Texting and Calling Customers: What Prior Express Written Consent Requires

Most small businesses reach for the phone and the text message because both work. Leads answer, appointments get confirmed, and a short reminder saves a no show. The question that decides whether that habit is safe is narrow and specific. When does federal law require permission before an automated or prerecorded marketing message goes out, and what counts as permission.

Automated marketing to wireless numbers needs written consent

The federal telephone rules treat automated contact differently from a person picking up the handset and dialing. Under 47 CFR 64.1200, initiating a call that includes or introduces an advertisement, or that constitutes telemarketing, using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, to a wireless number generally requires prior express written consent. Text messages sent by an automated system fall inside the same framework. The practical read for an owner is simple. If a machine is placing the contact and the content is promotional, the business needs written permission first.

What prior express written consent actually means

The term is defined, not left to interpretation. Prior express written consent is an agreement in writing, bearing the signature of the person called, that clearly authorizes the seller to deliver advertisements or telemarketing messages to the specific number the person provides. Two details inside that definition are the ones businesses miss. The agreement has to identify the number, and it has to be clear about what the person is agreeing to receive. A general contact form with no reference to marketing calls does not carry that weight.

Consent cannot be the price of the sale

The rule closes the obvious workaround. A person cannot be required to sign the agreement, directly or indirectly, or to enter into such an agreement, as a condition of purchasing any property, goods, or services. A checkout flow that refuses to complete an order until the customer accepts marketing calls is not collecting valid consent. The permission has to be genuinely optional next to the transaction.

Revocation is easy on purpose

Permission is not permanent. A called party may revoke prior express consent, including prior express written consent, by any reasonable method that clearly expresses a desire to stop further calls or text messages. The burden sits with the business, not the customer. A reply of stop, a spoken request during a call, an email, or a note to a staff member can all be reasonable. The operational requirement is that whatever channel the customer uses, the request reaches the list that drives the dialer.

The permission request itself has rules

Guidance on the Telemarketing Sales Rule is direct about how permission is gathered. If a seller seeks a consumer's permission to call, the request must be clear and conspicuous, and the consumer's assent must be affirmative. Affirmative means the person did something, such as checking a box. A pre-checked box does not qualify. A consumer responding to an email request for permission would not be treated as having given permission if the box was already marked when the message arrived. Buried language and default opt in are the two patterns that fail this test.

A short checklist before the next campaign

Confirm four things. First, that the consent language names marketing calls or texts and the number they will go to. Second, that a signature or an equivalent affirmative action is captured and stored with a timestamp. Third, that nothing in the purchase flow forces the customer to accept. Fourth, that revocations from any channel reach the same list within the same business day. If any one of the four is missing, the automated campaign is running on permission the business cannot prove.

This article is an operational explainer, not legal advice. A business with an active dispute, a complaint, or a campaign already in market should review the current rule text and seek qualified counsel for its facts.

Where PATech fits

PATech SkyAria Voice answers and places calls for the front office and records what happened on each one. That record is the part most businesses lack when a consent question comes up later. It does not determine legal status and it does not replace the consent language a business collects at the point of contact.