It helps you note and track any adverse action on SMS sending, like:

• Daily/Weekly sending limit violations
• Warning Emails and Temporary restrictions based on 30007 and opt-out rate.

This option can be found under Location > Settings > Phone numbers > Advanced settings > Restriction history.

Enhancements

• Number purchase flow > Search now supports blank spaces and special characters as US-based customers commonly use in their format.
• Earlier, if you called someone belonging to a location that was disabled, the call would get disconnected without any feedback. Now you will hear a voice describing the issue and the solution along with a tooltip on the UI.
• Recordings and transcriptions should now appear faster.
• We were already blocking certain keywords in SMS like 'cannabis'. We will now also block 'fireworks' and 'THC'.

Bug Fixes

• SMS limit would sometimes not level up for users (ramp-up model). This should now level up as expected.
• 'PR' (Puerto Rico) now shows up as a US state instead of a country for the A2P flow.
• After an account transfer from one company to another, the previous company would get billed mistakenly. We have now fixed this issue.

Ready to initiate an amazing SMS Text campaign to capture, nurture, and close those leads in the platform!? As you go to send, you might be asking yourself... What determines my SMS cost and how can I adjust these costs (an important question for ROI on an SMS Campaign)?

Or maybe you have already sent this campaign and now you are asking yourself, "Why do my SMS costs seem so high?"

This article will show you how to estimate the cost of your SMS before sending them. It will also help to explain the SMS costs you have already incurred and why you are seeing the cost of an SMS in your account's billing. We are excited about how this will help you plan and succeed as a business owner. Let's hop in!

A Quick Note About SMS Costs

There are many factors impacting SMS Costs, such as the per-segment SMS cost, direction (inbound or outbound), attaching an image (MMS), emojis, carrier fees, and more. We encourage you to explore all of our SMS Pricing here. In addition, we outlined most of the factors impacting SMS Costs below in the section "Understanding the Factors Impacting SMS Costs."

We recommend reviewing this article and the SMS Pricing in full to better understand SMS costs and pricing.

The Steps to Estimating Outbound SMS Costs

It is important to know all of the SMS Pricing, however, it is reasonable to assume your highest SMS costs will be related to sending outbound SMS. For this reason, we will walk you step by step through the process of estimating the cost of an outbound SMS.

There are four steps to estimating the cost of an outbound SMS...

1. Find the Number of Segments in your Text
2. Lookup Per-Segment Cost
3. Lookup Carrier Fees (≈$0.005)
4. Calculate

Below we will walk through each of them to estimate the cost of an SMS before we send it. As we go to calculate the cost of an SMS, we use our Outbound SMS Cost Equation to estimate the cost of our SMS:

Outbound SMS Cost Equation:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

PLEASE NOTE: This estimation is for a single outbound SMS sent from a US number to another US number. There are many factors that can change the final cost of an SMS. To learn more about the factors impacting SMS cost, see the section "Understanding the Factors Impacting SMS Costs."

See SMS Pricing here: Twilio SMS Pricing. Prices may change from time to time without notice.

Step 1: Find the Number of Segments in your Text

After writing the message you want to send, we copy the text message. Then, open the Messaging Segment Calculator and paste the copied text message into the Messaging Segment Calculator. See the "Number of Segments" to locate the number of segments. Keep this available as we continue.

Outbound SMS Cost Equation:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

• Example: Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(5)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(5)(Carrier Fees)]

Step 2: Lookup Per-Segment Cost

Open up the SMS Pricing page. Select the country you are sending outbound messages in.

Then, scroll down to "SMS/MMS Pricing." Locate your "Per-Segment Costs." In our example, we are sending an outbound SMS for long codes. So, we choose $0.0079 for this example.

Outbound SMS Cost Equation:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

• Example: Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(5)($0.0079)] + [(5)(Carrier Fees)]

Step 3: Lookup Carrier Fees (≈$0.005)

In the US and Canada, carriers like T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon charge you for inbound messages sent to their end users. Prices vary by carrier and change from time to time. To locate the Carrier Fees by carrier, see the SMS Pricing page. Scroll down to the "Carrier Fees" section and see the inbound SMS column for a specific carrier.

*Please note: carrier fee prices vary based on the type of number (long code, toll-free, and shortcode).

Due to carrier fees being unique to the end user's number, we cannot calculate the cost until we know what carrier we are sending to. To overcome this barrier, we can estimate. We suggest using the amount of ≈$0.005 as this is currently the highest carrier charge (as of the last edit to this article). The "≈" symbol stands for approximation, which is an estimated number for this exercise. Feel free to change this approximation to what feels best for your estimates based on the prices available on SMS Pricing.

