In the US and Canada, carriers and regulators treat Promotional and Transactional SMS very differently. This affects when you can send messages, what you can say, and who you can message.
Transactional Messaging
Transactional messages don't require customer consent. These are informational messages like order shipments, delivery updates, or anything your customer needs to know that doesn't encourage them to make a purchase.
Promotional Messaging
Promotional messages are designed to drive sales or site visits. Examples include sales, cart abandonment reminders, discount code offers and any marketing messages.
Promotional messages must follow strict rules about timing, content, and recipients, such as:
Only customers who manually opted in for SMS marketing can be sent a promotional message. These customers are known as "subscribers".
All messages must include opt-out instructions, e.g., "Reply STOP to unsubscribe".
They must respect Quiet Hours.
Your brand's name must be present in the initial message (you can use the Dynamic Variable Shop.Name to automatically add your brand name to the message).
Your message cannot include content related to forbidden categories, e.g., S.H.A.F.T. (Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms, and Tobacco).
No spamming.
No mixing with transactional/service content.
To avoid being penalized, always make sure to categorize marketing-related messaging as 'Promotional' in your Flow Trigger Properties.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Non-compliance with these rules can lead to filtered messages, blocked numbers, or legal action against your business.
TxtCart is not liable for any legal consequences resulting from non-compliant SMS marketing practices.
Compliance Guidelines for Abandonment Flows
Checkout, Cart, and Browse Abandonment messaging must follow specific and strict carrier guidelines:
One message per abandonment event – You're permitted to send a single SMS when a customer abandons their cart or checkout.
48-hour sending window – Messages must be delivered within 48 hours of the abandonment event.
Best Practices for Maximum Results
Based on data from thousands of e-commerce stores, sending your abandoned cart message within the first 30-40 minutes yields the highest conversion rates.
Why These Guidelines Matter
These carrier regulations apply universally across:
All SMS service providers
All mobile carriers
All businesses using text marketing
⚠️ Important: Abandoned Checkout/Cart/Browse Flow Compliance
Before enabling the Abandoned Checkout, Abandoned Cart, or Browse Abandonment Flow, please ensure you have proper opt-in consent from your customers to send them SMS marketing messages.
Customers must explicitly opt in to receive SMS communications during the checkout process
All messages must include a clear opt-out phrase (e.g., "Reply STOP to unsubscribe")
Failure to obtain proper consent before sending abandoned checkout messages may result in compliance violations and potential legal issues.
If you need assistance setting up compliant opt-in mechanisms, please contact our support team.
To learn more about best SMS messaging practices, click here.
Click here to learn more about SMS compliance.
💡Tip:
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