TCPA Consent Form Language for Web Forms: Examples That Hold Up.

A TCPA consent form is the part of a web form that captures a consumer's prior express written consent to receive marketing calls and texts, and it holds up only when it does four things: discloses clearly who will contact them and how, states that consent is not a condition of purchase, records an affirmative act such as ticking an unchecked box, and keeps a record of exactly what was shown. Most forms fail on the record, not the wording. This piece covers what the rule requires, where the one-to-one rule stands, what states add, three example consent paragraphs written by us for your counsel to review, the steps to implement consent on a form, and the mistakes that get consent rejected.

We are marketers who build lead systems for lenders, insurance agencies, solar installers and law firms. We are not lawyers, and nothing here is legal advice. Have your counsel review the language before it goes live, because the cost of getting it wrong is measured per call and per text.

What prior express written consent requires.

Prior express written consent is a signed written agreement, which can be electronic, in which a consumer clearly authorizes a specific seller to deliver marketing calls or texts to a specific number using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice. That is the one-sentence definition, and every phrase in it maps to an element on the form.

• A clear and conspicuous disclosure that the consumer authorizes marketing calls and texts at the number they provided
• Language stating the calls and texts may be made using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice
• A statement that consent is not a condition of purchasing any goods or services
• The name of the seller, or each seller, who may contact the consumer
• An affirmative act by the consumer, such as ticking a box that started unchecked or typing an electronic signature
• The consumer's phone number, captured on the same form as the consent so the two are tied together

Clear and conspicuous means a person reading the form would actually see it. Tiny gray text under the submit button, or a sentence a consumer could only find by clicking through to a privacy policy, does not qualify in practice even if someone could argue it. The disclosure sits next to the checkbox, in the same size as the field labels, and the checkbox starts unchecked.

The seller must be named. The phrase our partners with no list is not a named seller. If one business is calling, name it. If several may call, name each one and keep the list short enough that a consumer could reasonably read it before checking the box.

Where the one-to-one consent rule stands.

The FCC adopted a one-to-one consent rule that would have required lead-generation forms to obtain separate consent for each seller, with the seller logically and topically related to the page the consumer was on. The rule was scheduled to take effect in January 2025. A federal appeals court vacated it that same month, before it took effect, so the prior rules apply today. State that carefully to anyone who tells you one-to-one consent is the law; it is not, as of this writing.

That does not mean one-to-one consent went away in the market. Many lead buyers, particularly in lending and insurance, still require one-to-one style consent as a contract term, because it makes their own compliance story simpler and because the regulatory direction could change again. If you sell leads, read each buyer's insertion order for consent requirements before you design the form. If you buy leads, decide whether you want one-to-one consent and put it in the contract.

State laws add their own requirements.

Federal law is the floor. Florida's telephone solicitation statute has its own definition of consent, its own calling-hours limits and its own private right of action. Oklahoma passed a statute modeled closely on Florida's. Texas requires many telephone solicitors to register with the state and has expanded its rules to cover text messages. Other states maintain their own do-not-call lists, registration rules and calling-hour restrictions, and several treat texts the same as calls.

The practical response is to write the disclosure to satisfy the strictest state you market into, and to keep a state field on the form so you can suppress outreach where you are not registered or where the hours rules differ. A national campaign with one consent paragraph and no state logic will eventually text someone in a state where that text needed a different disclosure or a registration you do not hold.

Example consent language.

These are examples we wrote for this piece, not language any regulator has approved. Have counsel review and adapt them to your state mix, your channels and your buyers' requirements. Bracketed items are placeholders you must replace.

Example 1, a single business contacting its own inquiries. By checking this box, I agree to receive marketing calls and text messages from [Business Name] at the phone number I provided, including calls and texts made using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice. I understand that consent is not a condition of purchasing any goods or services. Message and data rates may apply, message frequency varies, and I can reply STOP to opt out of texts at any time.

Example 2, a lead-generation form naming partners. By checking this box and clicking Submit, I provide my electronic signature and expressly consent to receive marketing calls and text messages from [Company Name] and from each of these partners: [Partner A], [Partner B], [Partner C], at the number I provided, including calls and texts made using automated dialing technology and artificial or prerecorded voice messages, even if my number is on a national, state or company do-not-call list. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to cancel texts.

Example 3, one-to-one style selection. The form shows a short list of sellers with an unchecked box beside each name, and the consent sentence reads: By checking a box beside a company above, I agree that the company may call and text me at the number I provided about my request, including with automated dialing technology and artificial or prerecorded messages. I authorize only the companies I checked. Consent is not required to receive a quote.

Notice what all three share: the channels are named, the technology is named, the seller is named, the number is tied to the form, and the no-condition statement is present. Notice what none of them do: none hide behind a link, and none say partners without a list.

How to implement consent on a form.

The proof you have to keep.

When a consumer complains or a buyer audits, the question is always the same: show me what this person saw and did. A row in a CRM that says consent equals true does not answer it. The record needs the exact language displayed, the version, the time, the IP, the page, the checkbox event and, for lead-generation, the session certificate.

Keep the record for as long as the statute of limitations and your buyer contracts require, which in practice means years, not months. Keep it somewhere you can retrieve by phone number within minutes. Building the proof into the CRM from day one, as laid out in our TCPA compliance checklist, is far cheaper than reconstructing it after a demand letter arrives.

Mistakes that get consent thrown out.

• Pre-checked boxes. A box that starts checked is not an affirmative act, and it is the first thing a plaintiff's lawyer screenshots.
• Consent hidden in a privacy policy link. A sentence the consumer could only find by clicking through is not clear and conspicuous, whatever the policy says.
• Texting from a number or brand that was not disclosed. If the form named your company and the text arrives from a dialer vendor or a buyer that was never listed, the consent does not cover it.
• No record of the exact language shown. A CRM flag with no version and no text proves that you asked something, not what you asked.
• Vague partner lists. The phrase and our marketing partners with a link to a list of hundreds of companies is the pattern the one-to-one rule was written to end, and buyers still treat it as tainted.
• Consent captured for one request and used for another. A roofing quote form does not authorize calls about solar, even from the same company.