In January of 2025, a new FCC ruling is going into place that impacts both lead generators and lead buyers. Read on to get all the details.
The FCC one-to-one consent rule says that companies need to get clear, individual permission from consumers for their specific company to send automated messages to that consumer. In other words, comparison shopping websites and lead generator sites cannot use a single consent to apply to multiple lead buyers.
January 27, 2025
Technically, new FCC ruling applies to any website that uses lead capture forms, but it affects lead generator and comparison shopping sites the most.
There are two parts to this. The first is "consent" and the second is "one-to-one."
Consent: This refers to TCPA prior express written consent. Meaning it is documented, captured prior to reaching out to that consumer, and includes what topics your outreach will cover.
One-to-one: As long as your website forms list your company name only in the opt-in verbiage, then you are obtaining one-to-one-consent.
Here's what we like to recommend:
By clicking "Submit," you authorize [your company name] to reach out to you via call, email, or text for information about your project needs. You can opt out at any time. Consent is not a condition of purchase. [Link to Terms & Conditions] | [Link to Privacy Policy].
Note that opt-in consent verbiage on your website forms is a requirement for 10DLC registration. So if you are registered, then you are fine. (And if you are a Hatch customer, then you are fine because 10DLC registration is a requirement for onboarding.)
You can understand all of these verbiage requirements with our TCPA compliance checklist.
This ruling greatly impacts Comparison shopping sites and lead generator sites (Angi, Thumbtack, etc) because the ruling "authorizes no more than one identified seller” (lead buyer) to contact a consumer.
Prior to this ruling, when a consumer fills out a form on one of those sites (like Angi or Thumbtack), that site's form verbiage says something like "By submitting, you give Angi or any of its affiliates consent to reach out to you." In other words, that one consent applied to multiple unspecified companies.
This new rule closes that loophole by mandating that when a consumer fills out a form on one of those lead generator websites, they give consent to one specific company at a time.
With this new ruling, lead generator websites (like Angi, Thumbtack, etc.) are being forced to change their user flows to be compliant.
But while this is the lead generator's responsibility, lead buyers still have some actions they need to take.
If your business is purchasing leads, talk to each of your lead aggregators and make sure they're using compliant practices and that the leads you receive from them have provided consent for your business specifically. You may also want to talk to them about price changes that may result due to lower lead availability.
The key to this is increasing conversion rates and LTV from your new and existing leads. A set of campaigns across the customer journey is essential for this. For example:
Hatch customers, if you're not utilizing all of these campaign types, reach out to your Account Manager here for help getting set up.
For any of these, it's important to use multiple channels, but lead with text. It's also important to reach out multiple times. It takes an average of eight attempts to get a response. Hatch automates this type of outreach to maximize response and conversion rates.
And of course, make sure you are using several lead generation strategies, not just lead aggregators. These include:
Hatch customers, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your Account Manager here.
Non Hatch customers, if you're interested in Hatch, book a 15 minute demo here.