This article is not legal advice. Please consult with your legal counsel for more information.
The 2025 TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) rule changes will be effective on January 27, 2025. It’s crucial for any business who buy leads, have a website that collect customer phone numbers, or send SMS or outbound calls to understand the new rule’s implications. Note that although this new rule is meant to regulate lead generation companies, this rule applies to all businesses, not just lead generation companies.
If you run any business that collects customer phone numbers and communicate with customers, you should care about this new rule.
What is the TCPA?
The TCPA is a federal law that regulates the use of automated telephone calls and text messages. It was enacted in 1991 to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing calls and texts. The law applies to all businesses that make automated calls or texts, regardless of their size or location. To put it in layman’s terms, the TCPA is a law that regulates the use of automated telephone calls and text messages.
In practice, the TCPA is why you have to opt-in to receive calls and texts from your bank, credit card company, and other businesses. SeaX widget is a good example. You can only contact your leads if they have opted-in to receive your calls and texts.
On January 27, 2025, the TCPA is about to get stricter. Every business needs to re-evaluate their lead generation and marketing strategies to ensure compliance.
Why Does the FCC’s New One-to-One Ruling Matter?
Lead generation today heavily relies on form capture, with online webforms and comparison shopping sites being key tools for direct-to-consumer marketers, insurance and real estate agents, creators, and tens of thousands of small businesses. As word-of-mouth referrals are not typically available from the start, businesses aiming to expand must either develop comprehensive marketing strategies or purchase leads from lead companies. Each month, millions of leads are transacted through tens of thousands of lead generation sites, leading to hundreds of millions of marketing calls to consumers.
Before the introduction of the new one-to-one rule, website operators could include partner pages linking to thousands of companies, allowing consumers to unknowingly consent to receive calls from these businesses. Often, fine-print disclosures permitted calls from companies offering products unrelated to the consumer’s initial inquiry. For example, a site providing information about health insurance might include fine print that allows the consumer’s data to be sold to a P&C or life insurance broker.
The new one-to-one rule eliminates these practices by requiring website operators to clearly identify each provider that may contact the consumer. Consumers must now individually select each provider for their consent to be valid. This change is designed to protect consumers from unsolicited calls and texts by ensuring they have explicitly agreed to be contacted by each specific business.
The TCPA Act, originating in the 1990s, has seen numerous amendments, with major updates in the early 2010s. The forthcoming changes in 2025 will further tighten these regulations. Effective January 27, 2025, the FCC’s new rules require lead generators and comparison-shopping websites to secure consumer consent for robocalls and robotexts on a “one seller at a time” basis. It’s crucial to understand that TCPA violations can lead to substantial fines, and corporate status does not protect individuals from personal liability.
Each unauthorized call or text can result in a $500 fine, and some individuals report the TCPA violations for financial gain. Therefore, safeguarding your business and personal assets against these risks is essential.
The Benefits of New One-to-One Consent Rule
The current model relies on third-party consent, where consumers permit lead publishers to sell their information. This often results in one lead, generated by a lead generation company, being sold to multiple businesses. To put this into perspective, if you are a mortgage broker, you are competing with other mortgage brokers for the same lead. This buisness model not only makes the lead quality bad, but also result in bad customer experience. Have you ever received 30 calls from different mortgage brokers right after you fill out a mortgage rate quote form on a comparison shopping site? It is frustrating for both the small business and the consumer. Small businesses need to fight for the same lead, and consumers are overwhelmed by the number of calls/texts they receive
The new one-to-one consent rule aims to improve this system, making consumers more receptive to communication from businesses they have specifically chosen to work with. The amended definition of “prior express written consent” requires that consent be clear, conspicuous, and specific to one identified seller.
Will I be affected by the New FCC One-to-One Ruling? Don’t Take Any Chances
Please use the following checklist to determine if the FCC’s One-to-One Ruling will impact you. Quoting the checklist from the TCPA expert, Eric J. Troutman of Troutman Amin, LLP.
- If you are buying or selling leads
- If you are a BPO or call center that relies on leads
- If you are a CPaaS or communication platform
- If you are a telecom carrier
- If you are lead gen platform or service provider
- If you generate first-party leads (do you gain customers through SEO or PPC campaigns?)
Yes, you are affected and should consult with your legal counsel to review your current lead generation and marketing strategies.
What Should I Do Next before January 27, 2025?
If you acquire your own leads, update the lead capture form to include the one-to-one consent language. Seasalt.ai is prepared and has tools in place to help you with the transition, including the language used in consent forms, management of your SMS and outbound calling campaigns (for both manual and automated SMS and call camapaigns), and more.
If you acquire leads from external lead generators i.e. you buy leads from lead generation companies, you need to check whether the external lead sources are compliant with the new one-to-one consent rule. It is better to not take any chances and find a compliant lead source. If you are not sure, please contact your legal counsel or pause your lead acquisition until you have a clear understanding about the lead sources.
What About My Existing Leads?
After January 27, 2025, you may continue to reach out to your existing leads using manual dialing (Yes, a human needs to type in the phone number) or human-operated systems. However, it is important to note that any outreach utilizing regulated technologies such as prerecorded messages, AI voices, soundboards, ringless voicemails (RVM), interactive voice response (IVR), or voicemail drops (VMs) will be prohibited for these old leads.
Take Action Now
If you want to be ahead of the curve, please take action now. Jan 27, 2025 is approaching fast, but we are not seeing enough businesses taking action to prepare. Seasalt.ai will continue to provide resources and tools to help you prepare for the new rule. We cover SMS and outbound calling campaigns using both manual and AI technology. Let’s work together to make sure you are compliant and ready for the new rule.
The 2025 TCPA rule changes will significantly impact how businesses conduct their outreach. Calls and texts using regulated technology will require explicit opt-in consent. For those without opt-in, manual dialing and texting after scrubbing will be necessary. Existing business relationships can provide some exemptions, but staying informed and compliant is crucial. Always talk to your legal counsel before making any changes.
References
If you prefer to read from FCC directly, please visit the following links:
- One-to-One Consent Rule for TCPA Prior Express Written Consent Frequently Asked Questions.
- The FCC Order
If you want to learn from other experts, please visit the following links:
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