The single most misunderstood rule in business texting, translated for contractors. What express written consent actually means, what qualifies and what doesn't, how to capture it, and the records that protect you.
System 1 from the Leveraged Owner Starter Pack
Here's the sentence that decides whether your texting program is legal or a liability: before you send automated marketing texts to a customer's phone, the TCPA — the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law governing business calls and texts — requires their prior express written consent. Skip it and every automated text you send is a potential violation. Get it right and the whole system runs clean.
This is part of Pillar A: Capture Every Lead, the compliance companion to the complete missed-call text-back setup guide. It is general information about how the law works, not legal advice — the compliance landscape has real teeth, so read your situation carefully and talk to an attorney if you're unsure.
The TCPA doesn't have one consent standard — it has two, and which one applies depends on what you're texting:
The practical rule: your missed-call text-back reply, your appointment reminders, and your "tech is on the way" texts live under the lower bar (they're transactional). Your reactivation campaigns, seasonal promotions, and any marketing blast live under the higher bar (written consent required). Know which texts are which before you build anything.
Despite the name, "written" doesn't mean pen on paper — electronic agreements count. What matters is that the agreement is clear, specific, and documented:
This is the single highest-value fix for most contractors, because your website is where most new numbers arrive. Here's the pattern:
[Your form fields: name, phone, address, issue description]
☐ Yes — [Business Name] may send me text messages about my request, plus occasional marketing messages, at the number I provided. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out anytime. (Optional — not required to request service.)
The critical details: unchecked by default, separate from any other checkbox, clearly optional, and the language names texts specifically. Store the timestamp, the IP, and the exact language shown with the submission. Your form tool or CRM should capture this automatically — verify that it does.
Audit your current texting against the two tiers:
The gray-zone habit to kill: appending "by the way, we're running a spring special…" to a transactional text. Mixing marketing content into transactional messages is how a compliant text becomes a non-compliant one.
Consent you can't prove is consent you don't have. For every number you text-market to, keep:
Keep these records as long as you text the number, plus a reasonable period after they opt out. Most texting tools log opt-ins automatically — but verify the logs exist and export them periodically. If you ever switch tools, migrate the consent records with the contacts.
Consent isn't permanent. When someone replies STOP (or QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE — your tool should recognize the standard keywords), consent is revoked immediately. Your system must suppress all future marketing texts to that number automatically, and you cannot text them again for marketing unless they explicitly re-opt-in through a fresh consent event. The one narrow exception: a single confirmation text acknowledging the opt-out itself. See the full opt-out mechanics in the STOP-handling guide.
This post is general information about TCPA consent concepts, not legal advice. The TCPA, FCC rules, and state laws (some stricter than federal — see the state texting laws overview) evolve, and how they apply to your specific business depends on facts only an attorney can evaluate. Before launching marketing text campaigns, consider a one-time review with a telecom/marketing attorney — it's cheap insurance against very expensive violations. Separately, all business texting requires 10DLC business-texting registration (the carriers' registration for texts sent by software from standard numbers; 1–7 day approval, ~$15–$20 in carrier/campaign fees), and marketing texts must respect TCPA quiet hours (no texts before 8am or after 9pm in the recipient's local time).
Consent is the foundation of Pillar A: Capture Every Lead — get this right before you build the missed-call text-back or any other texting automation. Next, read the 10DLC registration walkthrough and the state-by-state texting law overview.
The full setup guide, all four copy-paste scripts (including the owner notification), the "Your Numbers" missed-call worksheet, and the step-by-step setup guide — free, no catch. Fix your missed calls this week.
Want all 8 systems + 6 bonus modules in copy-paste form? The AI Automation Starter Pack is $27: https://leveragedowner.com/starter-pack/
This post is System 1 from the Leveraged Owner Starter Pack — the done-for-you version with the full 11-step setup guide, consent-capture form language, every script, the worksheets, and complete setup guides for all 8 systems.
No industry statistics were used in this post. Compliance information is general and changes — verify against current TCPA/FCC rules and consult an attorney for your situation.
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