Outbound SMS Cost Equation:

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

• Example: Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(5)($0.0079)] + [(5)(≈$0.005)]

IMPORTANT: Carrier fees can change from time to time, so always check the SMS Pricing. As of the last time this article was created, approximately ≈$0.005 was a good estimator. However, it is always important to check the SMS Pricing for any changes to Carrier fees to better adjust your SMS cost estimations.

Step 4: Calculate

We are now ready to calculate the estimated cost of our text message. Let's walk you step by step through the process.

• Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(5)($0.0079)] + [(5)($0.005)]

First, let's multiply the "number of segments" (found in Step 1) by the "per-segment costs" (found in Step 2).

• Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [$0.0395] + [(5)($0.005)]

Now, we need to multiply the "Number of Segments" (found in Step 1) by the estimated "Carrier Fees" (found in Step 3).

• Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [$0.0395] + [$0.025]

Lastly, we add the two sums together to finish our estimation.

• [$0.0395] + [$0.025] = $0.0595

We finally arrived at the final cost of 5.95 cents for this text.

• Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = $0.0595 or 5.95 cents

IMPORTANT: This is an estimation. The final price can only be known after sending. Adding an image, hidden characters, emojis, and other factors can impact the cost of an SMS. See SMS Pricing.

To understand more of the factors impacting final SMS price, see the section below the section "Understanding the Factors Impacting SMS Costs."

Make a Copy of Our SMS Cost Estimator Sheet

Now that we understand how to properly estimate the cost of an SMS, we can check out this SMS Cost Estimator Sheet we made for you. The SMS Cost Estimator Sheet enables you to "Make a Copy" of a Google Sheet we created to help you calculate the estimated cost of your SMS. We use the same SMS Cost Equation we explained above in this sheet, and the best part is you can plug in the information, and we will calculate it for you on the sheet.

Open the sheet from the link below and "Make a Copy" of it.

SMS Cost Estimator Sheet ("Make a Copy" of this sheet to edit it) SMS Cost Estimator Sheet

This is an estimator. Final costs will vary based on additional factors. Learn more in the section below titled "Understanding the Factors Impacting SMS Costs." See SMS Pricing here.

Understanding the Factors Impacting SMS Costs

Many factors impact the cost of an SMS. SMS direction (inbound/outbound), the number of segments, carrier fees, number validation, adding an image, hidden characters, and more. Below we will walk through the most common factors.

• Per-Segment Cost
• Number of Segment Cost
• Adding an Image (MMS)
• Using Emojis
• Hidden Characters
• Carrier Fees
• Carrier Lookup Fees
• Direction (Inbound/Outbound)
• International Messaging

Per-Segment Cost

An SMS is made up of segments, and each segment is 160 characters long. So, if you are sending a lengthy SMS, it will consume multiple segments and thereby drive up your cost. Additional factors can increase the character count and SMS costs, like adding an image, hidden characters, or emojis.

You can locate the Per-Segment cost by repeating Step 2: Lookup Per-Segment Cost above.

IMPORTANT: In the US/Canada, one segment contains 160 characters. However, having between 161 to 320 characters will automatically result in 2 segments. Having between 321 to 480 characters will result in 3 segments, and so on.

Character lengths of segments also vary by countries and regions, which will impact final SMS price. Most countries use 160 characters or 70 characters for segment lengths, depending on the encoding type. Generally, most messages use the standard GSM-7 encoding, which gives us our 160 characters per segment.

Number of Segments

Text messages are processed and priced based on the number of segments. This means the more segments you have in an SMS, the greater the cost of your text will be. As seen in the example we calculated above in "The Steps to Estimating Outbound SMS Costs," a 5-segment message would cost approximately five times the amount of a text with only one segment.

For example:

• A 5-segment message is:
  [(5)($0.0079)] + [(5)($0.005)] = cost of 5 Segment SMS
  [$0.0395] + [$0.025] = $0.0695 or 6.95 cents
• A 1-segment message is:
  [(1)($0.0079)] + [(1)($0.005)] = cost of 1 Segment SMS
  [$0.0079] + [$0.005] = $0.0129 or 1.29 cents

Adding an Image (MMS)

MMS is the name for a text that includes a media attachment, such as an image. Adding an image moves you to MMS pricing rather than SMS. When you send a picture with your text, you get charged the standard MMS Message Fee and MMS Carrier Fee. You can find the MMS costs on the MMS Pricing page.

