SMS opt-in and message policy

How customers opt in

A number reaches Queue Join in one of two ways. In both of them the customer is present, is told what will be sent, and gives their own number for that purpose.

1. On the web form — by QR code or link

A customer joins a queue or books an appointment by scanning a QR code in the business’s premises, by following a link the business shares, or on a tablet the business has set up at its door. They type their own mobile number into the form and submit it. What appears directly beneath the phone number field, before they submit, depends on the country chosen in the picker beside the number.

With a United States or Canadian number

In the United States and Canada, texts are optional. Nobody there has to agree to them, or give a mobile number, to join a queue or make a booking.

When the customer is in the United States or Canada, or the picker is set to either, texts are optional. Beside the number the form shows a checkbox that is never pre-ticked, including when the number is filled in for the customer, and is never required. Changing the country clears it. Nothing on these forms says that joining or booking means agreeing to texts: consent comes only from the checkbox, and each consent is stored with the time, the number and the exact wording agreed to. The checkbox reads:

A customer who leaves it unticked is not texted, and their number is not kept, so it can never be texted without a consent record. Our server applies the same rules and does not rely on the form alone.

Joining a waitlist without texts

The waitlist form offers an explicit choice. A customer who picks the second option joins with no mobile number at all and follows their place on their status page, which updates by itself and tells them when it’s their turn:

Booking without texts

The booking form offers email instead. A customer who picks it, or who gives a number without ticking the box, books with an email address. Their confirmation, reminders and any changes or cancellations go by email, and nothing about that booking is ever texted:

With a number from anywhere else

For every other country, the form shows this disclosure instead, with no checkbox:

Joining is governed by our Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy, both of which are linked from the form itself, before anyone submits a number.

2. In person — verbally, at the counter

When a shop is busy, a customer walks up and a member of staff takes their details rather than handing them a phone. Staff ask for the mobile number, say that the customer will get a message or a call when they are ready or when it is their turn, and enter that number into Queue Join with the customer standing there. The customer hears what they are agreeing to and gives the number for that purpose.

With a number from anywhere else

This is the wording the product prompts staff with, on the same form they type the number into:

However staff phrase it in the moment, all of the following has to be said before the number is entered:

• Who the messages come from — the business's own name.
• What will be sent: queue and booking updates about this visit, including when it's their turn.
• How often: only about visits and bookings they make, and nothing else.
• That standard message and data rates may apply.
• That replying STOP ends the messages and HELP gets help.

A number taken this way receives queue and booking messages about that visit and nothing else. Marketing consent is never taken verbally and staff have no way to record it — it can only be given by the customer themselves, through the unticked checkbox described below or from their own preferences page.

With a United States or Canadian number

With a United States or Canadian number, staff read this wording instead, and the customer is only texted if they agree and staff then tick a consent box on the same form. The box is never pre-ticked and is not required to add the customer. Ticking it records the member of staff, the time and the exact wording read out. The box reads:

If the customer doesn’t agree, staff leave the box unticked and the customer is added without a number, or with an email address for a booking’s updates. They are never texted, and the number is not kept. Our server applies the same rule and does not rely on the form alone.

What never happens

We do not use purchased, rented, scraped or third-party lists, and a number is never added without the person knowing. There is no list import and no bulk upload of numbers anywhere in the product.

A business can also add a visitor from its own website or till system through our API, one visitor at a time. That changes where the keystrokes happen, not how consent was obtained: our Terms of Service require every number sent to us to have been given by the customer in one of the two ways above, and prohibit purchased, rented and scraped lists outright.

We never share your number

We do not share, sell, or provide your mobile phone number or messaging consent data to third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes.

Numbers are used only to send the queue, booking and — where separately consented to — marketing messages of the business a customer chose to join. Our messaging provider delivers those messages on our instructions as a processor, which is not sharing for marketing. The full list of processors is in section 6 of the Privacy Policy.

Marketing messages are a separate, unticked opt-in

Queue and booking updates are the service itself (in the United States and Canada, texted only when the optional SMS consent box above is ticked) and marketing messages are separate: a business can show an additional marketing checkbox, which is not the SMS consent box, is never pre-selected, and is never required in order to join a queue or make a booking. Ticking it is the customer’s consent to receive recurring automated marketing text messages from that business at the number they gave. Consent is not a condition of any purchase. You'll receive up to 4 messages per month. You can unsubscribe at any time.

The exact wording shown at the time is stored against each consent, so a business can always evidence what a customer agreed to. Every marketing message carries an unsubscribe link.

What customers receive

Automated text messages about updates about your place in the queue and your bookings — including when it's your turn.

Message frequency varies: you'll get messages only about visits and bookings you make.

Message and data rates may apply.

Help and opting out

Reply HELP for help or STOP to cancel at any time.

Replying STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT, OPTOUT or REVOKE stops all messages immediately, on every channel, and so does any other reply asking us to stop, such as “please stop texting me”. Replying START or UNSTOP resumes them. Replying HELP returns the business name, the rates notice and the opt-out instruction. Customers can also manage marketing preferences from the link in any marketing message.

For help, contact hello@queuejoin.com.

Who sends the messages

TRUSTED MEDIA LIMITED, trading as Queue Join, 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX, United Kingdom. Messages are sent on behalf of the individual business a customer has chosen to join, and that business is named in every message.