Texting insurance leads legally: TCPA consent and A2P 10DLC registration

You can text insurance leads, but federal law treats a text as a call. Automated marketing texts need the lead's prior express written consent, opt-outs must be honoured within ten business days, and sales messages have quiet hours. Carriers also require your number to be registered before they deliver business texts. This is general information, not legal advice, so have counsel review your consent wording and state rules.

Key facts

• The Supreme Court has said a text message to a mobile phone "qualifies as a 'call'" under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) (Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez, 2016).
• Autodialed or prerecorded marketing calls and texts to mobile numbers need prior express written consent: a signed agreement naming the number (federal rules).
• The Eleventh Circuit struck down the "one-to-one" consent rule on January 24, 2025, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) removed it from its rules on July 14, 2025 (FCC order).
• From November 25, 2026, a texter may name reply words such as "stop" as the only way to opt out, but must still honour opt-outs within ten business days (FCC rule).
• Florida exempts licensed insurance agents from most of its telemarketing law, but not from its 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. limit (Fla. Stat. §501.604).

Does the TCPA apply to text messages?

Yes. The TCPA rules on automated calls apply to texts, and the FCC applies the National Do Not Call Registry to marketing texts too (FCC, 2024).

The strictest consent rule covers an "automatic telephone dialing system." In 2021 the Supreme Court limited that term to equipment using a random or sequential number generator (Facebook v. Duguid).

That is not a free pass. The Do Not Call rules don't depend on the equipment, and some state laws use wider language. Written consent covers you under every version.

What counts as prior express written consent?

Federal rules define it as a written agreement, signed by the person, that authorizes the seller to send automated marketing calls or texts to a stated number. The agreement must say two things in clear and conspicuous terms:

1. That signing authorizes the seller to send automated marketing calls or texts.
2. That the person doesn't have to sign as a condition of buying anything.

An electronic signature counts where federal or state law recognizes it. On a website, that is usually a checkbox the lead ticks, next to wording that names your agency. Don't pre-tick it, and don't hide it in your terms.

Keep proof of each consent. The wireless industry's guidelines suggest recording the time, the method, the exact wording shown, the campaign, the internet address, the phone number and who consented (CTIA).

Our website design work includes the quote form, and you or your counsel approve the consent wording on it.

What happened to the one-to-one consent rule?

It never took effect. In 2023 the FCC adopted a rule that would have required consent for one seller at a time, for calls "logically and topically associated" with the website where the shopper gave consent. It was aimed at comparison sites that collect one consent for many sellers.

The Eleventh Circuit vacated that rule in Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC, decided January 24, 2025. The court found that it went beyond what the TCPA's "prior express consent" means. The FCC had already delayed the rule, and its July 2025 order put the earlier definition back in its rules.

That doesn't make every bought lead safe to text. Consent must still authorize the seller who sends the message. If you buy leads, check the consent wording on the vendor's form and whether it covers you. Our guide to shared and exclusive leads covers what else you are paying for.

How fast must you honour an opt-out?

Within a reasonable time, and no later than ten business days after you receive it. Until November 25, 2026, you must honour an opt-out made in any reasonable way. Replies such as "stop" or "unsubscribe" always count.

The FCC's October 2026 rule changes how you can collect opt-outs from that date. You may name an exclusive method, such as replying with one of seven words: stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel or unsubscribe. Each text must show at least one of those words, and you must accept all seven. An opt-out sent in reply to a marketing text ends all marketing texts and calls from you.

You may send one text confirming the opt-out, with no marketing in it. A confirmation sent within five minutes is presumed to fall within the person's consent.

What hours can you text?

Federal rules bar telephone solicitations before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the recipient's local time. State laws can be stricter.

What's different in Florida: Licensed insurance agents are exempt from most of the state's telemarketing act, but not from its limits of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and three calls on the same subject in 24 hours (Fla. Stat. §501.616).

Florida's Telephone Solicitation Act is a separate section, and we found no insurance exemption in it. It requires prior express written consent for sales calls and texts sent with an "automated system for the selection and dialing" of numbers.

A person can sue for $500 per violation, or up to three times that if the violation was willful (Fla. Stat. §501.059).

Before suing over texts, the Florida recipient must reply "stop" and give you 15 days. That is a step before a lawsuit, not a grace period for you. Stop as soon as you see the reply.

Oklahoma passed a similar law in 2022, with the same 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. limit and the same consent rule. As enacted, it exempts licensed insurance agents "when soliciting within the scope of his or her license" (Oklahoma's 2022 act). Other states have their own rules, so check each state you sell in.

What is A2P 10DLC registration?

It is the US carriers' registration system for businesses texting from ordinary 10-digit numbers. The name stands for application-to-person (A2P) messaging on 10-digit long codes (10DLC).

You register two things through your messaging provider. The brand is your business. The campaign describes what you send and how people opt in, opt out and get help (Twilio docs).

The Campaign Registry (TCR) holds these records, and businesses can't register with it directly. A provider registers them (The Campaign Registry). Twilio said it would block all unregistered US texts from 10-digit numbers after August 31, 2023 (Twilio).

Registration is a delivery rule, not a legal shield. A registered number can still break the TCPA, and a lawful message from an unregistered number may never arrive.

What should an agency set up?

Work through these in order:

1. Consent on every form, unticked, naming your agency and covering texts.
2. A record of each consent.
3. Opt-out handling that accepts all seven stop words at once.
4. Quiet hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the lead's time zone, which meets the federal and Florida limits.
5. Registration of your brand and campaign before you send.
6. Replies that stay replies. Our guide to missed-call text back covers the first text after a call.

Then reply fast. The research on response time is in our guide to speed to lead.

If you want your quote form and follow-up checked against this list, book a website strategy call.