Text messages interrupt in a way email never will, and the rules reflect that. In the United States, marketing texts sit under telephone consumer law with real statutory damages, and many other markets apply similarly strict standards. Brands discover this the expensive way when a loosely built list, often imported from email signups, meets its first complaint.
The good news is that compliant SMS programs are operationally simple. The requirements are concrete, the records are easy to keep when the system is built for it, and subscribers who genuinely opted in to texts are among the most responsive audiences a brand can have.
What a valid SMS opt in contains
At the point of signup, the disclosure should state plainly: the brand sending, that messages are marketing, expected frequency, that message and data rates may apply, and how to get help and how to stop. The opt in action itself, entering a number and confirming, or texting a keyword, must be tied to that disclosure.
Keyword opt ins from signage or packaging need the same disclosures at the point of display, and a double opt in confirmation text that restates the program and asks for a confirming reply. That confirmation message doubles as the first record of what was agreed.
Records are the program's insurance
Keep, for every subscriber: the number, the timestamp, the source and exact disclosure version shown, and the confirmation event. When a complaint or a legal demand arrives, the question is never whether your program is generally careful; it is whether this specific number consented to this specific program.
Record keeping fails most often at list imports and platform migrations, where numbers arrive stripped of their consent history. A number whose provenance cannot be shown should be treated as a number without consent, because in a dispute that is what it is.
Revocation must be effortless and total
Replying STOP, and reasonable equivalents, must end marketing messages to that number promptly, with at most a single confirmation message. Making people log in, call, or navigate a preference center to stop texts is both a compliance failure and a reliable generator of complaints.
Preference centers can offer a downshift, fewer messages or different topics, as an option after revocation is honored, never as a gate in front of it. And a revoked number stays revoked across campaigns; re importing it from an old list does not restore consent.
Quiet hours and frequency are part of the deal
Many rules restrict marketing texts to daytime and evening hours in the recipient's local time, and the disclosure's frequency promise, up to four messages a month for example, is a commitment auditors and subscribers both hold brands to. Campaign calendars should be built around the strictest applicable window for a national list.
Frequency discipline is also commercial sense. Texts earn attention because they are rare relative to email. Programs that escalate volume burn the channel's trust and their own opt in rates within a few campaigns, long before any regulator gets involved.
Related reading
These earlier guides go deeper on connected questions: Consent for Loyalty Programs: Tracking Members Across Visits Without Breaking the Deal Loyalty programs run on recognition: points, tiers, and personalization all require remembering the member. That makes consent a design problem at enrollment, in the app, and at the till, not just on the website banner., A/B Testing Your Consent Banner: What You May Vary, What You May Not, and How to Read the Result Banner tests usually optimize acceptance rate, which is precisely the metric that must not be optimized. The legitimate test space is clarity, comprehension, and completion, and the guardrail metrics matter more than the winner., and Cookie Consent on Headless Storefronts: Where the Banner Stack Usually Breaks Headless builds separate the storefront from the platform, and consent tooling falls into the gap: late loading banners, tags firing from the app shell, and consent state lost between routes..
Frequently asked questions
Does email consent cover SMS marketing?
No. SMS requires its own specific consent tied to the phone number and program, with its own disclosures. Importing email subscribers into a text program is a common and costly mistake.
What records should an SMS program keep?
For each number: timestamp, signup source, the exact disclosure version shown, and the confirmation event, plus revocation records. If provenance cannot be shown, treat the number as unconsented.
How must opt out work for texts?
Simply and completely: replying STOP or an equivalent ends marketing messages promptly, with at most one confirmation. Revocation cannot require logging in or calling.
Are there time of day rules for marketing texts?
In many jurisdictions yes, restricting texts to daytime and evening hours in the recipient's time zone. Build send windows around the strictest rule your list falls under.