Text messages — consent, compliance and what gets sent

Sidebar: Business Settings → Notifications → Text Messages.

Texting is regulated. The rules exist because unwanted texts are a genuine nuisance, and the penalties for ignoring them are real. Alaga enforces consent rather than trusting it, which occasionally means a text you expected does not go out.

Every gate must be open

A text only sends when all of these are true:

Your business has that text type switched on. Reminder texts are off by default, separately from reminder emails.
The client has agreed to receive texts.
The client has not opted out of that particular kind of message.
You have messages left in your monthly allowance.
The client has a mobile number on file.

Any one of them closed and the text is skipped silently. That is the answer to nearly every "why didn't my text send" question — see Why didn't my reminder send? for working through it in order.

STOP and START

A client replying with any of STOP, END, CANCEL, QUIT, UNSUBSCRIBE or STOP ALL is opted out immediately and automatically.

It happens without you doing anything, and it cannot be undone from your side.
Asking them to opt back in by phone does not work. Only the client can reverse it, by replying START, YES, SUBSCRIBE or UNSTOP.
Replying HELP returns information about your messages.

Do not try to work around an opt-out by texting from a different number. That is precisely the behaviour the rules exist to stop.

Consent does not transfer

When you move from another platform, the consent your clients gave does not come with them. They consented to that provider, not to Alaga. Everyone opts in again.

This surprises people mid-migration, so plan for it: the portal invitation is a natural moment to ask, and clients agreeing while they are setting up their account is far more effective than a later campaign.

Your monthly allowance

Each plan includes a number of texts per month. When it runs out, texts stop until the month rolls over. Emails are unaffected — reminders keep going by email.

Worth knowing before a busy month: reminders are usually the bulk of the usage, and a two-reminder-per-appointment pattern adds up quickly in a business doing thirty appointments a day.

What gets sent

Automatic texts cover appointment reminders and similar operational messages, controlled per type under Notifications → Text Messages. Turn on only what earns its place; every text is a cost and a small imposition.

Conversations you send by hand from Messages are subject to the same consent rules.

Marketing is different

Promotional texts carry stricter requirements than operational ones. Send those through Marketing, which handles consent and unsubscribes properly. Do not use a reminder or a conversation to slip in an offer.

If you are unsure

The safe position is: operational messages about a booking the client made, to a client who agreed to texts, with an easy way to stop. Anything beyond that is worth checking against the rules where you operate — this article describes how Alaga behaves, not what the law requires of you.