Messaging and consent policy
The consent, opt-out, and content rules you, the merchant, must follow when messaging your customers through Zobi.
Zobi is a service operated by Zobi OÜ ("Zobi", "we", "us"), a private limited company incorporated in Estonia. Zobi is a technology platform that transmits AI-written conversational messages over iMessage, with SMS and RCS fallback, to shoppers from your own store who enter the campaigns you run (for example by reaching your checkout, signing up, or placing an order), on the timing those campaigns use, using the templates and instructions you supply or approve, for the purpose of recovering abandoned checkouts and driving repeat purchases. Message delivery runs through third-party providers, currently Blooio, SendBlue, AgentPhone, and Twilio.
You decide your messaging program as set out in section 3 of our terms, so you are the sender of its messages. We run the safeguards in section 4 of our terms. This policy sets the rules you must follow. It works alongside our terms of service, our acceptable use policy, our data processing addendum, and our privacy policy. Zobi does not provide legal advice, and nothing in this policy is legal advice. You must obtain your own counsel on the laws that apply to your messaging.
Purpose and scope
This policy sets out the rules every merchant must follow when using Zobi to message their customers. The rules exist to keep messaging lawful, to protect recipients, and to keep our sending infrastructure and our provider relationships in good standing. They apply to every message you send through Zobi, on every channel, regardless of where you or your customer are located.
These rules are mandatory. Violating them, or putting our compliance standing at risk, can lead to us pausing or ending your messaging, as described in the enforcement section below. This policy is governed by the laws of Estonia, and the governing-law, class-action and collective-action waiver, and dispute-resolution provisions in our terms of service apply to it.
You are the sender; we run the safeguards
Zobi transmits the messages you direct it to send, to shoppers from your own store who enter the campaigns you run, on the timing those campaigns use, using the templates and instructions you supply or approve.
Your messaging program is human-directed and AI-assisted. You are the human decision-maker who initiates, configures, authorizes, and supervises the program: you decide which campaigns run, and so which of your store's shoppers they message, and on what terms. The individual messages are generated with AI assistance operating within the parameters, templates, and instructions you configure and approve. You can review the program, pause it, and intervene at any time. Zobi transmits at your direction and does not independently decide whom to contact. Because the program is initiated and directed by you and confined to the campaigns and terms you set, you are the sender, initiator, and originator of every message, and the messaging is human-directed rather than autonomous or random dialing.
- Where applicable law treats the underlying customer data as personal data subject to data protection rules, you are the data controller and Zobi acts as your processor on the terms of the data processing addendum.
- You choose the campaigns that run, which determine the recipients (shoppers from your own store who enter those campaigns), and you supply or approve the templates and instructions that determine the content. Zobi's automation operating within the parameters you configure does not make Zobi the sender.
- You are responsible for the lawfulness of every message, including its consent basis, its content, and its destination. Section 18 of our terms sets out who covers which claims.
Consent
You represent and warrant that, before any message is sent through Zobi, you have obtained and can document prior express written consent (where such consent is required by applicable law) from every recipient, that each recipient knowingly and voluntarily provided their mobile number to you for the purpose of receiving these messages, and that no recipient's consent has been revoked. You bear the entire burden of obtaining, evidencing, and maintaining consent.
- Consent must be specific to receiving messages from your brand. A recipient who agreed to hear from one business has not agreed to hear from another.
- Consent must be clearly and affirmatively given. Do not rely on pre-checked boxes, buried terms, or consent bundled into something unrelated where the law of the recipient's location requires more, including any heightened "prior express written consent" standard.
- You may not use purchased, rented, scraped, or otherwise third-party-sourced contact lists. Every recipient must have a direct relationship with your brand and must have consented to it.
- Conversational messages tied to a customer's own checkout or order are still subject to all applicable consent requirements and law. The fact that a message is a reply about the customer's own activity does not exempt it.
- You must retain records of when, how, through what disclosure, and for what purpose each recipient consented, for at least 4 years (section 5.1 of our terms), and you must produce those records on request. You can get a copy of the consent records your checkout collects by asking us (section 10.1 of our terms). Zobi may, but is not obligated to, request proof of consent for any recipient or campaign, and Zobi may pause your sending under section 15 of our terms if you do not provide that proof promptly.
Data processing obligations that come with handling this customer data are covered in the data processing addendum.
Opt-out and HELP
Zobi's system honors STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, and other standard opt-out keywords, and their common equivalents, in the language a recipient is likely to use. This is one of the safeguards we run (section 4 of our terms). You remain responsible for honoring opt-outs you receive through any other channel, and for not re-adding any recipient who has opted out.
- You must provide a helpful response to HELP requests so recipients can understand who is messaging them and how to get assistance or stop messages.
- Recipients may withdraw consent at any time and by any reasonable means, not only by a specific keyword. Treat any clear request to stop, made through any channel, as an opt-out.
- Once a recipient opts out, do not message them again unless and until they give fresh consent.
- You must not upload, import, or message any number you know or should know is on an internal, carrier, or statutory do-not-contact, do-not-call, or suppression list.
Zobi supports automated opt-out and HELP handling to make compliance easier. Who covers a claim about a missed opt-out is set out in section 18 of our terms.
A recipient’s STOP also turns off Edge Checkout for that recipient.
Timing and quiet hours
You must respect each recipient's local time and any applicable quiet-hours rules. Do not send marketing messages outside the hours permitted where the recipient is located. As an example only, US guidance commonly restricts messaging outside 8am to 9pm in the recipient's local time; this is an example, not the rule for every place, and you are responsible for the rules that actually apply to each recipient.
Zobi includes timezone-aware scheduling and quiet-hours deferral to help defer messages out of quiet hours. Our quiet-hours floor is one of the safeguards we run (section 4 of our terms). You may set narrower hours.
Frequency and relevance
Keep message frequency reasonable and keep content relevant to the recipient and their relationship with your brand. Do not over-message. Excessive or irrelevant messaging leads to complaints, carrier filtering, and a poor experience for recipients, and it puts your account and our infrastructure at risk.
Prohibited and restricted content
You may not use Zobi for any messaging for which you lack the required consent, and you may not send content that is prohibited or restricted. This includes, without limitation:
- SHAFT content: sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, and tobacco, including content that promotes or references these categories where messaging rules prohibit it.
- Illegal goods or services, and illegal, deceptive, fraudulent, or misleading content of any kind.
- Phishing, smishing, malware, or other content designed to deceive or harm recipients.
- High-risk financial and other regulated categories, such as those subject to special legal restrictions, unless you are fully authorized and compliant and we have agreed to it in writing.
This list is not exhaustive. Our acceptable use policy is incorporated into this policy by reference, sets out the full content and conduct rules, and you must follow it.
Channel and carrier rules
Each channel and carrier has its own rules, and you must comply with all of them as they apply to your messaging.
- For SMS in the United States, you must comply with US A2P 10DLC registration requirements, including accurate brand and campaign registration.
- You must follow the CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices, and you must comply with carrier acceptable-use rules and filtering, including content and traffic standards.
- For iMessage and other Apple messaging, you must comply with Apple's iMessage and Business messaging terms and policies.
- For RCS, you must comply with applicable RCS requirements and sender verification rules.
Regional laws and regimes
You are solely responsible for complying with all laws and regulations that apply to your messaging in each recipient's location, and for obtaining your own legal counsel on them. Zobi does not provide legal advice and does not warrant that your messaging complies with any of them. The following are examples of regimes you may be responsible for; they are not the complete set of laws that may apply to you:
- United States: the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), including its consent and quiet-hours requirements; FCC rules; the CTIA Messaging Principles; A2P 10DLC registration for SMS; the CAN-SPAM Act; and state telemarketing laws, including the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA) and equivalent state statutes.
- Canada: Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
- European Union and United Kingdom: the GDPR, the EU ePrivacy rules, and the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), which require prior consent for electronic marketing and an ongoing right to object.
- Carriers and Apple: carrier acceptable-use rules and the messaging terms and policies of Apple, the carriers, and our messaging providers.
- A catch-all duty to comply with all other laws, regulations, and rules applicable in each recipient's location.
No delivery or deliverability guarantee
Delivery is not guaranteed. Zobi does not guarantee the delivery, deliverability, speed, or timing of any message, and does not guarantee that a message will not be filtered, blocked, throttled, delayed, or otherwise restricted. Apple, carriers, RCS providers, and our messaging providers may filter, delay, throttle, or block messages at their discretion, and Zobi is not responsible for non-delivery or for any consequence of it.
Recordkeeping and audit cooperation
You must maintain accurate records of consent and of your messaging, and you must cooperate with any carrier, provider, or regulator audit, inquiry, or investigation relating to your messaging. On request, you must promptly provide evidence of consent and any other records reasonably required to demonstrate compliance.
If you fail to provide requested consent evidence or to cooperate with an audit, we may pause sending for your store as section 15 of our terms describes.
Who covers what
Who covers which claims about your messaging is set out in section 18 of our terms of service: each side covers the claims that come from its own part. This policy adds no separate indemnity.
The class-action and collective-action waiver and the limitation of liability in our terms of service apply to your use of Zobi for messaging. Nothing in this policy excludes or limits any liability that cannot be excluded or limited under mandatory provisions of Estonian or European Union law, and to that extent the carve-outs in our terms of service apply.
Enforcement and pausing sending
We may pause sending for your store, in whole or in part, as section 15 of our terms (Pausing sending) describes, including where your messaging breaks this policy or the law, or where you do not provide requested consent proof or cooperate with an audit. We may report unlawful activity where required.
Trademark note
iMessage is a trademark of Apple Inc. Zobi is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Apple Inc. Other names and marks are the property of their respective owners.
Contact
Questions about this policy can be sent to [email protected].
This document is provided for general information and does not constitute legal advice. If you have questions about it, contact us at [email protected].