Can you text a customer who called you?

The short answer

The customer called you. A text that says who you are and asks how you can help is a reply to that call. The federal texting rules, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the FCC’s rules under it, are aimed mostly at telemarketing: calls and texts that sell something.

The closest FCC ruling is from 2015, about one-time texts sent right after a consumer asks for something. The FCC said a single text sent straight back in answer to that request isn’t a TCPA violation (FCC order, Federal Register). A missed call isn’t exactly a request for a text, which is one more reason to keep the reply plain and free of offers.

Where a reply turns into marketing

The risk starts when the text promotes something. Compare:

• A reply

  Hi, this is [Business]. Sorry we missed your call, we're on a job. What can we help with? Reply STOP to opt out.

• Now it’s marketing

  Hi, this is [Business]. Sorry we missed your call. Book this week and get 15% off a tune-up.

A seasonal offer sent months later to everyone who ever called you is marketing too, even if each of them called once.

For marketing texts sent with automated systems, the FCC requires prior express written consent: a signed agreement (an electronic signature counts) that clearly allows the texts, includes the phone number, and tells the person they don’t have to agree in order to buy anything (47 CFR 64.1200).

The TCPA lets a person sue for $500 per violating call or text, and a court can triple that to $1,500 when the violation was willful or knowing (47 U.S.C. 227).

Opt-outs: stop the same minute

Since April 11, 2025, FCC rules treat replies like STOP, QUIT, END, REVOKE, OPT OUT, CANCEL and UNSUBSCRIBE as a request to stop, and the request has to be honored within 10 business days at most (Manatt summary of the 2025 rule).

An FCC order adopted on September 30, 2026 lets a business name one way to opt out, such as replying STOP, if every text says so clearly. If you don’t name one, any reasonable way of saying stop still counts. An opt-out from marketing still covers all your marketing texts (Manatt summary of the 2026 order).

In practice, your texting tool should stop the moment the word arrives. Twilio, for example, handles the standard keywords automatically (Twilio). Check that yours does, and never text that person again from a different number.

FCC rules have allowed one text that only confirms the opt-out, sent within five minutes. The FCC is reviewing confirmation texts, so check what your texting provider sends.

Mind the hour

FCC rules bar telephone solicitations to a home before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the called person’s time zone (47 CFR 64.1200). A reply to someone who called you minutes ago isn’t a solicitation, so a short text at 10 p.m. saying when you’ll call back is fine. Save anything that sells for business hours, and only for people who agreed to it.

Reminders and offers to past customers

Maintenance reminders, tune-up offers and “we haven’t seen you in a while” texts are marketing. Before you send them:

• Get written consent first, for example a clearly worded checkbox on your booking form or invoice that says what you’ll text and roughly how often.
• Keep a record of when and how each customer agreed.
• Have a lawyer check the wording once. Some states add their own telemarketing rules on top of the federal ones.
• If you don’t have consent, use email for reminders instead.

Quote follow-ups sit closer to a reply: the customer asked for the quote. Keep them about that quote, keep them few, and stop when the customer answers or says no.

Carriers have their own rules

Separate from the law, US carriers require businesses to register before sending automated texts from a regular local number. Twilio blocked all unregistered texts from US local numbers sent after August 31, 2023 (Twilio). See A2P 10DLC registration, explained for contractors.

How we handle it

Our missed call texts are replies with no offers in them, every one says how to opt out, and opt-outs stop all texts to that number. Reminders only go to customers who agreed to them.

How we handle text consent