STOP, START, and JOIN: the SMS rules every cottage food seller should know

Texting works because people read their texts. That is also why the rules around it are strict — and why the group text you have been using is riskier than it feels.

Consent is not one question

It is three, and they have different answers:

1. Is this person on my list? They gave you their number at a market, or you imported them from a spreadsheet.
2. May I send them announcements? A different question entirely. Being on your list is not permission to broadcast.
3. Have they opted out at the carrier level? If someone replies STOP, that applies to their phone number, not just to one campaign.

Conflating the first two is the mistake that gets numbers blocked. Someone handing you their number so you can tell them their order is ready has not agreed to a weekly announcement.

The keywords are not optional

Three words have specific meanings that carriers expect you to honour:

• STOP — stop sending immediately. Not "after this one". Not "unless it is important".
• START or YES — they want back in.
• JOIN — a new person adding themselves to your list.

BatchDrop handles all three automatically. Someone who texts STOP stops receiving broadcasts that moment, and stays on your customer list so you keep their order history.

Opting people in properly

If you added someone by hand or imported them from a spreadsheet, they start as pending: on your list, not broadcastable. Send them a one-tap opt-in request and a YES moves them across. It is one extra step, and it is the difference between a list you can rely on and one that gets your number flagged.

Replying is different from broadcasting

If someone texts you a question, answering is a conversation they started. That is not a broadcast and it is not gated on marketing consent. The distinction matters: one-to-one replies are always fine, mass announcements need permission.

What this protects

Not just you. A list where everyone chose to be there gets read. A list built by adding everyone who ever bought a jar gets ignored, then reported, then blocked — and rebuilding a blocked number is far more work than asking properly the first time.