SMS marketing for service companies: consent and content

Why texting needs more care than email

Texts get read. Nearly everyone carries a phone that receives them: 91% of US adults own a smartphone^[4]. That is why customers like texts for appointment windows and technician arrival times, and why marketers like them for offers. It is also why the law is stricter for texts than for email.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act treats a text message like a call for most purposes. It gives consumers a private right of action: a person can recover their actual losses or $500 for each violation, whichever is greater, and a court can increase the award to up to three times that amount when the violation was willful or knowing^[1]. A campaign sent to a few thousand numbers without proper consent can create liability far larger than anything it could earn.

This article explains the main rules in plain terms. It is not legal advice; texting law changes, and several states have their own telemarketing laws covering texts, some stricter than federal rules. Have your consent language and process reviewed by a lawyer who handles TCPA matters before you launch.

Service texts and marketing texts

The safest habit is never to mix the two. If an appointment reminder includes a coupon, treat it as marketing. Keep service texts short, factual and expected, and send offers only to the separate list of people who agreed to receive them.

Capturing consent that will stand up

Consent needs to be clear, specific and provable. A buried line in your terms of service or a pre-ticked box will not do. Capture it where the customer gives you their number: the booking form, the estimate sign-off, the maintenance plan agreement or a keyword text.

• Name your business, describe the kind of messages, and state roughly how often you will send.
• Make consent optional and separate from booking the job; never require it to get service.
• Record the date, time, source page or form, the exact wording shown and the phone number.
• For consent given by phone, have the CSR read the wording and note it in the customer record, or send a confirmation text asking the customer to reply YES.
• Send a welcome text confirming the program, frequency and how to opt out.

Handling STOP and other opt-outs

In February 2024 the FCC adopted rules requiring callers and texters to honor do-not-call and consent revocation requests within a reasonable time, not exceeding 10 business days from receipt^[2]. It codified that consumers can revoke consent through any reasonable means, and confirmed that a single text confirming the opt-out is allowed if it carries no marketing^[2].

Parts of the revocation rules have since been delayed or reopened. In September 2026 the FCC circulated a draft order that would let callers designate an exclusive means to revoke consent and treat some revocations as limited to the type of message they were aimed at, alongside a proposal to revisit the timeframe for honoring requests^[3]. Until the final rules are clear, build for the strictest reading.

1. 01

   Treat common words as opt-outs

   STOP, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, QUIT, REVOKE and plain-language replies such as “no more texts” or “take me off your list”.

2. 02

   Act immediately

   Configure your texting platform to suppress the number automatically. Do not wait for the 10-day limit.

3. 03

   Send one plain confirmation

   “You're unsubscribed from Northfield Heating and Air offers. You'll still get texts about appointments you book.” No offers.

4. 04

   Catch opt-outs in other channels

   If a customer tells a CSR or technician to stop texting, log it the same day and suppress the number.

5. 05

   Keep a permanent suppression list

   Make sure numbers are never re-imported from old spreadsheets or a new software migration.

Carrier registration and content rules

Mobile carriers have their own requirements on top of the law. Business texts from ordinary local numbers must be registered with your texting provider as a brand and a campaign before carriers will deliver them reliably, and unregistered or poorly described traffic is filtered or blocked. Toll-free texting numbers have a separate verification process.

• Describe your campaign accurately when registering, with sample messages that match what you will actually send.
• Identify your business by name in every marketing text.
• Include opt-out instructions in the first message and regularly after that.
• Avoid public link shorteners, which carriers often filter; use a branded domain or full links.
• Do not send content that carriers restrict, and avoid misleading urgency or all-caps offers.
• Keep frequency close to what you promised at sign-up.

Do-not-call, calls and AI voices

Texting sits inside a wider set of phone marketing rules. The National Do Not Call Registry had 259 million active registrations as of September 30, 2025^[5], and do-not-call protections apply to telemarketing texts as well as calls. Scrub marketing lists against the registry and your internal do-not-call list.

If you use automated or AI voice calls for outbound marketing, note that in February 2024 the FCC ruled unanimously that calls made with AI-generated voices are “artificial” under the TCPA^[6], which brings them under the same consent requirements as prerecorded messages. Answering inbound calls from customers who call you is a different situation from placing outbound marketing calls.

Record keeping you can show

If a customer complains or a lawyer sends a demand letter, your records are your defense. Keep them in one place and make sure they survive software changes.

1. The consent wording shown at each sign-up point, with the dates it was used.
2. For each number: when, where and how consent was given, and by whom if a CSR recorded it.
3. Every opt-out, with the date received, the channel and the date it was processed.
4. Copies of every marketing message sent, with the send date and the list it went to.
5. Your texting provider's brand and campaign registration details.
6. A yearly review note confirming someone checked the process against current rules.

Writing texts customers welcome

• Start with your company name: “Northfield Heating and Air:”.
• One message, one purpose, under 160 characters where possible.
• Make it timely and local: “Cold snap Thursday. We have furnace tune-up slots Wed–Fri in Oak Park. Reply BOOK or call 555-0142.”
• Send during daytime hours in the customer's time zone; federal and some state rules restrict when solicitations may be sent.
• Keep a steady rhythm: a few messages a month at most, matching what you promised.
• Let customers reply. Two-way texting turns an offer into a booked job, but only if someone reads and answers the replies.

Example: a lawn care company's first text campaign

Example (fictional): Greenway Lawn adds an unticked texting consent box to its online quote form and a consent script for phone bookings in January. By March, 900 of its 3,000 customers have opted in. It registers its brand and campaign with its texting provider, sends a welcome message, and in early April texts an aeration booking reminder with a reply-to-book option.

The text produces 74 replies and 52 bookings within two days. Eleven people reply STOP; the platform suppresses them instantly and sends one plain confirmation. The office manager keeps a monthly export of the consent log and suppression list, so the company can show how and when each number opted in or out.