Key regulations
TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act)
The main US law governing phone calls and texts:- Consent required for marketing calls/texts
- Time restrictions on when you can call
- Do-not-call compliance required
- Penalties up to $1,500 per violation
State laws
Many states have additional requirements:- California - Stricter consent requirements
- Florida - Written consent for texts
- New York - Enhanced caller ID requirements
Consent requirements
For marketing calls
You need prior express consent:- Customer gave you their number
- They knew you might call
- They agreed to receive calls
For marketing texts
You need prior express written consent:- Customer explicitly agreed to texts
- Agreement was documented
- They knew what they’d receive
For informational calls
Lower threshold:- Appointment reminders (existing relationship)
- Order updates (transactional)
- Service notifications (non-marketing)
Calling hours
Federal: 8 AM - 9 PM (recipient’s time zone) Best practice: 9 AM - 8 PM| Time | Compliant? | Recommended? |
|---|---|---|
| 7 AM | No | No |
| 9 AM | Yes | Yes |
| 12 PM | Yes | Maybe (lunch) |
| 6 PM | Yes | Yes |
| 9 PM | Yes | Borderline |
| 10 PM | No | No |
Do-not-call (DNC)
National DNC Registry
Check numbers against the national list:- Before calling - Scrub your list
- Every 31 days - Re-scrub regularly
- Honor requests - Add to internal DNC immediately
Internal DNC list
When someone says “don’t call me”:- Remove immediately - Within 24 hours
- Across all campaigns - Not just the current one
- Keep records - Document when they opted out
Recording disclosure
Most states require one-party consent (you can record if you’re on the call). But some require all-party consent: All-party consent states:- California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Washington
Caller ID
Rules for displaying caller ID:- Don’t spoof - Must be a number you control
- Be reachable - Number must work if called back
- Be identifiable - Ideally shows your business name
Text message compliance
Special rules for SMS:- Clear identification - Include business name
- Opt-out instructions - “Reply STOP to unsubscribe”
- Honor STOP immediately - No more messages
- Frequency disclosure - Tell them how often you’ll text
- Data rates disclaimer - “Msg & data rates may apply”
RevDesk compliance features
Built-in tools to help you stay compliant:Record keeping
Keep records of:| Record | Retention |
|---|---|
| Consent documentation | 4+ years |
| DNC requests | 5+ years |
| Call logs | 2+ years |
| Opt-out requests | 5+ years |
Best practices
Get clear consent
Get clear consent
Don’t assume consent. Have explicit opt-in for marketing calls/texts.
Identify yourself
Identify yourself
Start calls with who you are and why you’re calling.
Make it easy to opt out
Make it easy to opt out
Don’t hide the unsubscribe. Make it simple.
Respect the relationship
Respect the relationship
Just because you can call doesn’t mean you should. Be reasonable.
Document everything
Document everything
Keep records of consent, opt-outs, and compliance measures.
If you receive a complaint
- Take it seriously - Investigate promptly
- Document - Record the complaint and your response
- Remediate - Fix the issue
- Add to DNC - Immediately stop calling that number
- Review processes - Prevent recurrence
Compliance Center widget
The Outreach page includes a persistent Compliance Center button:- Amber warning triangle until the workspace acknowledges TCPA/DNC obligations.
- Green shield once acknowledged. Annual re-acknowledgement prompt at 30 days before expiry.
- Workspace acknowledgement status (and who acknowledged, when).
- Active disclosures (recording, SMS STOP append, TCPA quiet hours, DNC scrubbing, two-party-consent state list).
- Per-active-campaign checkmarks: terms accepted, recording disclosure attested, calling-window configured, frequency cap set, 30-day attestation rate.
- Consent record counters (voice / SMS / email opt-in, inbound-originated) and recent consent events.
- 30-day disclosure attestation rates for voice + first-touch SMS.
- “Export full audit” — CSV with channel, source, timestamp, sender, use case, disclosure attestation, two-party-state flag.
Per-channel consent records
When you (the workspace operator) record an opt-in for a contact, RevDesk persists:| Field | Description |
|---|---|
{channel}OptIn | Boolean per channel (voice, SMS, email). |
{channel}OptedInAt | Timestamp the opt-in was captured. |
{channel}ConsentSource | Origin of consent (e.g. csv_upload, manual_admin, inbound_initiated). |
{channel}ConsentSender | The user / system actor that captured the consent. |
{channel}ConsentUseCase | Free-form use-case label (e.g. sales_followup). |
firstInbound{Channel}At | First time the contact initiated inbound on that channel. |
ConsentSource = "inbound_initiated".
Capture opt-ins programmatically via the partner API, on contact CSV import, or manually from the contact-detail page.
Frequency cap
Each outbound campaign has adailyCallsPerContact setting (default 1). Calls to a contact past the cap are deferred to local midnight of the next day. Admin TCPA bypass does not bypass the frequency cap.
Recording disclosure attestation
Every outbound call records:disclosureAttested— true when the agent’s live greeting contained the recording disclosure phrase.disclosureText— the disclosure phrase actually attached (first sentence of the greeting).twoPartyStateAtCallTime— true when the recipient’s area code maps to an all-party-consent state.
Resources
Compliance Settings
Configure compliance features