Consent, explained for owners

Read this first

Calling and texting rules can feel like a minefield, and some vendors use that confusion either to sell fear or to wave it away. The basics are understandable, and as the owner you should know them, because your business’s name is on every call.

The short version

• Under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), calls that use an artificial or prerecorded voice need the person’s consent. In February 2024 the FCC confirmed that AI-generated voices count as artificial voices.
• When the call is marketing, which a call about an old quote usually is, that consent has to be prior express written consent.
• Texts are treated as calls under the TCPA, and phone carriers add their own registration and opt-in requirements for business texting.
• People can withdraw consent, and you have to honor it.
• Federal rules limit calling hours, and some states are stricter on hours, frequency and disclosure.
• Email falls under a different law, CAN-SPAM, which doesn’t require prior consent but does require honesty and a working unsubscribe.

What “prior express written consent” means

It’s a specific idea in the FCC’s rules. In plain terms, it’s a written agreement, signed by the person, that:

• clearly authorizes your business to make marketing calls or texts to them using automated technology or an artificial or prerecorded voice;
• covers the specific phone number they gave; and
• tells them clearly that they don’t have to agree in order to buy anything.

“Written” and “signed” include online forms. Under the federal E-SIGN Act, an electronic signature such as a checkbox or a clearly labelled button can count. The business making the call is the one that has to prove the consent exists, so records matter as much as the wording.

What to look for in your web form

Find the form, or a screenshot of what it said when your leads signed up, and read the text near the phone field and the submit button. Good signs:

• Your business’s name, not only “our partners” or “affiliates”.
• Calls and texts, both mentioned.
• “Automated technology” and “artificial or prerecorded voice”. Newer forms often add “AI-generated voice” as well.
• “Consent is not a condition of purchase.”
• For texts: how often messages may come, “Msg & data rates may apply” and “Reply STOP to opt out”, which carriers expect to see.
• A checkbox the person ticks themselves, rather than one that’s already ticked.

Weak signs: “By submitting, you agree to be contacted” with no mention of automated calls; consent buried behind a privacy-policy link; or consent given to a comparison site and its “marketing partners”.

Keep records: a copy of each version of the form and the dates it was live, and for each lead, the date and time they submitted it. If your form tool records the page address or IP address, keep those too.

How a careful campaign sorts a list

Before anyone is contacted, every lead on a list should land in one of three groups. This is how we sort them:

Calls, texts and email

People whose sign-up covered automated calls and texts, with records to show it.

No AI calls

People who gave a number, but whose form didn’t cover automated calls. Depending on the wording and your state, they may still be reachable by text or email. They get a call only if they ask for one.

Not contacted

Bought or shared lists without consent naming you, anyone who opted out, numbers that now belong to someone else, and numbers on the Do Not Call Registry without the right consent.

Do Not Call, calling hours and saying who’s calling

• The National Do Not Call Registry. Marketing calls to registered numbers need the person’s written permission or an established business relationship, which generally means a purchase in the last 18 months or an inquiry in the last 3 months. That relationship exception doesn’t cover artificial-voice calls; those need consent regardless.
• Calling hours. Federal rules bar telemarketing calls before 8am or after 9pm in the called person’s time zone. Some states are stricter: Florida, for example, limits these calls to 8am to 8pm and to three in 24 hours on the same subject. Our own window is 9am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday.
• Identification. Artificial-voice calls have to identify the business at the start and, for marketing calls, offer an automated way to opt out. Some states have their own rules on disclosing automated or AI calls.
• Recording. Several states require everyone on a call to agree to it being recorded. That’s one reason our calls say they’re recorded in the first sentence.

Stopping when asked

People can withdraw consent, and recent FCC rules say a request made in any reasonable way counts: replying STOP, saying “don’t call me”, sending an email. Businesses currently have up to 10 business days to honor it, and the details of this rule have been changing.

Don’t plan around the deadline. The safe habit is to stop immediately, on every channel, and keep a record so the person isn’t contacted again from a duplicate record or a future campaign.

Email is different

Commercial email in the US falls under CAN-SPAM, which the FTC enforces. It doesn’t require prior consent, but it does require accurate sender details, a subject line that isn’t misleading, your physical postal address, and a clear way to unsubscribe that you honor within 10 business days. That’s why email is often the one channel that can reach people whose forms didn’t cover calls.

What’s at stake

TCPA violations carry statutory damages of $500 per call or text, up to $1,500 when the violation is willful or knowing, and claims are often brought as class actions. Using a vendor doesn’t automatically move the risk off your business, because the calls are made in your name. That’s why the questions below are worth asking.

Questions to ask any vendor, including us

1. How do you sort my list by consent, and can I see the result?
2. Do you check the Do Not Call Registry and reassigned numbers before calling?
3. What hours do you call and text, and in whose time zone?
4. Does every AI call say it’s an AI, and that it’s recorded, at the start?
5. How quickly is an opt-out applied, and does it cover every channel?
6. Is your texting registered with the carriers?
7. What happens to my list and the call recordings after the campaign?

You can read how our AI handles these, call by call, on The AI.