Texas just threw down the SMS gauntlet

Texas just decided to take SMS marketing regulations to a whole new level.

Starting yesterday, if you want to send marketing texts to people in Texas, you must ...

• File an annual registration,

• Pay a $200 fee per location, and

• Secure a $10,000 surety bond.

Mess this up and they can hit you with $5,000 PER violation.

Plus lawsuits.

Plus criminal charges.

This goes way beyond what other states are doing right now.

Other states have SMS rules, but they're mostly about consent and opt-outs.

Texas is the first to require actual registration and bonding. Like you're getting a contractor's license or running a check cashing business.

And other cash-strapped states are definitely watching. Salivating at all that sweet registration money.

It's a perfect example of how desperate marketers ruin everything for everyone else.

SMS used to be simple ...

Send a text, get customers.

Then came A2P registration. Suddenly you needed carrier approval just to send basic marketing texts.

Now it's individual states piling on their own rules, fees, and bureaucracy.

This is the same pattern we've seen everywhere.

Marketers abuse a channel by sending junk ...

Consumers complain ...

Restrictions get tighter and more expensive.

The cycle never stops.

So where does that leave you?

Well, while SMS gets strangled by red tape ...

Smart businesses are doubling down on email.

Now don't get me wrong ...

Email has plenty of spammers too. People buy lists and blast away just like SMS.

But here's the difference ...

There's no government agency requiring you to register and post bonds to send emails. You don't need to pay fees to each state.

The rules that matter for email come from Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Yahoo.

And they're constantly changing their algorithms and requirements.

But at least you're not dealing with 50 different state bureaucracies.

What you can experience, tho, is one day your emails are performing great ...

The next day they vanish into spam folders because Google or Microsoft changed something.

You need proper authentication, clean sending practices, good engagement rates ...

And a dozen other factors most businesses completely ignore.

Until their revenue drops 50% overnight and they have no clue why.

I can't help you navigate Texas SMS laws or state registration requirements. That's what lawyers are for.

But I can help you build an email system where your messages actually reach your customers while your competitors get filtered out.

Because when SMS becomes a legal and financial nightmare ...

Email becomes your most reliable channel.

If it's set up correctly.

And with Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, now is the time to get this locked down.

What's the point of having killer holiday offers if they never reach your customers?

I've opened up a few extra spots on my calendar for Revenue Roadmap Calls.

Claim yours here and I'll show you how to ensure your emails land in the inbox before the biggest shopping season of the year.

Scott "I've seen easier mortgage applications" Hartley

P.S. SMS is getting complicated, social media keeps changing rules, but email just needs to be set up right.

And most businesses are doing it wrong without even knowing it.

Let's fix that before the holiday rush hits.