A friend complained about her phone getting flooded with text messages and couldn't understand how it started. I explained that she signed up for it. The text was promoting an event she had no interest in, so she didn't understand how she could have signed on for it. I asked her if she registered to receive text alerts for anything in the past and she answered "yes." Then I explained that signing up also meant you unknowingly agreed to accept alerts for related subjects in the future.

"Did you read the 'Terms of the agreement?'" I asked.

"I don't remember," she said.

There you go.

When you click on Terms of the Agreement, it looks like a lot of legal crap no one wants to read. The only people who do are lawyers and the people who write them (like yours truly). Companies need to look at this as more than a way to save them from lawsuits. With the Terms, you are establishing the basis of your relationship with the customer. So when a brand gets all technical with the relationship, your customers tend to ignore you. Then when the brand does something the customer doesn't like (like over-texting), you run the risk of losing your audience. It doesn't matter if you "warned" them that this could happen in the fine print.

• In your campaigns, push to be more transparent with your audience. Tell them exactly how you plan to communicate now and in the future.
• But first, give them what they ask for.
• Then ask if they want more.
• If you respect the terms of the relationship, more than likely, they will want more.

My friend didn't want more, so she typed: Please stop sending me more information.

The company responded: Sorry, we could not understand your message. Please refer to program details & try again.

I told her to type "Stop" in the reply. She did — ALL CAPS.

They responded: Sorry to see you go. You will receive no more messages.

Then I wondered how often did they have to use that automated reply.

Image courtesy of stock.xchng .