Cold SMS risk

"Cold SMS" means texting people who have not clearly agreed to hear from you — typically numbers found through research or purchased data rather than an opt-in. It is the highest-risk activity you can perform with Landing Zone.

Why the risk is real#

• Telephone consumer-protection rules generally require consent for marketing texts, and private lawsuits over unwanted texts are common. Serial plaintiffs actively look for senders who text without consent.
• Several states have their own telemarketing statutes with stricter consent standards, registration duties, or tighter calling windows than the federal baseline.
• Carriers filter unregistered or complained-about traffic aggressively. High opt-out and complaint rates can get a number or a whole registration suspended — ending your ability to text at all.
• Recipients screenshot, complain, and sue. One wrong audience choice can cost more than any campaign returns.

What Landing Zone enforces#

Landing Zone's batch pipeline will not text a contact whose SMS consent status is not verified, applies screening and suppression, enforces quiet hours and the 30-day cooldown, and requires an opt-in acknowledgment when you import an audience. Where line types are unverified, it asks you to confirm before sending. Higher-risk sends are subject to pre-send acknowledgments.

What it cannot protect you from#

Marking imported contacts as opted-in when they are not defeats every control downstream. The acknowledgment you make at import — that you have a lawful basis to contact the recipients — is your representation. If it is wrong, the screening, cooldown, and quiet-hour features do not make the messages lawful, and no Landing Zone feature grants permission to contact anyone.

If you are considering cold SMS anyway#

• Talk to your own counsel about your specific audience, states, and use case first. This page is not that advice.
• Prefer channels with lower consent risk for first contact (mail, email where appropriate), then invite an opt-in for texting.
• If a contact replies "wrong number" or anything resembling a revocation, Landing Zone suppresses them — never work around a suppression.
• Keep your own records of audience source and basis for every send. See Consent records.