Texas SMS Marketing Law: What Ecommerce Brands Must Do

The New Texas SMS Compliance Rule for September 2025

If you send commercial SMS messages to shoppers in Texas, your compliance playbook is about to change. Starting September 1st, 2025, Texas is updating its Business and Commerce Code to require businesses sending commercial text messages to Texas residents to be officially registered with the state.

For a related breakdown, see SMS Marketing in Australia: The Complete Compliance Guide.

This is not optional theory. If your SMS subscribers include Texas phone numbers or residents and you fail to register or meet an exemption, you face serious state-level fines. Klaviyo and other SMS platforms will not handle this registration process for you.

For more detail, see Klaviyo SMS vs WhatsApp: Cost and Performance Compared.

Auditing Your SMS List for Texas Subscribers

To understand your potential exposure, you first need to check whether you are actually messaging Texas residents. One thing I like to do is create a segment inside Klaviyo filtering for SMS subscribers whose state or region is Texas.

Keep in mind that location data on SMS subscribers is not always 100% accurate. Tracking discrepancies and mobile number portability mean your segment will give you an indication of your Texas audience, but it is not a complete source of truth. If you sell across the US, you should assume you have Texas subscribers on your list.

For the next step, see Email Marketing vs Social Media: Why You Must Own Your Audience.

Registration Requirements and Costs

For brands that are required to register, the process involves paperwork, capital, and proper legal preparation. You must submit a completed registration application directly to the Texas Secretary of State.

Along with the filing, you must pay a $200 registration fee and secure a $10,000 surety bond or letter of credit. Once that bond and filing are confirmed, you are legally clear to send promotional SMS campaigns into the state.

It is not cheap. For smaller brands, posting a $10,000 bond just to send texts to one state is a heavy burden, which makes checking for exemptions your immediate priority.

Key Exemptions for Ecommerce Brands

Texas has included specific exemptions in the updated code, and one of them will protect a large portion of established ecommerce businesses. You should review these carefully with your legal team before filing.

• Existing customer relationships: Businesses contacting their current or former customers are exempt if the business has operated under the same continuous name for the last 2 years.
• Brick-and-mortar retail: Retailers with physical locations that have operated under the same name for at least 2 years, where the majority of total sales occur in physical stores.
• Other specified organisations: Registered non-profits, educational institutions, certain financial institutions, food delivery services, and publicly traded entities.

If your brand has operated under the same name for more than 2 years and you only message past customers or registered opt-ins, you likely fall under the existing business exemption. However, I am an agency founder and not an attorney, so you must confirm your exact standing with a legal professional.

Why Other States Will Follow Texas

Texas is rarely the end of the line when it comes to consumer privacy and communications regulation. Once state registries and bonding requirements prove workable in Texas, states like California, New York, and Florida often introduce similar frameworks.

Treating compliance as an afterthought is a mistake. Staying ahead of state-level SMS laws protects your brand reputation and prevents sudden disruption to one of your highest-converting marketing channels.

Final Thoughts

The Texas SMS law taking effect on September 1st, 2025 introduces mandatory state registration, a $200 fee, and a $10,000 bond for commercial text senders. Check whether your brand qualifies for the 2-year existing customer exemption immediately. If you do not qualify, get your filings and compliance documentation in order well before the deadline.

If you want help auditing your subscriber lists and building compliant text messaging strategies, explore our SMS campaign services to see how we manage deliverability and performance for high-growth brands.