TCPA Quiet Hours (United States)
The TCPA guidelines (United States) state you may not text or call a contact before 8 AM or after 9 PM, local time. Please note that different regions and states have different restrictions so be sure to investigate the relevant restrictions in your area.
Effective July 1, 2021, the state of Florida enacted a new law that is essentially a stricter version of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The law, CS/SB 1120, known as Florida’s "mini-TCPA," puts tighter boundaries on who you can send to and when, as well as how many messages a recipient can receive in a certain timeframe.
Florida’s mini-TCPA introduced several important distinctions from the requirements of the federal TCPA. The following sections provide an overview of the key differences between the 2 laws.
The Florida statute allows calling or texting only between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm in the recipient’s time zone (shortened from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the federal TCPA). Note that Florida crosses two time zones, Eastern and Central.
Recommendations on best times to send
While there may not be one perfect time to send an SMS campaign, we have outlined some time spans that have proven successful for our clients based on high mobile engagement and working hours.
Weekdays: 9 AM – 12 PM and 5 PM – 8 PM.
Weekends: 10 AM – 12 PM, and 4 PM and 7 PM on Sundays.
Top tip: Generally, we suggest weekday sends between 9 AM and 12 PM as these tend to perform best. But this is highly dependent on your audience, business, and industry.
Send time allowance
Due to the nature of SMS senders and carriers it may take some time for the campaign to complete sending.
How does it work? Once Send is clicked, your campaign enters a queue. The speed at which the send is executed depends on a few factors, including your audience size and the current traffic of the various carriers.
Things to consider when timing your messages
Time-based offers:
Consider how quickly you need your campaign to reach your audience.
For example, if you are a restaurant owner and have a happy hour special from 5 PM – 6 PM, remember to send your campaign at least a few hours before your special starts. It's important to make an allowance for both send time and for recipients to prepare or plan for your offering.
Your business goal:
Always remember what you’re trying to achieve. For example, if you’re a coffee shop advertising a next-day special, you will have different goals and therefore different recommended send times when compared to a holiday resort trying to get future bookings for next season.
The customer’s actions:
If you’re sending a promotional campaign to advertise your loyalty program, you will need to allow your customer enough time to act. But if you’re sending an informational campaign that needs to be completed or submitted by a specific time, you may not have the luxury to send your campaign within the high engagement time periods.
Please note that this article is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered legal advice. We strongly encourage all our clients to familiarize themselves with the relevant TCPA/CTIA/MMA guidelines, laws, and regulations in their territories and industries.