Transactional SMS

What is a transactional SMS?

A transactional SMS is a service message triggered by a customer’s action or request — such as an order confirmation, delivery update or one-time password — that informs rather than promotes.

How does a transactional SMS work?

A transactional SMS is triggered by something the customer did or requested: placing an order, logging in, booking an appointment or making a payment. Typical examples are order confirmations, shipping updates, one-time passwords, payment alerts and appointment reminders.

Because these messages carry information the customer needs rather than an offer, they are generally treated as service messages, not direct marketing. In the UK, the ICO says messages sent purely for administrative or customer service purposes do not count as direct marketing, and France’s AF2M charter exempts delivery notifications and authentication from its promotional time window.

That status is easy to lose. Adding a discount code or product recommendation turns the message into marketing, which brings back consent, opt-out and any national send-time rules.

Example

An online store sends "Your order has shipped" at 22:15 without issue, and keeps the promo line for a separate campaign scheduled the next morning.