Messages that Matter | Text-Em-All Blog

Our Unique Approach to a Responsible Use Policy

Written by Ron Kinkade | Dec 20, 2021

Mass texting is a powerful tool, just like phone calls and emails, which can easily be abused and become an annoyance when people are bombarded with SPAM. While these messages aren’t necessarily illegal, they just aren’t the type of messages that make the positive impact we strive for. This means we turn away hundreds of new accounts each month, but it allows us to focus on thousands of clients that are sending the kind of urgent messages people need and want.

"Our values and manifesto aren't just talk; they guide everything we do and the decisions we make. As a result, we sleep better at night, love what we do, and have a great product" - Brad Herrmann (President & Co-Founder)

 

Why we decided to merge our product with our culture

In an industry people love to hate, we realized early on that we wanted to use our powers for good and not evil. We operate with heart, and take our leadership seriously, as a responsibility not to be misused - which is why we expect our customers to do the same. That’s why we DO NOT allow our customers to use our platform for spam, threats, inappropriate conduct/behavior or personal use.

Instead, we encourage our customers to send messages that recipients want to receive. For example, appointment reminders, emergency notifications, payment reminders, or event updates.

Our war on SPAM

We loathe unwanted messages, and we hate spam just as much as you do. That's why it’s against our Responsible Use Policy for our customers to send political, sales, promotional, or fundraising messages.

These types of messages aren't necessarily illegal, but we strongly believe that they are not the calls and texts that people prefer to get. Everyone can relate to annoying phone calls throughout the day, or text messages from companies you don't know.

As part of our policy, we also require you to have consent from your customers to send messages. When comparing mass texting services, you'll find that many have policies against SPAM, but that's usually just some fine print stating that it's your organization's responsibility to follow best practices. In reality, they want your business no matter what - they don't want to say no or be responsible. At Text-Em-All, we constantly monitor delivery and opt-out rates and deactivate accounts when we see our platform being abused.

Text-Em-All is not for personal use

Using our platform for personal use is strictly prohibited. This includes using our platform in place of a cell phone to message friends, for verification messages, and to anonymously message individual contacts.

We’ve recently seen an alarming increase in the amount of people using text messaging platforms to send anonymous threats to institutions and individuals. While this type of behavior isn’t acceptable in general, it’s definitely not allowed on our platform. Accounts who are caught sending threatening messages will immediately be disabled.

Any information that may be considered unlawful, harassing, libelous, abusive, threatening, obscene, hateful, offensive, harmful, vulgar, distasteful, defamatory, indecent, objectionable, or invasive of another person's privacy or proprietary rights is prohibited.

Doing the right thing even when no one's looking

Why are we different?  At Text-Em-All, we review the messages that are sent out from our platform to ensure spam is limited and there is good intent behind all messages. We say, "no, you're not a fit for us" to hundreds of customers every month. While that certainly means we're missing out on some revenue, it's the right thing to do when you care about making a positive impact.