For example:

• Let's say we have our 5-segment message above and we want to include an image as well. This would remove the SMS pricing, and MMS pricing would apply, so the final cost would increase by the MMS rate as MMS pricing per segment is higher.

• Estimated Cost of MMS Text = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment MMS Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(MMS Carrier Fees)]

• Example: Estimated Cost of MMS Text = [(5)($0.02)] + [(5)($0.01)]
  [$0.10] + [$0.05] = $0.15 or 15 cents

Messages sent can include up to 10 media files with a total size of up to 5MB. Anything over 5 MB is uploaded to your account's media library, and a short link is created that you can use to send to the contact to share with your customers. Messages with over 5MB of media will not be accepted.

Using Emojis

Using emojis is a great way to make your automation exciting, but being aware of the costs involved will help you make an informed decision about their frequency of usage. Emojis are the most common reason for unexpected high costs while sending SMS automation, so use them wisely.

For example:

In the example below, we have a 1-segment message if we use the characters alone. However, we added some emojis, which increased the number of segments from 1 to 4. Maybe one emoji is enough?

Hidden Characters

Many users copy/paste the SMS text body while designing automation. When you copy/paste text from a text editor software like MS Word or Google Docs, sometimes hidden characters get appended in the string. These hidden characters cannot be seen by the user, but they are present in the text.

For example:

A simple phrase like "Hey there" was copied from a webpage. Usually, it should be just 1 segment, but it actually contains many hidden characters (empty characters), making this as large as 4 segments.

You can use Messaging Segment Calculator to check the actual number of segments and character length of your SMS text.

While pasting contents of an SMS to the system's text editor, it is recommended to use "paste as plain text" option instead of simple paste.

• To paste as plain text:
  • Windows: Press "Ctrl + Shift + V"
  • Mac: Press "Cmd + Shift + V"

Carrier Fees

As we reviewed in Step 3: Lookup Carrier Fees (≈$0.005) above, carrier fees are charged by carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T when you send a message to one of their end-user numbers. You will also notice from the Outbound SMS Cost Equation reviewed above (and included below), that carrier fees are charged by segment. This means that the more segments you have in an SMS will result in higher costs as the number of segments is multiplied by the Carrier Fees.

----Outbound SMS Cost Equation:----

Estimated Cost of Outbound SMS = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]

*See how the number of segments is multiplied by the carrier fees. "[(Number of Segments)(Carrier Fees)]" meaning a reduction in segments will reduce carrier fees.

Further, remember there is a difference between SMS and MMS carriers.

Carrier Lookup Fees

Carrier Lookup Fees are incurred on the first SMS you attempt to send to a contact. It is part of the SMS/Phone Number Validation feature. This feature will check to see if this number is real and if it can receive SMS/MMS. This helps save money long-term by preventing messages from being sent to fake numbers and incurring full charges.

Direction (Inbound/Outbound)

In the example above, we calculated a 5-segment OUTBOUND message. Meaning we are sending a message from our system to a number. However, if you receive a reply from this number, you are charged for inbound messages as well. 

For example, open the SMS Pricing page, then locate the "Inbound" column to see the pricing for a particular inbound message. This reveals the Inbound cost of an SMS for a Long Code (10-digit) number.

To calculate the cost of an Inbound text, you simply need to change the costs in our equation to the INBOUND cost listed on the SMS Pricing page as seen above. Then you run the calculation.

Estimated Cost of INBOUND Text = [(Number of Segments)(Per-Segment INBOUND SMS/MMS Cost)] + [(Number of Segments)(INBOUND SMS/MMS Carrier Fees)]

*Be sure to reference the "Inbound" column on the SMS Pricing page, as well as referencing SMS vs. MMS costs when plugging in your variables.

International Messaging
In the example above, we are sending from a US/Canada Number to another US/Canada Number. However, if you happen to send a text to a non-US/Canada Number you will be subject to the recipient country fees. For example, if we send a text from a US/Canada Number to an Australian Number, you will be charged based on the Australian SMS Pricing.

Remember, we can look up the messages for all countries by adjusting the "Messages in" drop-down window and then selecting the country of the recipients you send to. We review this in Step 2 above.

In this example, the Per-Segment costs in US/Canada might be $.0079 while Australian costs are $.0515 which is roughly 6.5 times the standard rate for US/Canada Numbers. Sending to International numbers can greatly impact SMS costs.

Generally, you are only charged the destination country pricing, however, in some cases other fees can apply. Sending a single SMS as a test is a great way to see costs for these cases as final pricing for international numbers varies based on international country rules and regulations.

FAQs

Am I charged for unsent SMS?

