Texting works. Response rates on a well-timed text beat email by a wide margin, and missed-call text-back is the closest thing to free money most service businesses have available. Which is exactly why it is worth spending ten minutes understanding the rules, because the penalties are assessed per message and automated systems send a lot of messages.
This is not legal advice, and rules differ by jurisdiction. But the shape of the thing is consistent enough to be useful, and most businesses that get into trouble did so through one of three specific mistakes.
The distinction that does most of the work
Almost everything follows from whether a message is transactional or marketing.
| Type | Examples | Consent generally needed |
|---|---|---|
| Transactional | Appointment confirmation, technician en route, quote you asked for, invoice, missed-call reply | Implied by the customer initiating contact or booking |
| Marketing | Seasonal promotion, discount offer, "we have availability this week", win-back campaign | Express written consent, obtained before sending |
| Mixed | Appointment reminder that also promotes a maintenance plan | Treated as marketing — the promotional element governs |
That last row is where well-intentioned businesses go wrong. Adding "and ask us about our spring plan" to a reminder converts a message you could send into one you probably could not.
The three mistakes that actually cause problems
- Treating a phone number as consent. Someone giving you their number to book a job has consented to messages about that job. They have not consented to a promotion in March.
- Importing an old list and texting it. The most common and most expensive error. Contacts from five years ago who never opted in to messaging are not a marketing list, however legitimately you obtained the numbers.
- Not honouring opt-outs immediately and permanently. STOP must work, must be instant, and must survive your next import. A contact who opted out and then reappears through a spreadsheet upload is the classic repeat offence.
What good consent capture looks like
- A checkbox that is not pre-ticked, next to language saying what they will receive and roughly how often.
- Recorded with a timestamp and the wording they agreed to, stored against the customer record rather than in a separate list.
- Separate consent for transactional and marketing, so you can send reminders to everyone and promotions only to those who agreed.
- An opt-out instruction in marketing messages, and a system that processes it without anyone doing anything manually.
The record-keeping is the part people skip and the part that matters if it is ever questioned. Consent you cannot evidence is functionally the same as consent you never had.
Timing and frequency, which are not legal but are practical
Beyond the rules, there is the question of whether people want to hear from you. Messages outside roughly 8am to 8pm local time annoy people regardless of legality. More than a couple of marketing messages a month erodes the list. And the fastest way to generate opt-outs is to send something that reads as bulk to someone who thought they had a relationship with you.
The businesses that get the most out of texting send few marketing messages and many useful ones. A reminder the day before, a note that the technician is on the way, and a follow-up asking whether everything is still working are all welcome, all transactional, and all build the relationship that makes an occasional promotion acceptable.
Common questions
Can I text a customer who called me?
For matters relating to their enquiry, generally yes — initiating contact implies consent to be replied to. That covers missed-call text-back, quotes they asked for, and appointment logistics. It does not extend to promotions.
Do appointment reminders need consent?
Reminders for an appointment the customer booked are transactional and generally do not need separate marketing consent. Adding a promotion to the same message changes that.
What happens if someone replies STOP?
Messaging must cease immediately and permanently for marketing. Keep the record of the opt-out attached to the customer so a future import cannot resurrect them, which is the most common way businesses re-offend.
Can I text customers from a few years ago?
Not for marketing, unless they consented to marketing messages and that consent is still valid. An old customer list is not a messaging list. Re-permission them by another channel first.