Customer texting is incredibly effective for retail follow-ups — but it comes with legal requirements. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) sets strict rules about who you can text, when, and how. Violations can result in fines of $500-$1,500 per message. RetailGenie helps you stay compliant, but you need to understand the basics.
What is the TCPA?
The TCPA is a federal law that regulates telemarketing calls and text messages. For retail businesses, the key rules are: you need consent before sending marketing texts, you must honor opt-out requests immediately, and you can't send texts before 8am or after 9pm in the recipient's timezone.
Types of Consent
- Express Written Consent — Required for marketing/promotional texts. Customer must actively agree (sign a form, check a box, text a keyword to opt in).
- Express Consent — Sufficient for transactional texts like delivery notifications, order updates, and appointment confirmations. Given when a customer provides their phone number in the context of a transaction.
- Prior Business Relationship — NOT sufficient on its own for texting. Just because someone bought from you doesn't mean you can text them promotions.
A customer giving you their phone number at checkout is NOT express written consent for marketing texts. You need a separate, clear opt-in for promotional messages.
How RetailGenie Handles Consent
RetailGenie tracks consent status on every customer record. When a customer opts in (via your website, in-store form, or text keyword), the system records the date, method, and scope of consent. When you try to text a customer without proper consent, the system will warn you.
Transactional vs. Marketing Messages
Understanding the difference is critical:
- Transactional (lower consent bar): 'Your mattress delivery is scheduled for Tuesday 10am-12pm.' / 'Your appliance is ready for pickup.' / 'Your furniture order has shipped.'
- Marketing (requires written consent): 'Our Memorial Day sale starts Friday — 40% off all mattresses!' / 'New living room sets just arrived — come see them this weekend!'
Handling Opt-Outs
When a customer replies STOP (or any variation), RetailGenie automatically flags their record and prevents any future texts. You cannot manually override this flag. If a customer later wants to opt back in, they must do so actively — you cannot re-enroll them yourself.
Record Keeping
RetailGenie automatically maintains the records you need for TCPA compliance: consent records (who, when, how), complete message logs, opt-out records and timestamps, and delivery confirmations. These records should be retained for at least 5 years.
When in doubt, don't text. A missed marketing opportunity is far cheaper than a TCPA violation. Focus your texting on customers who have clearly opted in, and make your transactional texts genuinely useful.