Consent and opt-outs

The single question that decides whether a call or a text is fine or expensive: did this person agree to hear from you?

Important: Not legal advice. The federal rule here is the TCPA, and states layer their own on top. Penalties are assessed per message, which is why a bad list of two thousand numbers is not a small mistake.

What counts as consent

Good consent looks like this. Someone filled out your form, called you, texted you first, or signed something that says you may contact them, and you can prove when and how.

The strongest version has three parts:

1. They gave you the number themselves
2. It was clear they would get calls or texts about it, including automated ones
3. You kept the record: the form, the timestamp, the wording they saw

This is not consent:

• A number you bought on a list
• A number you scraped from a directory or a map
• A number a friend gave you
• Someone who filled out a form for something else entirely
• Someone who told you to stop last year

Warning: Consent cannot be a condition of purchase, and it does not transfer. Permission to contact one business is not permission for the business that bought their data.

Existing customers

If someone is already your customer, you generally have more room to contact them about the business you actually do together. That is not unlimited, it does not cover marketing something unrelated, and it ends the moment they ask you to stop.

Opt-outs

Someone can withdraw consent any time, by any reasonable means. They do not have to say a magic word.

What LeadBind does automatically:

• A reply of STOP adds that number to your do-not-contact list and blocks every further text
• The list is checked before every single send, not once when a sequence starts
• Telling the assistant on a call that they do not want to be contacted stops contact

What you have to do:

• Honor a stop request that did not come through LeadBind. If someone tells you in person, on another line, or by email, add them yourself.
• Do not undo it. Re-importing an old CSV that contains an opted-out number is the most common way people break this, and LeadBind's suppression list is what saves you. Do not work around it.
• Never argue with it. A person who opts out and gets one more message is exactly the plaintiff you do not want.

Time of day

LeadBind holds automated outbound texting to 8am to 6pm in your configured timezone. Federal rules are wider than that; we are deliberately narrower, because a 9pm text does more damage to your reputation than the extra hour is worth.

Two things this means:

• Set your timezone correctly. Availability → Timezone. Otherwise a Texas business texts California at 6am.
• A form that comes in at midnight gets called back in the morning, not at midnight. Speed to lead is fast, not reckless.

Keeping records

If you are ever challenged, your records are the defense. Keep:

• Where each lead came from and when
• The exact wording of the consent language on your form
• Every opt-out, and when you honored it

LeadBind keeps the lead source, the timestamps, and the opt-out list for you. The wording on your own form is yours to keep, and it is the piece people forget. Screenshot your form today.

Special cases worth naming

• Insurance, mortgage, credit repair, real estate. Your industry has its own rules on top of these, and you hold the license, not us. See Modes and industries.
• Anything your assistant dials for you. If you gave a key the dial permission, calls it places are your calls. Everything on this page applies. See Keys and permissions.
• Texting at all. Requires carrier registration before it works properly. See A2P.