SMS for Marketing Agencies: Run Texting for Every Client

Clients ask their agency for texting because it works: promotions get read, leads get answered, and appointments get kept. Running it for a dozen clients is a different job from running it for one business, though. Every client is its own sender in the eyes of the carriers, every client's consent is its own, and the agency is the one holding the keys when something goes wrong. This guide covers how agencies run texting for clients compliantly, and how agency accounts work on Signilio.

Every client is its own sender

Carriers register texting by business, not by agency. Each client you text for needs:

• Its own 10DLC brand, under its own legal name and EIN, exactly as on its tax records.
• Its own campaigns, describing what that client sends and how that client's customers opt in.
• Its own numbers, sending only that client's messages.

Sending one client's messages under another client's registration, or under the agency's own, is the fastest way to get numbers filtered and registrations suspended. It also means one client's complaints can follow another client's traffic. Keep them apart. See 10DLC registration.

Consent belongs to the client

The people on a client's list agreed to hear from that client, not from the agency and not from the agency's other clients. Build each client's opt-in into that client's own forms, checkout or keyword, naming that client's business, and keep each client's consent records separate, client by client. See how to word SMS consent.

• Never merge lists across clients, even for clients in the same industry or the same town.
• Never bring a purchased or rented list to a client. Signilio's Acceptable Use Policy prohibits messages to purchased or non-consented lists.
• Keep each client's opt-outs with that client. Someone who opts out of one client's texts has opted out of that client, and you should treat their STOP as covering everything that client sends.

Who is responsible when you run a client's texting

Under Signilio's Terms, each client business stays responsible for its own messages and compliance, and the agency is responsible too, together with the client, for anything it sends or sets up in that client's account and for charges billed to the agency on the client's behalf. If you run a client account the client never signs in to, you take full responsibility for it, including the consent behind every message and the records that prove it. Put that in your client agreements, and make sure each client confirms in writing that its list is opted in.

How agency accounts work on Signilio

• One agency account, a separate account for each client. Each client is its own account with its own registration under its own legal name and EIN, its own campaigns and its own acceptance of the Terms. See the Know Your Customer Policy.
• Clients with or without their own login. You can add a client who signs in alongside you, or run a client account with no owner who signs in, accepting the Terms on the client's behalf when you open it.
• Billing per client. Charges for a client can be billed to the agency or to the client.
• You add only clients you can vouch for. An agency may add only businesses it knows, is authorized to act for, and has confirmed are eligible under Signilio's policies, and it must give Signilio information about any client on request.
• Every client is reviewed before it sends. Signilio reviews each client's business details before registration, and no client can send until it's approved.
• Every feature on every plan. Campaigns, segments, scheduling, workflows, keyword replies, a two-way team inbox, the API and webhooks, and reports and exports. See pricing.

Agency accounts are opened by invitation. If you run texting for clients, talk to us about partnering.

Choosing a texting platform for client work

Compare platforms on what client work actually needs: a separate registration per client, a clear answer to who pays for each client, every feature available to every client without tier upgrades, and carrier fees inside the price rather than added later. See the comparisons and the SMS pricing guide.

None of this is legal advice; have counsel review your client agreements and each client's program before you send.