How does TCPA work?
- Marketing calls and texts to cell phones need prior express written consent when an autodialer or prerecorded voice is used.
- Numbers are scrubbed against the National Do Not Call Registry and the company's internal do-not-call list before every campaign.
- Calls are placed only between 8am and 9pm in the recipient's local time zone, and the caller identifies the business at the start.
- Consent records, opt-out requests and the date each number was scrubbed are logged so the business can prove compliance.
- State mini-TCPA laws in Florida, Oklahoma and Washington add stricter rules on dialing methods and hours.
A worked example
A solar installer in Arizona buys 400 web leads a month and wants a remote appointment setter to call them. Its marketing lead rewrites the web form so the consent language names the company and states that calls or texts may follow, then stores each submission with a timestamp and IP address. The setter works from a list that is scrubbed against the National Do Not Call Registry every 31 days, dials manually between 9am and 6pm local, and logs any 'stop' or 'remove me' request the same day.
Where does TCPA show up in your tools?
TCPA controls appear as consent fields on web forms, do-not-call flags in HubSpot and GoHighLevel, campaign-level DNC scrub logs in dialers such as Dialpad and RingCentral, and STOP keyword handling in Twilio SMS workflows.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a purchased lead list came with consent; the consent must name your business, and the burden of proof sits with the caller.
- Calling a lead again after they asked to stop, because the request was noted in the dialer but never synced to the CRM.
- Running a national list on the caller's own clock, so a late-evening block that is fine in one time zone lands after 9pm in another.
Why does TCPA matter?
TCPA carries statutory damages per call or text, which is why class actions follow sloppy outbound programs even at small companies. A consent record and a clean scrubbing routine are what let a business use outbound calling as a growth channel without that exposure. This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice.
How does AssistBPO handle TCPA?
AssistBPO appointment setters and sales development representatives place outbound calls and texts only with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing, working from lists the client confirms were captured with proper notice. Scripts open with the business name, calling windows follow the recipient's local time, and every opt-out is logged in the client's CRM within the same shift.
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