HomeLearnTexting leads and clients
Can an insurance agency text its leads? Only the ones who said yes, and only if you can prove it.
Yes, when the lead agreed to texts on your form and you kept the proof: the words they saw, the date and time, and the page they were on. Existing clients who agreed to service texts can get texts about their own policy, but that consent does not cover marketing a different product. Aged and purchased lists: never.
We learned where this breaks by finding it broken in live accounts. A consent box that was collected and then thrown away. A consent record written for a lead who said no. 252 webinar attendees who gave a phone number, and not one who could legally be texted. None of it showed an error.
Who you can text, and what makes it OK.
Consent belongs to the person and the purpose. A number on file is neither.
| Can you text them? | What makes it OK | How we build it | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A new lead from your own form | Only if the form asked | The lead ticked a box whose words cover texts from you, and you stored the proof | The form writes the wording version, time, IP address and page onto the contact |
| A client, about their own policy | Yes, with service consent | They agreed to service texts: payments, renewals, appointments | A separate service consent field, and only service texts read it |
| A client, about a different product | Only with marketing consent | Service consent does not carry over to selling something else | Every marketing text step checks the marketing field, and only that field |
| Someone a client referred | Not until they opt in | The client cannot consent for a friend | A referral page with its own required consent box |
| Webinar registrants | Only if registration asked | Registering for an event is not permission to text | A consent line on the registration form, or email only |
| Aged or purchased leads | Never | They never agreed to hear from you | No text steps in any revival sequence |
The consent box that looked like it worked.
Worked example: two tests that would have caught it
An insurance client's landing page had a consent checkbox, and leads ticked it. The form thanked them, the lead arrived in the CRM, and everything looked fine. But the connection between the form and the CRM never carried the checkbox across, so no consent was saved. When we checked, 26 people who had converted had no consent record at all.
After that was fixed, we found the opposite bug: a consent record was being written even when the lead left the box empty. Both failures were silent. The only way to see them was to submit test leads both ways and read the contact back.
| Box ticked | Should store the wording, time and page. Stored nothing. |
| Box left empty | Should store no consent. Stored a consent record. |
We now run both tests on every form that captures a phone number, before it goes live and after every change to it.
The rules we build into every insurance account.
- Consent is evidence, not a checkbox. The contact carries the exact wording version the lead agreed to, the time, the IP address and the page. If you cannot show it, you do not have it.
- Two consents, kept apart. Service consent lets you text about a client's own policy. Marketing consent lets you text about something new. One never switches on the other.
- A reply is never consent. A client who answers "yes, text me" by email gets a link to the consent form, because the form records what they agreed to and a reply does not.
- Every text step checks consent itself. Even while the sending number is still waiting on registration, so nothing starts texting the day registration clears.
- Quiet hours on every text and call. The federal rule for telephone solicitations is 8 AM to 9 PM in the recipient's time zone, and some states are stricter. We found an appointment workflow with no window set at all.
- A ringless voicemail is a call. The FCC ruled in 2022 that it needs the same consent as a call to a cell phone, which is why those 252 webinar attendees got neither.
- Register the number before anything sends. Carriers block texts from business numbers that are not registered for A2P 10DLC. In one account, every one of 12 internal alert texts failed for exactly that reason, and nobody knew the alerts had stopped.
- STOP means stop, everywhere. When we audited our own CRM we found a workflow that could undo a STOP. Check yours for the same thing.
Two assumptions that cost the most.
"They gave us their number, so we can text them."
A phone number is contact information, not permission. Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a person can sue for $500 per unlawful text, and up to $1,500 when the violation was willful (47 U.S.C. 227(b)(3)). On a list of a few hundred aged leads, that is a number no campaign pays back.
"If the form thanked them, it saved their consent."
The thank-you page only proves the form submitted. In our client accounts, consent was dropped by the form connection in one case and invented for leads who declined in another. Test it both ways and read the contact back.
Questions people ask
Can insurance agents text leads?
Yes, if the lead gave written consent to texts from you on the form they filled in, and you stored the proof. Without it, email them instead. Never text aged or purchased leads.
What is prior express written consent?
A signed agreement, which can be an online form, in which a person agrees to receive marketing calls or texts from a specific business at a specific number. The form should say plainly what they will receive and that consent is not a condition of buying. Store the wording, the time and where it was given.
Can I text a client about a different product?
Only with consent that covers marketing texts. Consent a client gave for service texts about their policy does not extend to selling them something new.
Do ringless voicemails need consent?
Yes. The FCC ruled in 2022 (FCC 22-85) that ringless voicemails to cell phones are calls under the TCPA, so they need the same consent a call does.
What is A2P 10DLC?
The carrier registration a business must complete to send texts from a normal ten-digit number through software. Unregistered numbers get their texts filtered or blocked, often without any error the sender sees.
What hours can I text clients?
Federal rules limit telephone solicitations to 8 AM to 9 PM in the recipient's local time. Several states, Florida and Maryland among them, add rules of their own, so check the states you work in.
Founder of ElevAIte CRM and a licensed insurance producer in Pennsylvania and Maryland. He builds the consent capture and gating described here, and found the failures in client accounts.
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This article is general education, not legal advice. Consent rules vary by state and change over time; confirm with your compliance contact or an attorney. Medicare-related outreach carries additional CMS rules. Account findings are from client accounts in 2026, anonymized.