STOP, HELP, and quiet hours

Every marketing SMS identifies Northfield and tells them how to stop. “Northfield Motors Frederick: Saturday 9–5, 48-hour test drive on used CUVs. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for hours.” If they reply STOP, you stop — including the “are you sure?” second pitch. HELP should return hours and a human path, not a coupon. Email needs an unsubscribe that works in two clicks and does not force a login. Quiet hours are a desk decision: if no closer answers after 8pm, you do not text “we are here now” at 10:47. A 9pm “your appointment is tomorrow” reminder they asked for is different from a 9pm blast about a sale. When unsure, wait for morning. Carrier filters punish midnight junk. Buyers punish it louder.

A yes to “text me about this CR-V” is not a yes to daily jokes. Write a frequency line the checkbox showed: “a few messages about this appointment and this week’s matching inventory.” If you later want a monthly newsletter, that is a new yes. Stacking silent topics is how people hit STOP and report you. Verification: before you add a segment, read the original sentence. If the new send does not fit that sentence, you do not get to “just include them.”

Northfield closer last sit: 8pm weekdays, 5pm Saturday, closed Sunday. Marketing SMS window: 9am–7:30pm local so a reply can still reach a human. Allowed after 8pm: a reminder they asked for that names tomorrow’s appointment time. Forbidden after 8pm: a CUV blast, a “we are here now,” a joke, a second pitch after STOP. HELP replies can go anytime with hours only — no offer. Write this card on the policy so an intern does not inherit “the algorithm likes nights.”