Overview
Abel answers the phone and takes bookings for local service businesses. Each business gets a public booking page. A customer picks a service and a time, then enters their contact details. The phone number they enter is the number the business texts, if the customer chooses to be texted.
Where consent is collected
Under the contact fields on the contact step there is a checkbox labelled “Text me appointment confirmations and reminders.” It is unchecked when the page loads and nothing is pre-selected. The disclosure is printed directly under the box, so the customer reads it before they tick it.
Ticking the box is the customer’s agreement to the messages the disclosure describes. A customer who leaves it unchecked books as normal: their appointment is confirmed by email and they receive no text messages.
- It appears on every booking page Abel hosts, with the business's own name filled in.
- A business cannot remove it, reword it or pre-tick it.
- It is the only place a customer opts in online.
- The choice is recorded on the customer's record for that business, with where and when it was made.
What is required to book
Name, phone number and email address, and one box: “I agree to the Terms of Service and I have read the Privacy Policy.” The Continue button stays disabled until that box is ticked.
The text message box is optional. Leaving it unchecked does not stop the booking, and nothing asks the customer to reconsider.
The disclosure
It sits under the checkbox. This is the exact wording, rendered here by the same component the booking page uses, with Ada Studio standing in for the business, so this page cannot drift from the live one.
Where the links go
Privacy Policy opens /privacy-policy. Terms of Service opens /tos; the section on text messages is /tos#messaging. Both open in a new tab so the customer does not lose their booking.
What the customer agrees to
Appointment confirmations and reminders from that business, and notices about the same appointment: a change or a cancellation. Consent is per business. Agreeing to texts from one business does not opt a customer in to any other business on Abel.
Every message, word for word, is listed in Text messages and opt-out.
Opting out
Reply STOP to any message. The business stops texting that number straight away, confirmations and reminders included. Reply START to opt back in, or HELP for help. How that is handled is in How opt-out is honoured.
Reproduction
The contact step of a booking page, as a customer sees it. Tick the boxes and press Continue: the note under the form says whether text messages would be on or off. Nothing entered here is sent.