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"We just tell our employees not to text."
That’s not a compliance strategy. That’s a liability.
That might be the most common and dangerous communications compliance myth in circulation today.
Text policies don’t stop the behavior. They just move it out of sight. And while they may look good in an audit binder, they fall apart the moment a client sends a message and the advisor replies. Which happens every day - because that’s how real business gets done.
Once a client initiates a conversation via SMS, WhatsApp, or iMessage, it becomes a business record under regulatory standards. And business records must be captured whether your policy says otherwise or not.
Policies Alone Won’t Stop Off-Channel Texting
Let's be honest: prohibiting texting doesn't stop people from doing it. It just means you won't know when they do.
Employees aren't being difficult; they just want to succeed. They're trying to serve their clients the way clients expect to be served: fast, conveniently, and personally. That often means texting.
The average SMS response time is 3 minutes, which is 30x less than that of email (90 minutes). Across all channels, nearly half of all customers prefer business communication via text, and texts see an 8x response rate compared to email.
So, the dilemma is this: when a client texts their advisor, do you want that advisor to ignore it (and risk damaging the relationship), respond off-channel (and risk incurring a fine), or scramble to switch to email (and risk a delay)?
None of those are great options. And “just don’t text” is the worst one of all.
Why "We Haven't Been Fined" Isn't a Strategy
Some leaders are banking on the current enforcement landscape to let them off the hook. After all, enforcement under the current U.S. administration has begun to slow.
But don't confuse quiet for safe.
As we highlighted in this blog, deregulation is a false sense of security. Most of the $2 billion+ in SEC fines for off-channel communications, including $400 million in 2023 alone, stemmed from behaviors that happened years earlier. What your firm allows today will determine your exposure two or three years from now.
Regulators aren't backing down. They're building cases. And in the meantime, firms are setting precedents for what's acceptable within their walls. That internal precedent will be hard to reverse – culturally, operationally, and legally.
Why Texting Isn’t Just a Risk - It’s a Revenue Driver
If banning texting made firms both compliant and competitive, this conversation would be over. But it doesn’t.
Texting isn’t a distraction - it’s a revenue engine. Quick check-ins, deal nudges, client updates can all happen faster, more naturally, and more effectively over text.
According to the 2024 Kitces Research Report, clients with more than 20 touchpoints per year generate the most revenue. That's not a coincidence. High-frequency, high-value contacts drives retention and growth. And texting is the fastest-growing, most effective way to make those touches happen - without waiting for a quarterly meeting or email thread.
One CCO told us plainly:
“People need to use their mobile communications to conduct business how they feel is most efficient and effective.”
Compliance doesn't exist in a vacuum. You can’t slow down your business to keep up with outdated tools. Blocking mobile channels doesn’t make the risk go away, it just hides it behind inefficiencies, employee frustration, and lost opportunities.
The fastest-growing firms are meeting clients where they are. And in 2025, that means texting.
Don't Prohibit the Channel, Enable it
It's time for compliance leaders to rethink the problem, not as a failure of discipline but as a failure of enablement.
If you give your team the right tools, you don't need to chase them with policies. MirrorWeb lets your advisors to use the channels clients already use - SMS, WhatsApp, iMessage, Slack, and more, while still capturing every relevant message in a compliant, review-ready format.
We capture conversations exactly as they happened. Not stripped down, not half-rendered, not a spreadsheet export. Just clean, reviewable, regulator-ready records.
And with Trusted Contacts, firms can isolate and capture only business conversations - preserving personal privacy, cutting down review noise, and reducing the burden on surveillance teams.
Learn more how leading firms are enabling SMS, WhatsApp, and iMessage through Trusted Contacts.
