# OPS-076 — Customer-care contact details must recur too

> Customer-care contact instructions must be promoted at opt-in and at regular intervals thereafter, at least monthly.

- **Rule ID:** OPS-076
- **Layer:** Operational (`OPERATIONAL`)
- **Checks:** `outbound message cadence`
- **Severity:** MEDIUM — Usually survives review, but lowers your trust score or invites manual review.
- **When it bites:** Falls due after approval, once you are live and sending
- **How it is detected:** Not knowable before submission — reported with its deadline
- **Fix type:** Wait on an external system or a required interval
- **Required by:** CTIA
- **Applies:** Applies to every 10DLC registration.
- **Canonical URL:** https://ekas.io/rules/10dlc/operational/ops-076/

## Why this rule exists

The opt-out is not the only thing a subscriber needs to be able to find; a consumer who does not recognise a message needs a route to a person before their only remaining option is a spam report. HELP covers it on request, but a recipient who does not know HELP exists will not send it, which is why the instruction has to appear rather than wait to be asked for.

## How to fix it

Include "Reply HELP for help" alongside the opt-out line, and put the support address or number itself into at least one message a month. Done when a subscriber can reach a person without searching for the brand.

## Example of a compliant value

```text
Acme Coffee: reply HELP for help or email support@acmecoffee.com. Reply STOP to opt out.
```

## Check this yourself

**Can a subscriber reach a person without searching for the brand — in at least one message a month?**

1. Check the monthly template rather than the sample set. Samples almost always carry both lines and live traffic often does not.
2. Include "Reply HELP for help" alongside the opt-out line, and put the support address or number itself into at least one message a month.

*What wrong looks like:* A recipient who does not recognise a message and does not know HELP exists will not send it. Their only remaining option is a spam report.

## Notes

Absorbs MSG-080, which states the same cadence from the message-content side. A property of live sends. What the user has to do is check the monthly template rather than the sample set — samples almost always carry both lines and live traffic often does not.