SMS quiet hours aren’t just rules, they’re a signal. They show your customers that your business respects their personal time, values trust, and communicates with integrity. For small and medium-sized businesses, following quiet hours is easier than you might think, and it can actually strengthen customer relationships and your brand reputation.
What are SMS quiet hours?
“Quiet hours” are time-of-day restrictions that prohibit businesses from sending telemarketing calls or sales-based texts at certain times in the recipient’s local time zone. At the federal level the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and FCC implementation rules define the general time window for marketing as no earlier than 8:00 AM and no later than 9:00 PM in the recipient’s local time. Many states, however, have adopted stricter windows (for example, some states restrict marketing and sales messaging to 8:00 AM–8:00 PM or 9:00 AM–8:00 PM).
Federal rules: the TCPA baseline
The TCPA (and the FCC rules implementing it) is the baseline federal standard and is what compliance teams first check. In practice that means that for telemarketing/solicitation messages, follow 8:00 AM–9:00 PM (recipient’s local time) unless you have a clear reason the message falls outside the “telemarketing” scope or you possess a different specific legal justification.
State rules: more restrictive windows and nuance
States can prescribe narrower calling/texting windows than federal law. Roughly 20 states have restrictions that differ from the federal baseline, though not all specifically related to quiet hours. To avoid a mistake for a recipient in any particular state, use the recipient’s state of residence when applying quiet hours. The table we compiled shows state quiet hours exceptions at the time of this writing.
STATES WITH ALTERNATIVE TEXTING HOURS
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ALABAMA |
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CONNECTICUT |
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FLORIDA |
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ILLINOIS |
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KENTUCKY |
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LOUISIANA |
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MARYLAND |
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OKLAHOMA |
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WASHINGTON |
Always double-check local regulations as rules may change.
Opt-in and consent
A core part of legal SMS programs is having express opt-in and clear consent from the recipient. Consent rules determine whether your messages are treated as telemarketing (which triggers quiet hours) or as transactional (which may be subject to different rules). Make sure your opt-in flow documents the phone number provided, the date/time of consent, the language shown to the user, and the ability to withdraw consent.
Risks: fines & litigation
Violating quiet hours can lead to TCPA litigation, statutory damages, and regulatory enforcement. There’s been a notable rise in litigation focused on texts sent just outside the 8:00 AM–9:00 PM window, so even small timing errors can be costly. Maintain conservative scheduling and robust logging to reduce risk.
A Quick Checklist For SMBs
Not Just Compliance, A Strategic Advantage
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Define Your Quiet Hours Typically after 9 p.m. and before 8 a.m., but adjust to your customers’ preferences.
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Segment Your Contacts Organize your contact list based on time zones and customer behavior to respect everyone’s schedule.
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Automate Delivery Use your SMS platform to schedule messages, ensuring they aren't sent during quiet hours automatically.
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Be Transparent If it works in your business plan, let customers know when and how often they can expect to hear from you. This builds trust.
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Review and Adjust Monitor engagement and adjust timing for optimal results without breaking quiet hours.
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Integrity Signals Professionalism Adhering to quiet hours separates businesses that value customer relationships from those that don’t.
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Right Timing = More Impact Messages sent thoughtfully are more effective than constant communication.
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Global Considerations For businesses with customers across time zones, segmentation ensures everyone gets messages at an appropriate hour.
If you have questions, we Have answers
If you have questions about SMS quiet hours or any other business texting inquiry, let’s chat. We’d love to talk it through with you. For more videos on this topic, visit our VirtualText YouTube playlist.
