What’s the Robinson list?

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Digital marketing campaigs are very common today. Many companies use digital tools to make their businesses more efficient. And one of the most-used channels is SMS, though phone calls and emails are also very useful. 

In some cases, to achieve their objectives, these campaigns can be invasive or annoying for receivers. Especially in the cases of companies that seek to expand their professional horizons beyond their regular clients. Thus, people who did not consent to receiving publicity or messages feel annoyed. 

For all these users, there’s a solution known as the Robinson List. 

How does the Robinson List work?

The Robinson list is a service that allows users to avoid receiving messages and publicity of companies they did not consent to or without being clients of a certain business. 

This is a completely free service that works for different communication channels. Users that sign up for this can select the methods they wish to avoid, which are: 

• Phone calls to a landline or mobile phone.
• SMS and MMS
• Email
• Postal mail

In this way, they will only receive publicity via the channel they wish and those companies that give consent for this.

How to sign up for the list

All the physical persons that wish to sign up voluntarily can do so without any cost. Even minors older than 14 years old can belong to the list, though in this case, parents and tutors will be in charge of the process. 

To register, you need to access the site and fill in a form. There, people will be asked for their personal data such as name and surname, identity document, age, etc. 

Once the process is finished, the platform sends an email to the person to verify their account. In this email, the link that completes the process is attached. The user will then be able to select the channels by which they do not want to receive any kind of publicity. 

The subscription is not instantanerous but it requires some time. This is usually between 2 and 3 months as the data needs to be verified and there may also be a commercial campaign being executed with this person as a member. 

All the people that take part in the Robinson list can change their preferences at all times. On the one hand, they can modify the data. For example, the person can change their phone number. On the other hand, they can add or eliminate their channels of preference.

With the Robinson List, you can also stop receiving messages from companies you have consented in the past or who are active clients. 

What happens if a company sends a message to a member of the Robinson List?

Companies are obliged by law to revise the members of the Robinson List to respect the users’ will. It’s completely forbidden for a company to send publicity to a mamber of the List who has not given consent and has a specific channel blocked. 

In case the rules are broken, companies will be sanctioned and will face economic fines. The rules establish fines of up to 20,000 million euros for serious offenses, so as a company you should avoid this at all costs. It’s also important to highlight that complaints are not direct between users and companies but it’s in charge of the AEPD.

The Agencia de Protección de Datos in Spain is in charge of managing sanctions and receiving complaints by users. Those who have subscribed to the Robinson List and receive publicity anyway can complain to the AEPD. This institution cares for the rights of users and will present a complaint against the company. 

To avoid infringements, companies that carry out marketing campaigns are allowed to access services like the Robinson List by paying a small amount of money. Then, they can take a look at users’ decisions and clean their databases. 

The companies can cross information from the list with their stored data and eliminate from the campaign those who do not want to receive messages. Before carrying out a commercial marketing campaign, companies need to update their data so as not to infringe the law and avoid possible sanctions.

It’s important to highlight the commercial factor of campaigns. The Robinson List allows you to avoid publicity or campaigns that have a sales objective. Instead, other types of messages like alerts, reminders, information, etc are not affected. All the transactional SMS – those are non-commercial ones- can be sent even to people who belong to the Robinson List. Some examples include alerts or reminders of a medical appointment, for example, in the case of clinics that send appointment reminders to their patients.

What’s the Robinson list?

Conclusion

The Robinson List is an ideal option for users who are tired of receiving annoying publicity and do not have any interest in them. With a simple subscription to this service, which is free, they can stop receiving these messages in different communication channels. 

In case a person has signed up for the List and receives publicity anyway, they can report it for a violation of their privacy. In these cases, the justice usually asks for a copy of the publicity received, so you should not erase the message. 

The Robinson List does not exist everywhere but it works in different geographic areas. For example, Spain has the platform https://www.listarobinson.es/, but each country can be different. Thus, companies need to make a deep analysis of possible Lists in the territories where they want to carry out their commercial SMS campaign. 

LabsMobile is a platform that is totally prepared to comply with the privacy laws and the Robinson List, in addition to being able to help our clients with the LOPD law.