At a time when WhatsApp (WA) marketing has become a core channel for enterprises to acquire customers, compliance issues have become a "stumbling block" for many businesses. With the successive introduction of regulations such as the EU GDPR, California CCPA, and Southeast Asian data protection laws, strict requirements have been imposed on the collection of user information and the delivery of marketing messages. A slight mistake can lead to heavy fines or account bans. However, the key to solving WA operation compliance issues lies precisely in the WA account screening process. Many enterprises overlook scientific WA account screening and fail to accurately check users’ compliance status, resulting in non-compliant deliveries and frequent complaints. If enterprises can use ITG Global Screening to conduct professional WA account screening and identify compliant users from the source, they can effectively avoid compliance risks, help WA operations get rid of difficulties, and achieve stable growth.
Many enterprises fall into compliance dilemmas in WA operations. While this may seem like a result of insufficient understanding of regulations, the root cause actually lies in the lack of compliance screening dimensions in the WA account screening process. Specifically, these issues can be summarized into three major problems:
Under data compliance requirements, explicit authorization is required to send WA marketing messages to users. If WA account screening only focuses on "whether the number is registered" and does not check the user’s authorization status, it will result in sending messages to unauthorized users. For example, a cross-border apparel enterprise did not conduct WA account screening from the compliance dimension and sent new product information to 80,000 purchased "registered" numbers. Among these, 30,000 users had not authorized the receipt of marketing content. Eventually, the enterprise was reported to regulatory authorities by users, fined 200,000 euros in accordance with GDPR regulations, and its WA account was temporarily banned due to high complaint rates.
Compliance requirements vary across regions. For instance, the EU GDPR requires users to be able to withdraw authorization at any time, while some Southeast Asian countries mandate that marketing messages must be marked with an "Advertisement" label. If WA account screening does not adapt to regional compliance requirements and sends uniform content, it is highly likely to violate regulations. An electronic product enterprise did not conduct region-specific WA account screening and sent the same marketing messages to users in the EU and Southeast Asia. It neither provided an authorization withdrawal channel for EU users nor marked "Advertisement" for Southeast Asian users. This led to a surge in complaints from users in both regions, the restriction of the WA account’s messaging function, and an investigation by local regulatory authorities.
If the source of numbers used in WA account screening is non-compliant (e.g., user data purchased from illegal channels), even if the subsequent delivered content is compliant, risks will still be triggered due to problematic data sources. A home furnishing enterprise purchased 100,000 WA numbers from third-party channels for operations but did not conduct WA account screening to verify the compliance of data sources. Later, it was discovered that 40,000 of these numbers were illegally obtained user information. The enterprise not only had to delete all non-compliant data but also received a warning from regulatory authorities. WA operations were forced to suspend for 1 month, causing it to miss the peak home renovation season.
Targeting the compliance pain points of WA operations, ITG Global Screening builds a three-in-one WA account screening system of "authorization check, regional adaptation, and source verification". It avoids compliance risks from the screening source and ensures that WA operations are legal and compliant:
The WA account screening function of ITG Global Screening identifies authorized users through multi-dimensional verification to avoid non-compliant deliveries:
- Two-channel authorization verification: Connects to the enterprise’s CRM system and WA official subscription data to cross-verify whether users have authorized through methods such as "form submission, WA channel subscription, and SMS confirmation", ensuring that authorization records are traceable.
- Authorization timeliness judgment: Identifies users whose authorization has exceeded 1 year with no subsequent interaction, marks them as "authorization pending confirmation", and requires re-obtaining user authorization before sending messages to avoid violations due to expired authorization.
- Authorization type matching: Distinguishes between "product information authorization, promotion activity authorization, and after-sales service notification authorization" to ensure that the delivered content matches the user’s authorization type. For example, users who only have "after-sales service authorization" will not receive product promotion messages.
A beauty brand used ITG Global Screening for WA account screening and identified 72,000 authorized users from 100,000 numbers. The proportion of unauthorized users dropped from 35% to 8%, no further unauthorized delivery violations occurred in subsequent deliveries, and the complaint rate decreased from 6% to 1.3%.
The WA account screening of ITG Global Screening provides customized screening solutions based on regulatory differences across regions:
- Regional regulatory label generation: Automatically adds regulatory labels such as "EU GDPR, California CCPA, Singapore PDPA" to accounts based on the number’s location, clarifying the compliance requirements that different accounts must follow.
- Compliant content template matching: Recommends corresponding compliant delivery templates for accounts with different regulatory labels. For example, messages sent to EU accounts must include an "authorization withdrawal entry and a link to data processing instructions", while messages to Southeast Asian accounts must be marked with an "Advertisement" label.
- Special regional restriction check: Identifies regions subject to strict regulatory restrictions (e.g., users in sensitive industries in the EU). If the enterprise does not have specific compliance qualifications for the region, such accounts are automatically excluded to avoid crossing regulatory red lines.
A cross-border e-commerce enterprise used the regional compliance adaptation function of ITG Global Screening for WA account screening, matching exclusive compliance solutions for accounts in different regions. It added an authorization withdrawal entry to messages sent to the EU and marked "Advertisement" for Southeast Asian users. No regional compliance violations occurred within 6 months, and the WA account was rated as a "high-quality operation account".
The WA account screening of ITG Global Screening controls data compliance from the source to avoid risks caused by problematic sources:
- Channel legitimacy verification: Requires marking the source channel (e.g., "official website registration, exhibition collection, partner sharing") when uploading numbers, and connects to third-party data compliance platforms to verify whether the channel has data collection qualifications.
