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sion’s (FCC’s) new rules on business-to-
customer text messaging might send a chill
up your spine, but compliance is easier than
you might think.
Effective on October 16, 2013, a revi-
sion to the Telephone Consumer Protection
Act (TCPA) requires marketers to obtain
express written consent from any consumer
before sending any text mes-
sage or making any phone
call that is considered to be
auto-dialed. This revision
applies to any fuel or HVAC
marketer who sends bulk
text messages to customers.
The revision also eliminates the “estab-
lished business relationship” exemption
that previously entitled marketers to engage
in automated telephony communications
with consumers where an existing relation-
ship was in place. Under the new rule,
marketers must obtain written consent
for all auto-dialed phone-based messages,
including text messages.
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While the requirements may sound
onerous, they actually require marketers to
do only what common sense would dictate
anyway: Get customers to give their permis-
sion for text-based communications before
you start auto-sending them text messages.
Don’t let this minor obstacle deter you
from using text messaging to improve your
customer connections, because text-based
communications is too promising to pass
up. Personal communication is rapidly
gravitating to mobile phones and text
messaging, making SMS (Short Message
Service) the most important channel for
local businesses.
The Pew Internet & American Life
Projects reported in 2012 that 80 percent
of all cell phone owners use their phone
to send or receive text messages. Young
Americans use text messaging even more,
according to Pew: 92 percent of cell phone
owners between the ages of 30 and 49 text,
as do 97 percent of those aged 18 to 29.
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It’s not just your younger customers
and prospects who are texting; 72 percent
of cell phone owners aged 50 to 64 use text
messaging, and even in the 65-plus bracket,
34 percent use SMS, according to Pew.
Texting also correlates nicely with house-
hold income and education: The more you
earn and the better educated you are, the
more likely you are to use text messaging.
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Marketers now must get consent before
sending automated messages to customers
By Richard Rutigliano, PriMedia, Inc.
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FCC Regulations
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