An appointment reminder and a holiday Botox special go out from the same booking software, often to the same client on the same day. The TCPA treats them differently. A reminder about a booked appointment usually isn’t telemarketing. A promotion is, and promotions to numbers on the Do Not Call Registry need permission, a recent purchase, or a recent inquiry behind them. Two common risks are promotions sent to lapsed clients and promotions sent after a STOP reply, and good client records answer both.
Is an appointment reminder a marketing text?
Usually not, as long as it sticks to the appointment.
The FCC’s rules define telemarketing as “the initiation of a telephone call or message for the purpose of encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods, or services,” under 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200(f)(13). A text confirming a 2 p.m. color appointment doesn’t encourage a new purchase. It tells the client about one already made.
The trouble starts when the reminder carries an add-on. A reminder that adds a $15 brow wax offer invites the argument that it’s a sales message in part. Courts look at the purpose and content of the whole message, and the firm’s post on dual-purpose calls and texts explains how that analysis usually runs. Keeping reminders free of offers is the cleanest practice.
When can a salon text promotions to a client on the Do Not Call Registry?
When the client gave permission, bought something within the last 18 months, or inquired within the last three months, and hasn’t asked to stop.
The Registry rule bars telephone solicitations to a “residential telephone subscriber who has registered his or her telephone number on the national do-not-call registry,” under § 64.1200(c)(2). The definition of telephone solicitation excludes messages to a person with whom the business has an established business relationship. The rule bases that relationship on a purchase or transaction “within the eighteen (18) months immediately preceding the date of the telephone call,” or on an inquiry “within the three months immediately preceding the date of the call.”
Three situations come up again and again in beauty and wellness businesses:
A client whose last visit was two years ago is outside the window, and a win-back discount to a Registry-listed number needs separate permission. A person who asked about laser hair removal pricing but never booked has three months of inquiry-based coverage. And under § 64.1200(f)(5)(i), a client’s request to stop marketing ends the relationship “even if the subscriber continues to do business with the seller,” so a client who replies STOP but keeps booking haircuts can’t receive promotions on the strength of those visits.
Booking software usually records the last visit date. Using it to suppress promotions to Registry-listed numbers once 18 months pass is a simple control, and the record it creates is also the first exhibit in a defense. The rule also excuses a Registry call that results from error if, as part of its routine business practice, the seller has written Do Not Call procedures, trains its staff on them, keeps an internal do-not-call list, and uses a Registry version obtained “no more than 31 days prior to the date any call is made,” under § 64.1200(c)(2)(i). The seller must also keep records documenting that process and must not use the Registry data for any other purpose. That is why the Registry version date belongs in the file.
Whether a text is a “call” for a private Do Not Call suit is also disputed. The Seventh Circuit held in July that texts aren’t calls under § 227(c)(5), and two California district courts have declined to follow it, as the firm’s post on Steidinger and California courts explains. A salon sued over texts alone should raise the argument where the law supports it.
Does a med spa get the health care exemption?
For true care messages, possibly. For promotions, no.
The FCC exempts certain free-to-the-patient texts from healthcare providers, but the exemption in § 64.1200(a)(9)(iv) requires that the messages “must not include any telemarketing, solicitation, or advertising.” An appointment reminder from a medical provider might qualify if every condition is met. A text announcing a filler sale doesn’t, whoever sends it.
Med spas also tend to market more aggressively than salons, with memberships and seasonal packages. Each of those is a promotion subject to the Do Not Call and opt-out rules. The firm’s post on the TCPA’s healthcare exemption walks through the conditions in detail.
How can a client opt out of salon texts?
More than the word STOP, and it has to work across every system the business uses.
Section 64.1200(a)(10) treats a text reply of stop, quit, end, revoke, opt out, cancel, or unsubscribe as a reasonable way to revoke consent. Other wording counts too if “a reasonable person would understand those words to have conveyed a request to revoke consent.” A reply asking to be taken off the list qualifies.
The same paragraph requires revocations to be honored “within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days from receipt of such request.” Salons and spas often run reminders through booking software and promotions through a separate marketing app. If the two don’t share an opt-out list, a client who opted out in one keeps getting texts from the other. The firm’s post on texts sent after a STOP reply covers those claims.
Do automated rebooking calls need written consent?
If they use a prerecorded voice or an AI voice and promote services, the safer assumption is yes.
Section 64.1200(a)(2) requires prior express written consent for telemarketing calls to cell phones made with an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice. Some booking platforms may offer AI voice agents that call lapsed clients to fill open slots. A call that offers a discount or pushes a new service is telemarketing, and the safer assumption is that an AI voice is an artificial voice under the rule. A booking record alone isn’t written consent. The written agreement has to be signed by the client, authorize the business to deliver those calls to a specific number, and disclose that signing authorizes them and isn’t a condition of purchase.
