive than a phone call, but less troublesome than email. By signing up for CCAI, you can guarantee that your marketing campaign is in good hands.