A short guide to consent in text marketing

Text messaging is more regulated than email. For funeral homes, it should also be held to a higher internal standard. A family that receives one unwanted text from you after a loss will never recommend you. That is more costly than any fine.

Here is what you need to know.

The legal floor

In the United States, text marketing is governed primarily by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the CAN-SPAM Act, with additional guidance from the CTIA (the wireless industry association). The short version:

• You must have prior express written consent before sending marketing texts.
• You must honor STOP keywords immediately and permanently.
• You must honor HELP keywords with identifying information.
• You must include who you are in the first message a contact receives.
• You must not text people who have opted out, ever, for any reason.

Quietly enforces all of this automatically. The STOP and HELP handling is not optional — it runs for every funeral home using the platform.

The ethical ceiling

The floor is the law. The ceiling is how you want to be remembered. For funeral homes, that is higher than most industries. Some suggestions:

• Only text people who asked. If a family didn't affirmatively say "yes, text me," do not text them, even if you legally could.
• Stop at one opt-out hint. If someone replies "please don't" — even without the word STOP — honor it and move on.
• Don't treat the inbox like a funnel. A family replying to a message is talking to you, not clicking through a campaign.
• Err toward less. If you are unsure whether a given send is appropriate, it probably isn't.

What "express written consent" looks like

It doesn't require a signed form. It does require that the contact clearly agreed to receive texts from your firm, not just from "your partners" or "similar businesses." The cleanest version is a checkbox at intake or on a website form with language like: I agree to receive text messages from [Firm Name] related to aftercare, remembrance, and firm updates. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.

Save the record. Date it. If you are ever audited, you will be glad you did.

Honoring reality, not just rules

A family that opted in when their loved one was alive may feel very differently six months after a loss. Respect that. Make it easy to leave. The families who stay — who actually want to hear from you — are the ones the platform was built for anyway.