If you purchased the SMS Add-on and are preparing to send SMS messages, you should not send messages during quiet hours.
Quiet hours are periods of the day when marketers should avoid sending text messages to their customers. Many countries have laws and regulations to prevent consumers from receiving marketing SMS communications during unreasonable hours, such as early mornings and late nights.
In addition, SMS marketing during quiet hours is less effective and could lead to higher unsubscribe rates and more customer complaints and spam reporting, creating a bad customer experience. Ultimately, you’re responsible for knowing the quiet hours and other relevant SMS restrictions that apply in your country and to your customers.
This article explains SMS quiet hour restrictions and how to avoid sending messages during these hours.
Take note
- While we set default quiet hours, you can configure when the quiet hours start and end for your account
- Only Account Admins can reconfigure quiet hours
- Quiet hours in the United States reflect EST. This cannot be changed
- Quiet hours in the United Kingdom reflect GMT. This cannot be changed
Understanding the importance of SMS quiet hours
Since text messages are typically viewed as more intrusive, it’s important to only send them at legally compliant times.
SMS sending laws, regulations, and industry standards limit the hours marketers can send text messages. For example, the Telephone Consumer Act of 1991 (TCPA) requires that text messages not be sent before 8 AM or after 9 PM in the recipient's local time zone.
Some countries and US states may have additional, stricter requirements that restrict SMS sending (such as by extending the quiet hours to prohibit sending after 8 PM.) or require additional consumer protections. Please note that it is up to the user to fully understand the requirements in their recipient’s local time zone.
To be safe, you should only send SMS messages to opted-in contacts between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. in the recipient's local time zone.
Learn more about the Telephone Consumer Act of 1991.
How SMS quiet hours work in ActiveCampaign
At ActiveCampaign, we implemented safeguards to help you comply with quiet hours when sending SMS messages.
United States
To ensure the most conservative approach based on US time zones, quiet hours are set by default to be between 6:45 PM and 11 AM. EST when sending to USA recipients. However, you can configure quiet hours for a different time period.
United Kingdom
When sending to UK recipients, quiet hours are set by default between 6:45 PM. and 9 AM. GMT to adjust for local time during the summer months. However, you can configure quiet hours for a different time period.
Configure quiet hours
Quiet hours may not encompass recipients in other time zones, such as Pacific, Alaska, or Hawaii-Aleutian. If this is the case, you can set your own quiet hours to cover these regions.
To do so:
- Click SMS on the left menu, then click Sending options.
- Use the dropdowns to set your quiet hours.
- Click “Save” when finished
If you send to recipients in both the United States and the United Kingdom, the adjusted timeframes will apply to each designated country. It’s not possible to have two separate sets of quiet hours - such as one for the United States and one for the United Kingdom. Reconfigured quiet hours are applied to EST in the United States and GMT in the United Kingdom, regardless of where your account time zone may be.
Broadcast SMS Campaign
If you prepare a broadcast SMS message to send during quiet hours, we’ll display a warning message indicating quiet hours and recommending that you send the message later.
You stay in complete control over your messaging strategy. You can opt out of SMS quiet hour restrictions, allowing you to adjust your approach as needed to best meet your objectives specific to your business.
The penalties for not following SMS-sending laws and regulations can be severe. Please exercise caution when opting out of quiet hours.
"Send an SMS" automation action
If you have an automation with a “Send SMS” action, you can configure the action to send during specific hours in the contacts’ time zones, helping you avoid quiet hours.
Learn how to use date-based triggers and actions in automations.
Legal Disclaimer
ActiveCampaign’s services are used by thousands of customers, in hundreds of industries all over the world, and we recognize that each customer’s legal considerations will be unique. As a result, only your lawyer can provide tailored legal advice to you and we encourage you to consult with your legal counsel to understand the laws and regulations applicable to your own business. Please note that this page is provided for informational purposes only and its contents do not constitute legal advice. The information here is subject to change. Your legal counsel is the best resource to give you advice about the applicability or accuracy of the information contained in this page, or your interpretation of it, with respect to your particular situation.