After reviewing applicable SMS laws and regulations, you should ensure your relationship with subscribers is subject to binding messaging Terms of Service and Messaging Privacy Policy disclosures that are properly presented during SMS consent collection.
Postscript recommends using hosted Dynamic Terms of Service and Messaging Privacy Policy disclosures to help support stronger messaging compliance practices. Make sure your SMS consent collection points — including popups, landing pages, embedded forms, and checkout opt-in experiences — present the applicable messaging terms directly to subscribers at the time consent is collected.
For full setup instructions and implementation guidance, review Dynamic Terms of Service & Messaging Privacy Policy
Note: We make no representation and warranty regarding their accuracy and no attorney-client relationship is created by providing these agreements. You are encouraged to consult your own legal counsel familiar with the TCPA before finalizing and posting your consumer agreements.
Manually Maintain Your Terms of Service
If you choose not to use Postscript’s hosted Dynamic Terms of Service and Messaging Privacy Policy, you may maintain your own messaging terms and privacy policy manually.
Please note that merchants managing their own messaging terms are responsible for:
Updating disclosures as messaging regulations evolve
Maintaining carrier compliance requirements
Ensuring messaging terms are properly presented during SMS consent collection
Reviewing and updating their implementation as legal requirements change
Update your SMS Consent Collection Points
If you manually maintain your own messaging Terms of Service and Messaging Privacy Policy, make sure your SMS consent collection points present and hyperlink to the applicable messaging terms directly at the time consent is collected.
This includes:
Popups
Landing pages
Embedded forms
Checkout opt-in experiences
Other SMS consent collection points
Simply updating your Shopify Terms of Service or adding links to your website footer may not ensure subscribers are presented with messaging terms during SMS consent collection.
To manually update your Terms of Service:
Select Settings in the bottom-left corner of your Shopify dashboard.
Select Policies at the bottom of the side menu.
Locate your Terms of Service section. If you have not created or entered your Terms of Service, you can have Shopify insert a draft Terms of Service using a template.
Select Create a template and edit every bracketed section accordingly.
Select Save in the top-right corner to save your changes.
Terms of Service Language
We’ve created a template Terms of Service that you can use and/or reference. Please note that this template lists instructions at the top that require your attention throughout the document. View our Terms of Service template and instructions here.
Please add this template to your existing Terms of Service and update the highlighted areas to reflect the correct information as it pertains to your business.
Add Terms of Service to Your Shop Footer
Once you have updated your Terms of Service, you can add the link to the footer menu (or bottom menu) of your store.
Select Online Store in the side menu of your Shopify dashboard, then select Navigation.
From the menus listed, select Footer menu.
Select Add New item at the bottom of the Menu items list.
On the fly-out panel, enter Terms of Service in the Name field.
From the Link drop-down, locate and select Policies, then select Terms of Service.
Select the green Add button in the bottom-right corner.
Save your updated menu.
Notify Existing Subscribers About Updates
We recommend notifying existing subscribers when your messaging Terms of Service or Messaging Privacy Policy are updated.
New subscribers who consent after updates are made are automatically presented with updated messaging disclosures during consent collection.
Depending on your implementation strategy, existing subscribers may require affirmative notice of updated terms.
You may choose to notify subscribers by:
Sending an SMS campaign linking to updated messaging terms
Sending an email notification
Adding a website banner or announcement
Additional Resources
Need to update your Privacy Policy? We've got you covered with this tutorial.
Interested in learning more about Dynamic Hosted Messaging Terms and Messaging Privacy Policy? Check out this article.
Ready to learn more about SMS Compliance? Take a look at our introductory guide here.
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