Staying Compliant: Opt-Outs and Consent

Marketing 4 min read

This article explains how Dental Marketing Tool handles opt-outs and consent so your text and email marketing stays legal and your patients stay in control of how you reach them.

Why Compliance Matters for Your Practice

When you send marketing texts or emails to patients, federal law requires that recipients have a clear way to stop receiving those messages. The two main rules to know are CAN-SPAM (for email) and the TCPA (for text messages). Non-compliance can expose your practice to complaints and fines, so the platform handles most of the heavy lifting for you automatically.

The short version: every marketing message you send must include a way to unsubscribe, and you must honor those requests without delay. Dental Marketing Tool does both by default.

How Opt-Outs Work Automatically

You do not have to manage unsubscribes by hand. The platform listens for them and acts on them right away.

Text Message Opt-Outs

When a patient replies STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, or QUIT to any text from your practice number, the platform immediately marks them as unsubscribed from SMS marketing. They will no longer receive bulk text campaigns. The system sends them a one-time confirmation reply so they know their request was received, and then no further marketing texts go out to that contact.

Email Opt-Outs

Every email campaign sent through Dental Marketing Tool includes an unsubscribe link in the footer. This link is added automatically to every campaign. When a patient clicks it, their email address is suppressed from future marketing emails. You cannot accidentally remove this link when building an email template, because it is inserted at send time regardless of your template design.

Note Opt-out suppression is per-channel. A patient who opts out of texts can still receive marketing emails, and vice versa. Their preferences are tracked separately.

Where to See a Patient's Opt-In or Opt-Out Status

You can check any patient's communication preferences directly on their record.

  1. Open the Contacts tab from the main menu.
  2. Search for and click the patient's name to open their record.
  3. Scroll down to the General Info or Communication Preferences section.
  4. You will see separate status indicators for Email Marketing and SMS Marketing, showing whether the patient is currently subscribed or has opted out.

If you need to manually update a preference (for example, a patient called the front desk to request removal), you can toggle the status directly on their record. Learn more about reading and editing patient records in the Understanding the Patient Record article.

Opt-out handling is only half of the equation. You also need a record that patients agreed to receive marketing messages in the first place. Here is what to keep in mind:

  • Appointment-based consent: Patients who contact your practice to schedule an appointment are generally reachable for appointment-related messages (reminders, confirmations). Marketing campaigns are a broader category and ideally have their own documented consent.
  • Web forms and intake forms: If you use an online booking page or a patient intake form, include a checkbox that lets patients agree to receive marketing texts or emails. Keep it opt-in, not pre-checked.
  • Existing patients: Many practices send a one-time reactivation or reintroduction message to their patient list. If you use the reactivation campaign feature, limit the first touch to practice-relevant content and give recipients an immediate way to opt out.
Tip Add a brief line to your front-desk intake process: "We occasionally send appointment reminders and practice updates by text. Is that okay?" A simple yes at check-in is meaningful consent and costs you nothing to collect.

Reviewing Opt-Out Activity

After sending a campaign, you can review how many recipients unsubscribed.

  1. Open the Marketing tab and select Campaigns.
  2. Click on a sent campaign to open its results.
  3. The summary panel shows delivery, open, and unsubscribe counts for that send.

A small number of opt-outs after a campaign is normal. A high opt-out rate is a signal to revisit your message frequency, content relevance, or the quality of your contact list before your next text campaign or email campaign.

Heads up Never manually re-subscribe a patient who has opted out unless they explicitly ask to be added back and you have a record of that request. Re-adding an opted-out contact to campaigns is a compliance risk.

Best Practices for Your Practice

  • Send marketing messages at reasonable hours (generally 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in your time zone).
  • Keep your patient list clean. Remove contacts who have not engaged in a long time rather than continuing to message uninterested recipients.
  • Be clear in every campaign who the message is from. Include your practice name in every text and in the email "From" display name.
  • Do not purchase lists of phone numbers or email addresses. Message only patients who have had a real relationship with your practice.

For a full picture of what you can do with the marketing tools, start with the Marketing Overview. If you want to reach patients who have not been in for a while, see the guide on Reactivating Old Patients for a compliant approach to winning them back.

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Marketing Overview

Sending an Email Campaign

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