Most ordinary marketing texts don’t trigger this rule. After the Supreme Court’s 2021 decision in Facebook v. Duguid, an autodialer must use a random or sequential number generator, and many salon texting tools may not, depending on how they select numbers. The texting exposure sits mainly in the Do Not Call and opt-out rules. For voice outreach, the safer course is to get a signed consent at booking or skip the AI caller for promotions.
Do quiet hours matter for a salon?
For people with no permission, recent purchase, or recent inquiry, yes. For current clients, there’s a strong argument the rule doesn’t apply.
The FCC bars telephone solicitations “before the hour of 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. (local time at the called party’s location),” under § 64.1200(c)(1). The rule reaches only telephone solicitations, and the definition excludes messages to a person with an established business relationship or with that person’s “prior express invitation or permission,” so most promotions to active clients fall outside it. A flash sale scheduled for 7 a.m. to catch early risers, or a late-night last-chance blast, can land outside the window. Some states set narrower hours. The firm’s post on quiet-hours claims covers the defenses.
| Message | Usually telemarketing? | What supports sending it to a Registry-listed number | Records that answer a claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appointment confirmation or reminder | No, if it has no offer | Not needed if it isn’t a solicitation | Booking record for the appointment |
| Reminder with an add-on offer | Partly | Permission or an active established business relationship | Message template and client visit history |
| Promotion to a recent client | Yes | Purchase within 18 months and no opt-out | Last visit date and opt-out logs |
| Win-back promotion to a lapsed client | Yes | Separate permission | Permission record and Registry scrub logs |
Exposure is per violation. 47 U.S.C. § 227 allows up to $500 per violation, or the actual loss if greater, for Do Not Call claims, and $500 per violation or the actual loss, whichever is greater, for claims over prerecorded or artificial-voice calls. A court may increase either up to three times the amount if the violation was willful or knowing. A Do Not Call plaintiff must also have received more than one violating call within 12 months, and the statute gives an affirmative defense to a business that “has established and implemented, with due care, reasonable practices and procedures to effectively prevent telephone solicitations in violation of the regulations prescribed under this subsection.” For a business that texts thousands of clients, a class action multiplies that number quickly.
What to gather if a client sues over texts
Salons and spas often have better records than they realize, in the booking system. For how these cases are usually defended, see the firm’s TCPA defense lawyers page.
- Hold the booking-system history, texting-platform logs, and consent record for the client’s number.
- Export opt-out replies and the internal do-not-call list from every platform, with dates.
- Pull Registry scrub records and the dates of the Registry versions used.
- Collect agreements with the booking and marketing-text vendors, plus the promotion templates.
- Get legal advice before replying to a demand, contacting the client, or offering a credit.
Franchise and multi-location businesses should also find out which entity sent the texts. Claims may name the brand and the location owner together.
Questions salons and spas ask about texting clients
Is a birthday discount text a promotion?
Yes. A birthday message with a discount encourages a purchase, so it’s treated as marketing. An offer-free greeting has a solid argument that it isn’t telemarketing. Treating it as a promotion for opt-out and Registry purposes is the conservative choice.
Does a client’s booking create permission for marketing texts?
A purchase creates an established business relationship for 18 months, which supports promotions to Registry-listed numbers during that time. It isn’t the same as permission, which the Registry rule requires to be a signed, written agreement naming the business and the number, or the written consent required for prerecorded or AI-voice marketing calls. The relationship itself needs no writing, which is why the visit date matters. A booking form that asks separately for permission to send promotions is the stronger record.
Can a stylist text clients from a personal phone?
The TCPA applies to the messages, not the device. Plaintiffs may argue that promotions a stylist sends on the business’s behalf are the business’s messages. The Registry rule also exempts calls where the telemarketer “has a personal relationship with the recipient of the call,” under § 64.1200(c)(2)(iii), and the rules define that relationship to include a friend or acquaintance, so a stylist texting regulars may have that defense. Businesses should decide whether staff may send promotions from personal phones and, if so, how those opt-outs reach the main list.
What about review-request texts?
A text asking for a review after a visit usually isn’t an offer to sell anything. If it includes a discount or invites the client to book again, a plaintiff may argue it’s a promotion. Keeping review requests short and offer-free keeps them on the safer side.
Defending client-text claims against beauty and wellness businesses
If your salon, spa, or med spa has been sued over promotional texts, the visit history and opt-out records in your booking system usually decide the case. Rosenberger + Kawabata represents businesses defending TCPA lawsuits and class actions through its business litigation practice, including claims involving promotional texts to clients. Contact Rosenberger + Kawabata online for a confidential consultation, or call (310) 894-6921.
Sources
The statute is 47 U.S.C. § 227. The FCC’s rules, including the established business relationship, the healthcare exemption, quiet hours, and revocation, are at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200.
This post is general information about the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and related laws as of November 7, 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Courts and the FCC change the rules in this area often, and the outcome of any claim depends on its facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.