Promotional SMS Messages to Safaricom - Uwazii MOBILE

Sending of Promotional Messages

Regulations and guidelines that are intended to govern the sending of promotional SMS or SMS marketing messages across the Safaricom network.

Due to the increase in complaints from Safaricom subscribers on matters of unsolicited messages and deceptive marketing activities. On 9th May 2019, Safaricom introduced new regulations that govern the sending of promotional SMS or SMS marketing messages.

The guidelines are intended to guide our operations within the legal and ethical requirements to protect Safaricom subscribers from unsolicited messages. Following the review of the process, Safaricom requires that all bulk SMS account holders should:
  1. Confirm that they have a valid database and that the subscribers in their database have consented to receive targeted promotional messages from a registered sender ID.
  2. Broadcast or send messages that are not emergency related or transactional in nature between 08:00hrs and 18:00hrs East African Time. Messages sent outside these timeframes will be queued for delivery when the gateway is opened.
  3. Ensure that all promotional SMS messages should carry an easy and working opt-out instruction such as STOP*456*9*5#. Uwazii MOBILE automatically append the suffix at the end of every promotional message.
  4. Ensure that survey messages sent to subscribers should be conducted within 72hrs after the transaction/contact has been made and any follow-up prompts via Bulk SMS should within a week.
    1. The first message to a subscriber should be an introduction to the survey. It should clearly detail the purpose and that the SMS is FREE. It should also provide the customer with the option to express their desire to continue with the survey.
    2. In cases of no response to the introductory question, the survey should expire within 48 hours upon which no further prompts should be made unless the customer makes another transaction of contact.
  5. You should not use a database of one service to market a different service without consent from the subscriber.