Want to spend $4.7 Million to text message your customers? Oh… I forgot to tell you, that doesn’t even include the text messaging costs, those are extra. Why will it cost so much to text message your customers, and what business would ever pay that amount to text message their customers?
According to Eric Buss, the executive vice president and CFO of Life Time Fitness, a recent lawsuit brought against the company by consumers is going to cost them $4.7 million. Why is Life Time Fitness having to pay $4.7 million? They sent text messages to consumers without first getting their consent, which is a violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
Life Time Fitness claims they were under the impression that because their members gave their company their cell phone numbers, they consented to be contacted via text messaging. That impression is completely false, and is the reason why they’re having to pay $4.7 million in expenses relating to the TCPA lawsuit brought against them by consumers that they text messaged.
Want to not spend $4.7 million to text message your customers? It’s pretty simple, make sure that you get consent from consumers before you text message them. Consent is not given just because someone is a customer of yours. There’s only one way to get consent from someone to be able to send them marketing text messages, and that’s by getting their “prior express written consent”. What does that mean? It pretty much means that when someone gives your business their mobile phone number, they must be made aware that by giving your business that mobile phone number, they’re consenting to receive text messages sent by your business. Pretty simple way to save $4.7 million when text messaging your customers right?
