SMS marketing has proven to be a highly-effective form of digital marketing. However, if you’re not careful, you could be landing your business in serious legal trouble.

That’s because several regulations governing the use of SMS marketing exist. Without staying on top of these regulations, you could be risking legal fines and other measures.

The GDPR, a measure recently passed by the European Union, is the largest legislation you need to be aware of when conducting your SMS marketing campaign. Though the legislation only affects companies that deal with customers in the European Union, it’s best to abide by this legislation entirely if you’re going to be running a business online. Because it can be difficult to determine where your customers are from, by meeting GDPR regulations across the board, you can avoid legal headaches for later.

With this in mind, consider the following information that you should know about the GDPR.

Stay Compliant

First and foremost, you’re going to want to stay compliant. Under the GDPR, this means giving your customers full consent and control over the data that you collect of them.

For instance, they’ll need to give express consent to have their data used for marketing purposes—including SMS and email. You’ll also need to be able to delete any of their information should they request it.

In this way, make sure that you set up your business in such a way that you can give control to your customers.

Gather Opt-in/Consent-Based Numbers

To do this, first, you’ll need to get opt-in permissions from your customers. During your online signup forms, you can add this option. Just be careful that customers can clearly see the opt-in and that they understand they’re using their mobile number for marketing purposes.

In this way, you can meet the requirements to gather opt-in numbers. By having permission from your customers, you’ll be able to start adding them to your marketing campaign.

Keep in mind, as well, that you’re going to need to store this sensitive information in a secure place—and that you’re going to need access to it rather quickly if an issue arises. For this reason, take care in how you store your data—as it can be just as important.

Provide Optout Links or Unsubscribe Options

Remember that just having an opt-in option isn’t enough. In order to stay GDPR compliant, you’re going to need to give your customers an opt-out option as well.

This will allow them to leave your marketing campaign and drop off your list if they no longer wish to subscribe to your messages. Obviously, your goal is to run a marketing campaign that will attract customers so much that they don’t opt out—but should the need arise, you’re going to want to be compliant.

For this reason, you may wish to attach a clear unsubscribe option to your messages. This will help make sure that you’re staying compliant and giving customers the resources they need.