If contacts are not receiving messages, review the following,
Make sure you have consent to text your members.
Make sure your content is within the guidelines of acceptable messages. Review the forbidden message categories for SMS/MMS in the US/Canada below.
Category | Examples | Notes |
High-risk financial services |
| “Third-party” means originating from any party other than the one which will service the loan. |
Third-party lead generation services |
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Debt collection or forgiveness |
| “Third-party” means originating from any party other than the one who is owed the debt. For example, a hospital could send messages regarding bills for its own patients, assuming they provided an opt-in to receive that message. |
“Get rich quick” schemes |
| This is different from outreach about employment as a result of compliant opt-in practices, messages from brokerages to their members, investment news alerts, or other investment-related messages. |
Illegal substances |
| Cannabis is federally illegal in the United States. Cannabis businesses will not be permitted to use SMS/MMS messaging in the US, regardless of message content. |
Gambling |
| Gambling traffic is prohibited in the US and Canada on all number types (Toll-Free, Short Code, and Long Code). |
"S.H.A.F.T." use cases |
| While Tobacco traffic is prohibited on Toll-Free, it is allowed on Short Code, or Long Code, as long as proper age-gating procedures are in place. Firearms and Alcohol traffic is allowed on Toll-Free (US only), Short Code, and Long Code, as long as proper age-gating procedures are in place. Vaping-related traffic is prohibited. |
Toll-Free numbers are now required to go through a verification process to send SMS/Text messaging & are a great choice for transactional use cases, including the following:
One-time password (OTP) or verification codes
Account-related alerts or notifications
Customer care messaging that includes some automated messaging (including satisfaction surveys)
Toll-Free messaging can also be used for promotional or marketing-type traffic, however, it is extremely important to ensure that all recipients have opted-in and that you maintain a low opt-out ("STOP" reply) rate to avoid filtering.
Use shortened, branded URLs for the highest deliverability levels when sending links in the message body. Do not use shared URL shorteners (such as popular free URL shortening services) as these are forbidden by US carriers and will result in filtering.
Our goal is to protect mobile users from fraud, spam, and other forms of unwanted messaging, as well as to comply with rules and regulations imposed by carriers and regulators.
In addition, carriers filter messages to enforce their rules, as well as to prevent spam and other forms of abuse.