E-COMMERCE & RETAIL SMS COMPLIANCE

// Course Guide

Who this course is for

• E-commerce and retention marketers running SMS programs
• Shopify, WooCommerce and BigCommerce store owners
• CRM and lifecycle managers responsible for flows
• Legal and compliance reviewers approving promotional calendars

Why texting compliance is different for online and omnichannel retailers

Retail SMS is predominantly marketing, which means express written consent, full CTA disclosures and strict opt-out handling apply to almost every message. The highest-risk areas are checkout consent (pre-checked boxes and consent bundled into terms), abandoned-cart and browse-abandonment flows that carriers treat as marketing, seasonal surges that exceed disclosed frequency, and consent collected through pop-ups or partners that cannot be proven later. Quiet-hours rules in states such as Florida and Oklahoma add timing limits that national calendars often ignore.

What each module covers

1. TCPA Foundations for E-Commerce. The TCPA as it applies to online and omnichannel retailers: consent tiers, autodialer rules after Facebook v. Duguid, Do Not Call obligations, statutory damages and recent case law.
2. TCR Registration. 10DLC registration for online and omnichannel retailers: brand and campaign structure, use case selection, vetting, and keeping registrations accurate as the business changes.
3. Checkout Consent Flow. How to capture, scope and document consent for online and omnichannel retailers: express versus express written consent, disclosure language, recordkeeping and consent that survives a challenge.
4. Message Classification. For online and omnichannel retailers: classifying messages as informational, transactional, conversational or marketing, and why the classification decides which consent and which campaign apply.
5. Retargeting & Abandonment Risk. Applied guidance on retargeting & Abandonment Risk for online and omnichannel retailers, with templates, checklists and case studies drawn from real programs.
6. Opt-Out Management. For online and omnichannel retailers: processing STOP and other opt-outs across every system, honoring revocation by any reasonable means, and keeping internal and national DNC lists synchronized.
7. Promotional Campaign Compliance. For online and omnichannel retailers: running compliant promotional programs: express written consent, CTA disclosures, frequency, quiet hours and state laws stricter than the federal rules.
8. Loyalty Program Risk. Designing a compliance program for online and omnichannel retailers: policies, roles, training, controls and the review cycle that keeps messaging compliant as it grows.
9. Omnichannel Consent. Applied guidance on omnichannel Consent for online and omnichannel retailers, with templates, checklists and case studies drawn from real programs.
10. Seasonal Campaign Compliance. Applied guidance on seasonal Campaign Compliance for online and omnichannel retailers, with templates, checklists and case studies drawn from real programs.
11. Consent Records Management. For online and omnichannel retailers: building the evidence trail: consent logs, message archives, monitoring dashboards and the records regulators, carriers and plaintiffs request.
12. Litigation Defense Strategies. For online and omnichannel retailers: responding to complaints, demand letters, class actions and regulator inquiries: preserving evidence, common defenses and settlement considerations.
13. Final Certification Exam. A proctored final assessment covering every module, with scenario questions drawn from real online and omnichannel retailers situations. Passing earns the course certificate.

The problem this course prevents

A retailer launches a Black Friday sequence that sends eight messages in four days to subscribers who were promised up to four messages a month, including late-evening sends into states with quiet-hours laws. The course covers frequency disclosure, send-time controls and the documentation that keeps a seasonal push defensible.

Course FAQ

Are abandoned-cart texts marketing?

Yes. Carriers and most counsel treat them as marketing because no purchase was completed, so they require marketing consent and must be declared in the campaign.

Does the course cover state mini-TCPA laws?

Yes. Seasonal campaign and promotional modules cover state laws with quiet hours, frequency limits and consent requirements stricter than the federal TCPA.

Is the course self-paced?

Yes. E-commerce & Retail SMS Compliance runs about 20 hours across 13 modules, including the final exam, and you can work through it at your own pace with lifetime access to updates.

Is this course legal advice?

No. It teaches the rules, carrier requirements and operational controls that apply to online and omnichannel retailers, but it is not a substitute for advice from qualified counsel on your specific program.