HELP must be supported even on one-time programmes
The requirementstatement
HELP keyword support is required regardless of whether the programme sends recurring messages.
- Severityseverity
- BlockingBLOCKINGBreaking this rule gets the submission rejected. There is no partial credit.
- When it bitesphase
- Gates approvalapprovalGet this wrong and the brand or campaign is refused at registration.
- What is checkedobject
- campaign.help_keywords
- Where it liveslayer
- OperationalOPERATIONAL
- How Ekas settles itdetectability
- DeterministicDETERMINISTIC
- Settled in code from the values you submitted. No model involved, no judgement call, same answer every time.
- What the fix involvesfailureClass
- Fix the fieldRETRY_FIELD
- A better value in the form fixes it. Ekas can rewrite it and re-check.
- Who requires itauthorities
- CTIATCR
- When it appliesapplicabilityText
- Applies to every 10DLC registration.
Why this rule existsrationale
CTIA requires HELP to produce a response whether or not the requester is subscribed and whether or not the programme is a subscription. One-time programmes routinely omit it on the reasoning that there is nothing to unsubscribe from, which leaves a recipient unable to identify the sender at all.
How to fix itremediation
Declare HELP support and configure a reply, even for a single-message programme. The reply must name the brand and give a support route.
A compliant exampleexample
Help keywords: HELP, INFO
Rules you will hit next
One other rule reads campaign.help_keywords. Fixing one field to satisfy a single rule is how a resubmission trades one rejection for another, so read these before you change anything.
MSG-078HELP must be a configured help keywordBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-026The universal opt-out keyword set must be declaredBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-027Opt-out keyword handling must be declared, not assumedBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-029A revocation must survive punctuation, case and surrounding wordsBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-031A plainly-worded opt-out counts even with no keyword in itBlockingBLOCKINGOPS-033STOP must never come back as an errorBlockingBLOCKING
OPS-HELP-ONE-TIME is one of 139 operational rules in the 915-rule 10DLC registry. Free to cite under CC BY 4.0.