Text message rules for tanning salons: consent, opt-outs and quiet hours

Which rules cover a salon's texts

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. 227) and the FCC rule that carries it out, 47 CFR 64.1200, govern business calls and texts in the United States. Its opt-out provisions speak of "calls or text messages," and an FCC rule that took effect in March 2024 codified that the National Do-Not-Call Registry's protections extend to texts.

Two kinds of text matter to a salon. An account text tells a client something about their own business with you: an appointment reminder, a change to your hours, a sign-in code. A marketing text advertises: a sale, a new bed, a coupon. The rule defines an advertisement as "any material advertising the commercial availability or quality of any property, goods, or services," so one coupon code turns a reminder into a marketing text.

Getting it wrong is expensive. A person can sue over an autodialer violation for their actual monetary loss or $500 for each violation, whichever is greater, and a court can raise the award to as much as three times that for a willful or knowing violation (47 U.S.C. 227(b)(3)). A separate private action covers anyone who gets more than one call in 12 months from or on behalf of the same business in breach of the do-not-call rules (227(c)(5)), and the FCC applies those rules to texts.

Account texts and marketing texts need different consent

The federal rule defines an autodialer narrowly, as equipment with the capacity to store or produce numbers "using a random or sequential number generator" (64.1200(f)(2)). Whether a particular texting platform meets that definition is a question for your lawyer. Don't build your plan on the answer. The do-not-call rules apply to telephone solicitations whatever equipment sends them, a state can add its own telemarketing law, as Florida's shows below, and the wireless industry's guidelines expect consent "regardless of whether these rules apply."

The practical rule is simple. Tell every client, in writing, where they give you their number, which account texts you send. Ask separately, with a box they tick themselves, before you send them any marketing.

What written consent for marketing texts must include

Prior express written consent under 64.1200(f)(9) is a written agreement that:

• bears the signature of the person, and an electronic or digital signature counts where federal law or state contract law recognizes it
• clearly authorizes the seller to send advertisements or telemarketing messages using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice
• names the telephone number the messages go to
• carries a clear and conspicuous disclosure that signing authorizes those messages, and that the person is not required to sign, directly or indirectly, as a condition of purchasing any property, goods or services

That last point is why the deals box cannot be buried in the paperwork a client must sign before tanning. "Clear and conspicuous" means apparent to a reasonable consumer and "separate and distinguishable from the advertising copy or other disclosures" (64.1200(f)(3)). Keep the box apart from the warning statement and unticked, as our consent form guide explains.

An FCC rule adopted in December 2023 would have required consent to be given to one seller at a time. It never took effect: the Eleventh Circuit vacated it, with its mandate issued April 30, 2025, and the FCC put the earlier definition back in the rule, effective August 29, 2025. The definition above is the one in force.

How to handle STOP and other opt-outs in 2026

Under 64.1200(a)(10), a client can revoke consent, including written consent, "by using any reasonable method." These count per se:

• replying "stop," "quit," "end," "revoke," "opt out," "cancel" or "unsubscribe" to your text
• an automated or key-press opt-out on a call
• a website or phone number you designate for opt-outs

A reply in other words still counts if a reasonable person would read it as a request to stop. You may not name one exclusive way to opt out, and you must honor a request within a reasonable time, no more than 10 business days. A request by another route, such as a voicemail or an email, creates a rebuttable presumption that consent was revoked (64.1200(a)(11)). If your texts cannot take replies, each text must say so and give another way to opt out.

You may send one confirmation text, as long as it only confirms the request and carries no marketing. Sent within five minutes, it is presumed to be within the client's consent; later, you must show the delay was reasonable (64.1200(a)(12)). If the client agreed to several kinds of texts, that one message may ask which ones they meant to stop.

Dates that matter: the opt-out rules in 64.1200(a)(10) and (a)(11) took effect April 11, 2025. One part, treating an opt-out from one kind of message as an opt-out from all future robocalls and robotexts on unrelated matters, is waived until January 31, 2027 by FCC order DA 26-12. The FCC's tentative agenda for its September 30, 2026 meeting includes a draft order that would let senders treat an opt-out from an informational text as covering only that kind of text. It would also let a sender name one or more of three standard opt-out methods (a key-press option on a call, a reply such as STOP, or a designated website or phone number) as the only ones it accepts, as long as it clearly discloses the method in each call or text. It was still a draft on September 29, 2026.

