You come in, sit down, and log in. Your morning coffee steams while you peruse the dozens of emails that await you. Some are important. Some are even urgent. But most are destined for the trash. You grind through your inbox, replying to some and flagging others for later. And by the time your real work starts, your coffee is cold and you can’t find that one important email your client sent yesterday.
How much does it cost to send a text message?
It’s often less than a cent if you’re a marketer sending in bulk, but U.S. pizza chain Papa John’s could be forced to pay $1,500 a pop for 500,000 text messages its franchisees sent in 2010.
A class action lawsuit alleges that the chain’s franchisees, though a third party text messaging service, sent promotional ads to consumers without their permission in violation of a 1991 law. The attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case are asking for $250m in damages, but a jury could award triple that amount if it decides that Papa John’s willfully violated the law.
While it remains to be seen just how likely an eight-figure verdict is, and it would seem that there’s a decent chance the class action will be settled before the matter is put in the hands of a jury, Papa John’s plight provides several good lessons for other marketers using SMS to reach consumers.
Dispatches From The Front 