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Getting customer consent

How to ask a customer for permission to text them, and how Lupa records the answer.

Registering your number lets your business text at all. Each customer also has to agree to be texted. Texting people who did not agree can cost your number its standing with the carriers, and that stops texting for the whole business.

Every customer with a phone number has an SMS consent badge on their file. It shows one of five states:

Badge Meaning
Not requested Nobody has asked this customer yet.
Pending A request has gone out and the customer has not answered.
Approved The customer agreed to texts, or an admin recorded consent given outside Lupa.
Prefers email The customer asked for email instead of texts.
Revoked The customer opted out, or an admin stopped texting them.

Only admins can change a customer's consent.

Ask a customer for permission

Request SMS opt-in emails the customer a request with two choices: to be texted, or to get email instead. Requests always go by email, because you cannot text a customer to ask whether you may text them.

To ask a customer for permission:

  1. Choose Clients in the left rail and select the customer.
  2. Find SMS consent on their file, below Save Changes.
  3. Choose Request SMS opt-in.

Lupa confirms with SMS opt-in request sent. The badge changes to Pending, and Consent history gains an Email request sent entry. When the customer answers, the badge changes to Approved or Prefers email. To see what the customer receives, see The consent request your customer receives.

If there is no SMS consent section. It only appears for a customer with a phone number. Add their phone number first.

If Request SMS opt-in is greyed out. The customer has no email address, and the section reads Add a client email first to enable SMS opt-in requests. Add their email address and choose Save Changes.

If the customer has not answered. Choose Resend request. This sends a new email, and the links in the earlier email stop working. To chase everyone at once, see Consent across your customer base.

If you sent it by mistake. Choose Cancel pending. The customer does not go back to Not requested. Their badge changes to Revoked, and Consent history records Revoked by operator. To ask again later, choose Re-invite via email.

If you already have consent on paper. Choose Mark as approved instead. See Record consent you already have.

Every request, answer, override and opt-out is kept on the customer's file with the time it happened. Entries are never edited or removed.

To check a customer's consent history:

  1. Choose Clients and select the customer.
  2. Expand Consent history below the SMS consent section.

Entries are listed newest first. Hover over the time to see the exact date and time.

Customers who text you first

When someone who has never been asked texts your number, Lupa replies automatically:

We require approval for SMS messages -- do you accept receiving messages on this number? Reply YES to approve or STOP to revoke.

This also happens when the number is not on file. Lupa creates a new client record for it, named Unknown followed by the phone number in brackets.

What happens next:

  • The badge changes to Pending, and Consent history records SMS auto-reply request sent. The customer texting you is not consent in itself.
  • If the customer replies YES, the badge changes to Approved, and Consent history records Approved via SMS reply.
  • If they reply STOP, the badge changes to Revoked. See Texting without consent, and opt-outs.

A YES only approves a customer who is Pending. From a customer who is Not requested, it is treated like any first text and gets the automatic reply above. From any other state it arrives in Comms as an ordinary message and changes nothing.

Customers who call you

When someone calls your toll-free number, they hear your business name and are asked to press 1 to get a text so the conversation can continue by text.

  • A caller whose number is on file gets an Inbound call entry in their text thread in Comms. If they press 1, they are told to watch for a text. Lupa then tries to send them a text.
  • A caller whose number is not on file who presses 1 is asked to text your number, or to email you if your business has an inbound email address. No client record is created and no text is sent.

Pressing 1 is not consent. It does not change the customer's badge or add an approval to their history. The follow-up text is held back unless the customer is already Approved, and Consent history records Outbound SMS blocked by gate instead. People who press 1 are usually not approved yet, so most never get that text. Treat a press-1 as a reason to choose Request SMS opt-in for that customer.