- Data desensitization status check: Identifies numbers that have not been desensitized (e.g., containing sensitive information such as user names and addresses) and automatically reminds the enterprise to desensitize sensitive information, in line with the "data minimization" compliance principle.
- Duplicate data cleaning: Eliminates duplicate numbers from different channels to avoid complaints caused by sending multiple messages to the same user, while reducing data redundancy and lowering compliance management costs.
A B2B machinery enterprise used ITG Global Screening for WA account screening, identified and excluded 23,000 numbers from non-compliant sources. The data compliance rate increased from 72% to 98%, no further regulatory risks were faced due to data source issues, and the stability of WA operations was significantly improved.
With ITG Global Screening, enterprises can conduct scientific WA account screening without a professional compliance team. Compliance operations can be achieved in 4 steps:
Based on the enterprise’s business coverage areas and compliance needs, set WA account screening dimensions in the ITG Global Screening backend:
- Mandatory dimensions: Authorization status check (two-channel verification + timeliness judgment), regional regulatory label generation, and data source legitimacy verification.
- Optional dimensions: Authorization type matching, special regional restriction check, and duplicate data cleaning.
- Example settings: For a cross-border enterprise covering the EU and Southeast Asia, the screening dimensions are set as "two-channel authorization verification + EU GDPR/Southeast Asia PDPA labels + official website/exhibition source verification + duplicate data cleaning".
Organize the WA numbers to be screened into Excel/CSV format (including number location and source channel information), upload them to the "WA Account Screening - Compliance Special" module of ITG Global Screening, confirm the screening dimensions, and click "Start Screening". The system will automatically connect to multi-dimensional compliance data, and screening of 100,000 numbers can be completed in only 2-3 hours, generating a "Compliance Screening Report".
Based on the WA account screening report generated by ITG Global Screening, focus on optimizing three key areas:
- Handling of unauthorized accounts: Incorporate unauthorized accounts into the "authorization cultivation pool" and guide users to authorize by sending "exclusive authorization benefits" (e.g., small coupons) instead of directly sending marketing content.
- Regional compliance adjustment: For regional accounts that do not match compliant templates, improve the delivery content according to the system-recommended templates (e.g., add a link to data processing instructions for EU accounts).
- Elimination of accounts from non-compliant sources: Directly delete accounts from illegal sources and exclude them from the operation list. At the same time, optimize number procurement channels and prioritize compliant owned channels.
Conduct deliveries based on WA account screening results and monitor compliance indicators in real time:
- Regional compliance delivery: Send compliant content matching the regulatory labels of different regions to avoid "one-size-fits-all" delivery.
- Compliance indicator monitoring: Use ITG Global Screening to view "unauthorized delivery rate, regional compliance compliance rate, and user complaint rate" in real time. If the unauthorized delivery rate exceeds 2% or the complaint rate exceeds 3%, immediately suspend delivery and re-optimize the WA account screening plan.
- Regular compliance review: Re-conduct WA account screening with ITG Global Screening every month to update user authorization status and regional regulatory requirements, ensuring that compliance operations continue to meet standards.
This foreign trade enterprise covered multiple regions including the EU, North America, and Southeast Asia, and faced multiple compliance issues in WA operations:
- Frequent unauthorized deliveries: When sending messages to 120,000 numbers, 40% of users were unauthorized. It was reported to regulatory authorities by EU users multiple times and received 2 compliance warnings.
- Poor regional compliance adaptation: It sent uniform content without adding an authorization withdrawal channel for EU users or marking "Advertisement" for North American users. Its WA account had its messaging function restricted twice.
- Disorganized data sources: It purchased numbers from 5 third-party channels, and some channels lacked data collection qualifications, posing risks of non-compliant sources.
By conducting scientific WA account screening with ITG Global Screening, the enterprise resolved compliance issues:
- Authorization compliance: Identified 85,000 authorized users, reducing the proportion of unauthorized users from 40% to 7%. No further complaints about unauthorized deliveries occurred, and it was free from compliance warnings.
- Regional adaptation: Matched compliance solutions for accounts in different regions, adding an authorization withdrawal channel to messages sent to the EU and marking "Advertisement" for North American users. The regional compliance rate increased from 55% to 98%, and the number of WA account restrictions dropped to zero.
- Source compliance: Excluded 32,000 numbers from non-compliant sources. The data source compliance rate increased from 60% to 99%, no further risks were faced due to source issues, and the WA operation rating was improved.
WA account screening should not only focus on whether a number is registered. It is essential to prioritize checking authorization status, regional compliance, and source legitimacy. Otherwise, even if an account is registered, it may still trigger risks due to compliance issues. The multi-dimensional compliance screening of ITG Global Screening can effectively avoid this misunderstanding.
User authorization is not a "one-time effort". Expired authorization or delivery content that does not match the authorization type still constitutes a violation. WA account screening needs to use ITG Global Screening to judge authorization timeliness and match authorization types, ensuring no compliance blind spots.
Manual screening cannot cover regulatory differences across multiple regions or the verification of authorization for a large number of accounts. It is inefficient and error-prone. Using ITG Global Screening for WA account screening enables automated and accurate compliance screening, reducing compliance costs.
Compliance is not a "shackle" for WA operations, but a "guarantee" for long-term stable development. Scientific WA account screening is the "key" to unlocking compliance. Through multi-dimensional compliance screening, ITG Global Screening upgrades WA account screening from "basic registration verification" to "full-link compliance control", helping enterprises break through compliance dilemmas and achieve secure growth in WA operations. Remember, only by doing a good job in compliance during WA account screening can WA marketing truly become a "booster" for business growth!
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