A salon does not need the fine distinctions. When a client asks to stop, stop every text to that number and note it on their record. That meets today's rule and the draft on the FCC's agenda.

Quiet hours and do-not-call lists

Under 64.1200(c), no one may send a telephone solicitation to a residential subscriber before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. at the recipient's location, or to a number on the national do-not-call registry. Paragraph (e) applies these rules to telephone solicitations and telemarketing texts sent to wireless numbers.

A telephone solicitation excludes a message to someone who gave prior express invitation or permission, or with whom you have an established business relationship: a purchase in the last 18 months, or an inquiry in the last three months. Your own clients usually fall inside those exceptions, but keeping every promotion between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. costs nothing and settles the question.

Anyone sending telemarketing must also keep its own do-not-call list under 64.1200(d):

• a written do-not-call policy, available on demand
• staff trained on the list
• each request recorded when it is made, and honored within 10 business days
• each request honored for five years

A client's do-not-call request also ends the established business relationship for telemarketing, even if they keep tanning with you (64.1200(f)(5)(i)). Keep the request with the rest of your client paperwork, as described in our recordkeeping guide.

State laws can add rules: Florida as an example

Federal law is the floor. Florida's telephone solicitation statute, section 501.059, shows how a state can add to it:

• A "telephonic sales call" includes a text message.
• An unsolicited sales call made with an automated system for selecting and dialing numbers needs prior express written consent. A signature includes checking a box indicating consent. A call to someone with a prior or existing business relationship is not unsolicited.
• No one may text a person who has said they don't want texts from that seller.
• Florida keeps its own "no sales solicitation calls" list, which includes the Florida numbers on the national registry, and an unsolicited sales call or text may not go to a number on it.
• A person can sue for actual damages or $500, whichever is greater, and a court can raise that to as much as three times for a willful or knowing violation. Before suing over text solicitations, the person must reply STOP, and the seller has 15 days to stop texting.

Check your own state's telemarketing law before you start sending promotions. For Florida's tanning rules themselves, see Florida tanning laws.

Carrier rules are not law, but they decide delivery

Wireless carriers set their own expectations for business texting, and a carrier can filter messages that don't meet them. The industry association's May 2023 Messaging Principles and Best Practices say they are not legal advice. They ask senders to get consent to receive messages, get express written consent for marketing, and let people revoke consent. They also ask senders to:

• keep a record of each opt-in: when it happened, how, the wording used, the campaign, the phone number and who agreed
• send a confirmation with opt-out instructions when someone joins recurring texts
• use each opt-in only for the campaign it was given for, and never use rented, sold or shared lists
• act on everyday opt-out words such as "please opt me out," not only the word STOP

Individual carriers may also require campaign pre-approval or vetting, so ask your texting provider what it needs from you.

What to do at the front desk

1. Put a short notice beside the phone field on your intake form that lists the account texts you send.
2. Ask for marketing consent with its own unticked box. Say it is optional and not required to buy anything or to tan.
3. Keep the signed record, the wording the client saw and the date for every marketing opt-in.
4. Keep offers, links and coupon codes out of reminders and other account texts.
5. Treat STOP, cancel, or "don't text me" at the counter as a stop for every text to that number. Record it the same day.
6. Train staff where stop requests go, and keep a written do-not-call policy.
7. Send promotions between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. local time at the client's location.
8. Before a campaign, check your state's telemarketing law and your texting provider's rules.

How TanVision helps

TanVision's consent forms keep marketing consent in its own box: separate from the consent to tan, unticked and optional. Each signed record keeps the exact wording the client agreed to. Anyone who asks the salon to stop is never texted, and that is checked by phone number, not by client record, so a second record carrying the same number is covered too.

Texts go out through each salon's own texting account. Today that covers shop sign-in codes, a confirmation when a client ticks the deals box, receipts a client asks to get by text, and the salon's marketing texts: text campaigns, welcome texts for new clients and "we miss you" texts after a set number of days away. Marketing texts go only to clients who gave marketing consent, start with the salon's name, end with "Reply STOP to stop", go out between 9am and 8pm on the salon's clock, and stay inside a daily limit. Book a demo to see how consent is recorded.