Old or inherited customer lists: what to check and how to reconfirm before a campaign

The short answer: before sending a campaign to an old list, whether from a previous system, a former employee or a business you bought, check where the numbers came from, whether people agreed to receive offers and whether the numbers still belong to the same people. Clean the list, remove anyone who opted out and, if in doubt, ask for consent again before any offer.

What to check first

Question	Why it matters
Where did each number come from?	Customers who bought and agreed to offers are one thing; contacts from a business card or a bought list are another.
What did they agree to receive?	Someone who only agreed to order updates did not agree to offers.
When were they last in touch?	A number unused for a long time may now belong to someone else.
Are there recorded opt-out requests?	People who left the old list cannot come back just because you changed systems.
Are the numbers from Mozambique or Angola?	The service only sends to Mozambique and Angola. Other numbers will not work.

Cleaning the list

1	Put everything in a spreadsheet, with name, number and, if you have them, the source and date of consent.

2	Remove rows with no known source and those who only agreed to service notices (they go into an updates group, never into offers).

3	Remove opt-out requests and add those numbers to the opt-out list, so they do not come back by mistake.

4	Check the number format. Numbers are written with or without the country code, because the system can tell the country from the first digit: 841234567 goes to Mozambique and 923456789 to Angola. So +258 84 123 4567 and 258841234567 are the same number as 841234567.

5	Import into a separate group, for example "Old list - to confirm". On import, repeated numbers are not duplicated and rows without a valid number are left out. See contacts and groups.

Asking for consent again

If you are not sure someone agreed, the safe route is to ask before the first offer. Do it where you already have a relationship: at the counter, by e-mail, on the invoice or on your website. If you use an SMS for this, send it only to people who really are or were your customers, with your company name, the reason for the message and a clear way to confirm or leave:

[COMPANY]: we have moved to a new system and want to check. Would you like to keep getting our offers by SMS? Confirm at [WEBSITE]. If not, you do not need to do anything.

People who confirm move to the offers group. People who do not stay out of it. Each country's rules are in SMS rules in Mozambique and SMS rules in Angola.

Start small. If you still plan to use part of the list, send to a small group first and watch the opt-out requests. If there are many, the list is not as good as it looked.

A list inherited from another business does not bring consent with it. People agreed to hear from that company, not yours. Never send offers to a bought list.

List cleaned and confirmed? See SMS Marketing and plan your first campaign.

See the SMS Marketing page

Categories

Categories