Age Gating: SMS Marketing for Alcohol Merchants

Rob Hand
Collect date of birth with SMS Age Gating block for Klaviyo Forms
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Klaviyo SMS now available for alcohol brands

In this product release 

The popularity of SMS marketing in ecommerce is soaring, with almost half of all businesses in the industry leveraging the channel for marketing. Brands recognize the importance of offering a mobile-centric experience that fosters direct communication with customers. SMS marketing has proven to be a powerful tool to drive sales, as evidenced by the fact that 73% of consumers have made purchases as a result of a brand’s text.

In the past, certain sectors, including alcohol businesses, faced challenges in utilizing SMS marketing due to compliance regulations surrounding sensitive content. However, mobile carriers have extended SMS marketing permissions to alcohol merchants, provided they collect subscribers’ date of birth and verify their legal drinking age.

With the release of Age Gating, Klaviyo can now validate your subscriber’s age before texting them. This feature seamlessly incorporates compliant date of birth collection using the “Age Gate” block within Klaviyo forms. It ensures that the legal drinking age is confirmed before initiating text communication with subscribers in the United States, Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. This development unlocks the full potential of SMS marketing for alcohol brands and merchants, providing them with a powerful tool to reach their target audience effectively.

The challenge

Locked out of SMS marketing

Over the years, the alcohol industry has faced restrictions in SMS marketing due to regulatory bodies such as the Cellular Telephone Industries Association (CTIA) and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). While a few carriers allowed alcohol marketing through SMS, it was not universally accepted. This inconsistency presented substantial challenges for alcohol brands venturing into SMS marketing, frequently resulting in delivery problems. Now, alcohol merchants can harness the power of SMS marketing, which boasts a click rate 5.5 times higher than that of email.

The solutions

Klaviyo’s SMS Age Gating

With this recent update, Klaviyo forms now feature an “Age Gate” block that collects subscribers’ date of birth and verifies their legal drinking age based on the country the form is displayed. Klaviyo securely stores subscribers’ date of birth and subscription timestamp for regulatory compliance and data collection. Alcohol brands and merchants can then leverage SMS marketing to engage subscribers, driving more sales through direct and personalized communication.

Getting started

To kickstart your SMS marketing journey, follow these steps for easy setup:

  1. Access Settings: First, navigate to the Settings page in your account. Click on the “SMS” tab.
  2. Enable SMS: On the SMS page, click the “Add Age Gate” button to activate SMS for your account.
  3. Activate Your Phone Number: After enabling SMS, choose the phone number type for the country where you intend to use SMS marketing. Klaviyo will verify this phone number, ensuring compliance with mobile carriers’ regulations. For detailed guidance on selecting a phone number and the verification process, refer to these help center articles Understanding US and Canadian SMS Numbers and Understanding UK, Irish, Australian, and New Zealand SMS Numbers.
  4. Integrate the “Age Gate” Block: To proceed, add the “Age Gate” block to all your signup forms where you collect SMS consent. This step is required before Klaviyo can register your sending number. Drag the “Age Gate” block into the form where you’ll collect SMS consent. In the block settings, select the specific country for which you are collecting the legal drinking age. If you plan to use SMS for multiple regions, you’ll need to create separate forms for each country. Please note that this feature is currently available for customers in Australia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Remember that by not including an Age Gate block, your form will be published but won’t collect SMS consent.

With SMS marketing now accessible to alcohol businesses, it’s clear that this channel offers immense potential for reaching and engaging customers. 1 in 3 consumers even prefers texts over emails from their favorite brands, making SMS marketing an essential strategy for businesses in the alcohol industry.

Learn more

Below are some places you can learn more about SMS marketing, compliance, and age gating to help you start your SMS journey: