In Virtuous, you'll track different methods of communication as Contact Methods on the Individual level. When entering Contact Method details there are a few additional fields available. In general, the "Opt In" checkbox is used to track if a Mobile Phone Number has given consent to receive SMS messages from your organization. This article will cover the best practices to lean on while using the "Opt In" checkbox in different situations.
Note: The SMS feature is only available to deliver messages to Mobile Phone Numbers based in the US.
On Forms
When building any type of Form in Virtuous, you have three important fields to utilize. The "Phone Number" field, "Phone Type" field, and "Phone Consent" field pair together to allow people to share their cell phone number AND provide consent that your organization is allowed to send SMS messages to this phone number.
IMPORTANT: To align with Privacy Laws as set forth by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), it must be clear when someone fills out a Form to Subscribe that they are signing up for SMS messages, and must have a defaulted to False opt-in checkbox to receive SMS messages.
Note: Without the "Phone Type" field, it will NOT be possible to identify Individuals with opted in Mobile Phone numbers on file to send SMS to.
If you select the "Preview" option, you'll notice the display calls out that the Opt In box is confirming that the individual submitting the Form has consented to receive SMS to the number entered in the Phone Number field.
As people fill out this Form, they will be able to send in their Mobile Phone Number and Opt In to receiving messaging from your organization. These submissions will come in through the Gift and Contact Import Tool for validation.
Manually Creating Contact Methods
When creating a Contact Method directly to an existing Virtuous Individual record and not using a Form to bring in the data, the same considerations should be kept in mind.
In the example below, we need to add a Mobile Phone number to the already established Individual, "Don Michael". Navigate to the specific Individual in the dropdown menu and select the edit icon to the right of the Individual name.
Next, in the pop-out window, scroll down to the bottom and select "Add a Contact Method".
In the next window, enter all the appropriate details of the Mobile Phone number.
Be sure the below details are locked in before selecting "Save Contact Method"
- Phone Type must be "Mobile Phone"
- Complete phone number formatted to US standards
- Opt In box must be checked (See next section to be sure your organization complies with TCPA requirements for opt in documentation)
Privacy Law Requirements for Manual Opt In
As mentioned previously, informed consent is a crucial aspect of respecting all privacy law requirements. In order to reduce the risk of Spam, it's important to keep some form of consent documentation to refer back to. The risk of simply opting every Individual in to receiving SMS messages without consent and documentation can be losing your ability to send ANY SMS messages.
IMPORTANT: If your organization does NOT have clear and documented consent for a Cell Phone number opt in, you should NOT be sending any messaging to said number until you obtain such details.
API Usage
As mentioned, the "Opt In" function dictates which Mobile Phone Numbers have consented to receiving SMS from your organization. This means the "Opt In" box for Email Addresses does not have a native functionality within the Virtuous Marketing Best Practices. When using Virtuous CRM and the Virtuous Marketing features, you'll manage your different subscribers interests via Email Lists. To learn more about using Email Lists, check out this Support Article.
If your organization is using data housed in Virtuous to manage marketing activity in a different platform, then the Opt In checkbox may be necessary on Email Address Contact Methods to signify if they have opted in to receiving email messaging. To learn more about working with the Virtuous API, check out this Support Article.