The TCPA is the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. It’s a piece of federal legislation that protects consumers’ right to privacy and is designed to cut back on annoying—and more specifically unwanted—telephone calls and texts. TCPA is the second most litigated law in the United States, and for good reason. Text message marketing can only thrive as much as it does as long as subscribers and customers don’t feel like they’re receiving spam. To protect our customers and each other, all messages must follow TCPA Compliance, or in other words, every number must be collected from explicit voluntary opt-in.

Originally, the TCPA was created to regulate calls. Shortly thereafter, it was extended to text messages. At Mobiniti, we give you several options when it comes to what number you can use. Some of these options allow you to text and call from the same number. If you plan on doing this, it’s helpful to know the TCPA regulations that apply to specifically phone calls:

Expressed Consent A written agreement, signed by the consumer receiving the call or text, with a clear and visible disclosure that authorizes the business to send telemarketing communications.

Do Not Call Registry Have you ever wondered whether the Do Not Call List is a real thing, or whether it’s just a polite way of asking telemarketers to leave you alone? We’ve got good news: it’s real! The TCPA created a national National Do Not Call Registry and prohibited telemarketers from calling anyone on it.

Robocalls and Automated Dialing As cool as it sounds, a robocall isn’t actually a call from a futuristic robot. It’s when a computer dials a number instead of a human. This applies to both calls and text messages. Telemarketers use automated dialing to contact thousands of consumers at once.

Pre-recorded Voice Messages It’s not illegal for a business to call customers for marketing purposes. However, a real person needs to be on the line. It’s a violation of the TCPA to use pre-recorded voice messages.

At first, the TCPA may sound quite scary and intimidating. But remember, it’s only designed to cut down on scammers and nuisances. Below are the three main TCPA violations every company should be aware of. Additional regulations apply to debt collectors.

Unsolicited Calls or Texts to Cell Phones If a business, without prior permission, calls a cell phone using automated dialing or a pre-recorded message, that constitutes a TCPA violation. As we’ve touched on, if someone has give you express written consent, you can text them.

Unsolicited Calls or Texts to Residential Phone Numbers In order for businesses to call residential numbers, they must have an “established business relationship” with the owner of the number. If the telemarketer hasn’t done business with the consumer in the last 18 months, then they do not have an established business relationship and calling them using automated dialing or a pre-recorded message is a TCPA violation.

Calls to Those Listed on the Do Not Call Registry It’s illegal to call anyone who has opted-out of phone calls by registering on the federal Do Not Call Registry.

Penalties associated with violations of the TCPA can include $500 per each violation and up to $1,500 per willful violation. It’s not uncommon to see settlements in the tens of millions of dollars for class action TCPA lawsuits.

There are several notable cases that highlight how important it is to follow TCPA regulations, whether you’re a brand, or a marketing agency working on behalf of a brand.

Dish Network In 2017, Dish Network had to pay approximately $341 million in damages for violating TCPA guidelines. Members of the class action suit alleged that Dish had knowingly called numbers on the Do Not Call registry. Dish tried to argue that their telemarketing provider, Satellite System Network, was at fault, not them. The jury rejected this argument and awarded $400 per call.

Domino’s Pizza In 2013, Domino’s Pizza agreed to pay nearly $10 million dollars to settle a class action lawsuit. Similar to the Dish Network case, the court found that consumers had received unsolicited marketing calls. Additionally, it was found that Domino’s sent promotional texts without receiving consent first.

Alright, now that you have enough information to pass the Bar exam (…kidding) let’s learn about exactly when these laws start applying to you.

We’ve already touched on this, but it’s still worth repeating. To remain TCPA compliant you must practice express consent. When it comes to text marketing, we’ve built express consent right into the platform. When a user subscribes to receive your messages, they’ll automatically get a text confirmation with all the necessary TCPA disclosures.

Online forms, with the necessary compliance info alongside them, are another simple way to make sure you’re in the clear. Our TCPA-compliant embedded forms can be added to any website and our opt-in pages that can be added to social media, emails, landing pages, or on a physical kiosk/tablet. We even provide the option of enabling double opt-in, which requires the user to respond Y or Yes to confirm that they want to subscribe.

If you like to keep things old-school, you can always use a printed form if your customers are available to fill them out in-person. Just make sure to store all the paperwork safely in case you need to refer to it later.

And—that’s it. Yes, really. Our compliance guide is done! Go out there and send some legal text messages. Or read on into the conclusion where we’ll cover the most important points.

Disclaimer: Please note that this advice is for informational purposes only and is neither intended as nor should be substituted for consultation with appropriate legal counsel and/or your organization’s regulatory compliance team.