14 texting compliance mistakes service businesses make (and how to fix each one)

Texting is the fastest way to reach a customer and the fastest way to create a legal problem. A text message is treated as a call under the FCC's rules, and the federal law behind those rules lets a person sue for actual losses or $500 for each violation, whichever is greater, and a court may raise the award to up to three times that if it finds the violation willful or knowing. Most mistakes below come from convenience: a list that was already in the phone, a tool that makes sending easy, a registration form nobody finished. Each item says what the mistake costs the business, how to spot it and how to fix it. No vendor is the villain here; every texting tool lets you do this right, and also lets you do it wrong. This page is general information about federal rules as of October 2026. It is not legal advice, and several states have their own texting laws. Have a lawyer review your setup. For the full rule set, read our SMS marketing rules guide.

1. Treating a phone number as permission to market

What it costs: a customer who gave you a number to schedule a job did not necessarily agree to promotions. If they complain, you will generally be the one who has to show consent. How to spot it: your marketing list is simply every number in the CRM. Fix: separate job-related texts (confirmations, arrival notices) from marketing texts in your tool, and send marketing only to people who agreed to it in writing. Under 47 CFR 64.1200, prior express written consent is required for autodialed marketing texts to wireless numbers, and an electronic signature counts when it meets the rule.

2. Burying consent in the fine print

What it costs: consent that a customer cannot find is weak consent, and a dispute starts with what they saw. How to spot it: your quote form says "by submitting you agree to terms" and nothing else, or the box is pre-checked. Fix: add a separate, unchecked box that names your company, says you will send marketing texts with automated technology, says agreeing is not required to buy anything, and explains how to opt out. Our TCPA guide includes a sample. Have a lawyer review yours.

3. Keeping no record of consent

What it costs: without a record, a claim becomes your word against theirs. How to spot it: you cannot name the date, form and wording a given customer agreed to. Fix: store the consent on the customer record: the phone number, the date and time, the page or paper form, and the exact text they saw. If you collect consent on paper at the door, scan it. A CRM that stamps consent on the record at submission makes this automatic.

4. Blasting an old customer list that never agreed

What it costs: a win-back text to hundreds of past customers who never agreed to marketing texts is the kind of send that draws complaints and legal claims. How to spot it: the list is "everyone from the last five years." Fix: win those customers back by email first, and invite them to opt in to texts with a link. Our guide to winning back past customers shows the sequence. A smaller list that agreed is worth more than a large list that did not.

5. Sending outside the allowed hours

What it costs: a late-night or early-morning promotion turns a happy customer into a complainant. How to spot it: campaigns are scheduled in your time zone, not the customer's, or a tool sends the moment you press the button. Fix: under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1), solicitations are barred before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the called party's local time, and the rule is applied to marketing texts to wireless numbers. Schedule inside that window by the customer's time zone, and some states set tighter limits, so check yours. Mid-morning and early evening on weekdays is a safer habit.

6. Processing STOP replies slowly or by hand

What it costs: every message sent after a clear opt-out is another possible violation. How to spot it: an office worker reads replies once a week, or the opt-out only lives in the texting tool and not in the CRM. Fix: the FCC rule requires honoring a revocation within a reasonable time that cannot exceed ten business days, and the sooner the better. Set your tool to stop messages the instant it sees STOP, and sync the opt-out to every system that can text. Keep the opt-out through a software switch.

7. Accepting only one opt-out keyword

What it costs: a customer who writes "please stop texting me" and gets another text has a clean complaint. How to spot it: your tool reacts to STOP and nothing else, and nobody reads replies. Fix: the FCC rule says replies such as stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel and unsubscribe are reasonable ways to revoke consent, and other wording counts if a reasonable person would understand it as a request to stop. You may not require one exclusive method. Have a person read free-text replies daily and log opt-outs by hand.

8. Putting marketing in the opt-out confirmation

What it costs: the one message you may send after an opt-out becomes a violation if it sells anything. How to spot it: the auto-reply to STOP says "You're unsubscribed. Save 10 percent on your next visit!" Fix: under 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(12), a single confirmation text is permitted when it only confirms the request and contains no marketing or promotional information, and one sent within five minutes is presumed to fall within the customer's earlier consent. Keep it to "You're opted out of Example Co. texts. No more messages will be sent."

9. Mixing job updates and promotions in one text

What it costs: a reminder that also pitches an add-on is marketing, and then it needs marketing-level consent. How to spot it: your appointment reminder ends with a coupon. Fix: keep reminders, arrival notices and invoices free of offers. If you want to promote something, send a separate marketing text to people who agreed to receive them. When a message is on the line between the two, treat it as marketing, and ask your lawyer about review requests.

10. Skipping 10DLC registration

What it costs: unregistered traffic can be blocked or charged extra. Twilio's documentation says customers who send from a 10DLC number without registering will receive additional carrier fees, and its error 30034 page says messages from a 10DLC number without an approved campaign are blocked. How to spot it: texts fail or arrive late, or your provider sends registration warnings. Fix: register your brand and campaign before the first send. Our 10DLC guide walks through the steps, and our phone systems service handles the number and registration.

11. Registering with the wrong details

What it costs: a rejected application holds up your first send until you fix it and resubmit. How to spot it: the website listed is unfinished, the privacy policy has no mobile-data language, or the business name does not match your tax records. Fix: Twilio's guidance says a business with a tax ID that applies as a sole proprietor will be rejected, a website that cannot be validated is a common cause of rejection, and the privacy policy should say opt-in mobile data is not shared with third parties or lead generators. Use your legal name as it appears on your EIN letter and a live website.

12. Describing the campaign vaguely or inaccurately

What it costs: a rejected campaign, or messages that no longer match what you registered. How to spot it: the sample messages are generic, or you later send promotions under a campaign registered for appointment reminders. Fix: Twilio's registration page asks for a description of who is sending, who receives and why, two to five sample messages that identify your business, and how people opt in. Write them from your real texts. Register a separate marketing campaign before you start one.

13. Assuming a bought lead agreed to your texts

What it costs: the person who submitted a form on a lead seller's site may have agreed to hear from the seller or a partner list, not from you. How to spot it: you text leads the moment a platform hands them over, without reading the consent language. Fix: read the exact wording the lead saw. In January 2025 the Eleventh Circuit vacated the FCC's one-to-one consent rule, which would have required a separate consent for each seller, so that rule is not in force. Without it, consent depends on what the person actually agreed to. When you cannot show it names you, call, or email within the rules. Owning your own forms avoids the question.

14. Having no do-not-call policy or training

What it costs: the rule calls for a written policy, and an employee who has never heard of it will not follow it. How to spot it: nobody can say who handles do-not-call requests. Fix: the FCC's Do Not Call rule at 47 CFR 64.1200(d) calls for a written policy, available on request, and says a do-not-call request must be honored for five years. Section 64.1200(e) applies the Do Not Call rules to marketing texts to wireless numbers. Write a one-page policy, train anyone who sends texts, and keep the list in your CRM, not in a spreadsheet on one person's laptop.

Where to start

If your texting setup has grown without a plan, do these three first:

1. Mistake 1, separate job texts from marketing. Then send marketing only to people with written consent.
2. Mistake 6, fix STOP handling. Make sure an opt-out reaches every tool within a day.
3. Mistake 10, register for 10DLC. Do it before the next campaign, not after the first blocked message.

Then add a consent checkbox and a stored record. Our text message templates include opt-out wording you can copy, and two-way texting covers day-to-day conversations. Take your final wording to a lawyer.

Frequently asked questions