SMS marketing is a powerful tool for small businesses and nonprofits to reach their audience directly. However, because it is highly regulated by the TCPA and carrier guidelines, the setup process has specific requirements that differ from email.
1. Qualification & Registration
To use SMS marketing in Constant Contact, your business must meet the following criteria:
Location: You must be a U.S. customer (currently excluding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
Identification: Most businesses must have an Employer Identification Number (EIN).
Update: Sole proprietors without an EIN can now register, but may face lower message sending limits and must verify their mobile number during setup.
Non-Profits: Non-profit organizations can now utilize SMS marketing within the Constant Contact platform, expanding the reach of these important institutions.
Verification: Your business name must match exactly what is on your official tax forms (IRS/State databases), or the registration will be rejected.
Required Links: You must provide a valid website or Facebook Business page, a Privacy Policy, and Mobile Terms of Service during registration.
2. Sender Name & Messaging Identity
Fixed Sender Name: Your "Sender Name" is what contacts see in the text (e.g., "From [Business Name]"). This cannot be changed after your registration is approved.
Business Name: This is used for internal registration and must reflect your legal tax name.
Help/Stop Keywords: Constant Contact automatically handles mandatory keywords like HELP (which provides your support info/website) and STOP (which unsubscribes the contact).
3. Character Limits & Billing Segments
Understanding how "segments" work is crucial for your budget:
The 160-Character Standard: A standard SMS is 160 characters. If you exceed this, the message is split into segments of 153 characters each.
Billing: You are billed per segment, not per message. A single long text could count as 2 or 3 segments.
Special Characters: Using emojis or non-standard characters changes the encoding to Unicode, which drops the segment limit to only 70 characters.
Links: Any link you include automatically takes up 36 characters of your limit.
4. Permissions & "Quiet Hours"
No Automatic Overlap: Even if you have a contact's phone number in your email list, you cannot text them until they provide express written consent specifically for SMS.
Opt-in Process: New subscribers must opt-in via an SMS-enabled landing page or "Text-to-Join." For "Text-to-Join," users must also provide an email address to be added to your list.
Quiet Hours: To stay compliant with TCPA regulations, Constant Contact prevents messages from being sent during "Quiet Hours."
Standard window: Avoid sending between 8:00 PM and 11:00 AM ET. The system will automatically hold messages scheduled during these times to protect you from potential fines.
