Definition of Stop SMS

The term “Stop SMS” is frequently mentioned by operators in relation to the fight against spam. Indeed, under current legislation in France, for a recipient to receive a marketing SMS, it is mandatory that each recipient has given their prior and explicit consent to the sender. In response to observed abuses, the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés) has now made the inclusion of this notice mandatory in campaigns with a commercial purpose.

The obligation to include the Stop SMS notice

In general, all commercial campaigns must systematically include the Stop SMS notice. This is a legal obligation imposed by the CNIL.

However, in practice, many companies fail to comply with these provisions. They therefore break the law by omitting to mention an opt-out method in their marketing SMS.

The CNIL requires professional SMS campaigns with a commercial purpose to provide their recipients with an opt-out method. It recommends that this unsubscription be possible through the same channel used by the sender. Therefore, a commercial SMS must allow the recipient to unsubscribe by sending an SMS.

➡️ Read also: Stop SMS, what does the law say?

How opt-out works

When a message contains the word “Stop” followed by a number, recipients who wish to unsubscribe simply need to reply to the short number indicated to be automatically removed from the relevant contact list, and they will no longer receive SMS messages.

The SMS marketing platform automatically handles the recipient’s request. The campaign sender can track the number of unsubscriptions, and the recipient in question will automatically be excluded from all future campaigns. This way, the sender respects the preferences of the customer or prospect, avoiding sending unwanted messages and jeopardising the relationship.

The 3117: The Anti-Spam Number

In France, to combat spam, a specific number, 3117, has been put in place. Recipients of unsolicited commercial SMS messages can report these messages by simply forwarding the received message to 3117. This action triggers an investigation by the relevant authorities.

Discover other mobile marketing definitions

If you would like to deepen your knowledge of mobile marketing, we invite you to explore our other articles on this topic.

It is also essential to master many other concepts in the field of telecommunications and messaging. Some examples: SMS, SMS+, MMS, HLR, RCS, SMS OTP, Rich SMS, SMPP, long SMS.