• No. If there's an internal error with the software before the message is handed off to the phone provider, you won't be charged. However, charges apply to every message where a delivery attempt has been made, regardless of the final delivery status. This includes messages sent from toll-free numbers, A2P numbers, and those not deliverable due to country restrictions or other factors. We urge users to be fully informed and cautious before sending messages, as refunds will not be provided for undelivered SMS.

Why Are My SMS Costs So High?

• After you have sent multiple SMS, you may be looking at your bill questioning why it looks higher than you expected. It is normal to feel this way if this is the first time you have examined your SMS Cost breakdown. If you haven't already, review the The Steps to Estimating Outbound SMS Costs section above so you can understand how a standard outbound SMS is priced. Then continue below.

• The most common reason for high SMS costs is an SMS with multiple segments. Text messages are processed and priced based on the number of segments within an SMS. This means the more segments you have in an SMS, the greater the cost of your text will be. Such as the example we calculated above in our example for the section "The Steps to Estimating Outbound SMS Costs." In this example, we had 5 segments in this single text, thus the cost was 5 times the listed per-segment rate. Meaning it would cost approximately five times the amount of a text that has only one segment.

• Reducing the number of segments in your SMS can reduce the SMS cost. To do this, open the Segment Calculator and paste your message into it. Work to reduce the "Number of Segments" to lower numbers to reduce the total costs.

• Many factors can impact SMS pricing. Reducing segment count and not including any images or attachments can help reduce cost but there are other factors to consider. Review Factors Impacting SMS Cost above, to better understand more factors in SMS costs. This will help you adjust your SMS to best fit your needs.

SMS carriers and Email Providers have attachment file size limitations to prevent deliverability issues and to make sure that their servers are not overloaded with hefty file sizes while millions of people around the world use their services to send SMS and Emails.

SMS
To send attachments, your Twilio phone number should be MMS enabled. We support up to 10 attachments, as long as the total size of the message body text and all attachments is less than 5 MB.

Carriers also have limits. The average is 300kb-600kb and can go up to 3.5MB for tier 1 providers (AT&T/Verizon, etc.).

Here are the Carrier Attachment Size limits for some common US Carriers:

The file sizes above will generally be passed along to the wireless carriers. However, due to differences in handsets, file types, and transcoding, we recommend you send attachments no larger than 500KB to ensure the best chance of delivery.

These image file types are supported:

• jpeg
• png
• gif

Please Note: As of May 2021, there is an issue with Toll-Free MMS file size support; for these numbers, you must ensure that any attachments (including images) are 600kb or smaller.

Email
Mainly for security reasons, all email server providers limit the maximum email size that an email account can receive. Otherwise, if there would be no maximum email size limit, the email server would risk being bombarded with very large emails, causing it to cease working properly.

Some free email address providers also enforce commercial limitations on the email size: the free account gets a low maximum email size limit, but you can increase the maximum limit by upgrading to a paid account.

If you send an email that exceeds the maximum email size limit of the recipient’s email provider, your email will bounce back, and you will receive an email error in your Conversations tab. Usually, you will receive one of the following error messages:

• “Attachment size exceeds the allowable limit”;
• “552: Message size exceeds maximum permitted”;
• “System Undeliverable, message size exceeds outgoing message size limit”;
• “The size of the message you are trying to send exceeds the global size limit of the server. The message was not sent; reduce the message size and try again.”

Mailgun supports maximum message sizes of 25MB.

Here are attachment sizes for different Email Providers.

FAQs:

Can I send mp4 files via SMS?

• MP4 files are supported for sending as MMS attachments. If you attach an mp4 file, it should be sent as an MMS. However, MP4 files cannot be attached directly when sending SMS. If you record a video in the mobile app, it will generate a link to the video recorded so the contact can click on it to view the video.

Can you bypass these maximum email size limits?

• A simple answer would be: no, you can’t bypass these maximum size limits. However, there is a workaround:
• You can upload the files-to-be-attached to cloud storage servers (like DropBox, Google Drive, or SkyDrive) and include the download link in your email.

Primary rule:

If the User (who logged in to send the SMS) is in your account's My staff tab and has a Twilio Number assigned to themselves, the lead will get the SMS from the Twilio number assigned to that User. If the Twilio number is SMS incapable, we use the default number to send out the SMS instead.

Learn more about Phone numbers for users / Assign Twilio Numbers to Users

Go to your account Settings > My staff > Edit the user

Expand Call & Voicemail Settings

If the User (who logged in to the software) is not inside that account OR the User doesn't have a 

Twilio number assigned, we will first use:

1. Channel number (first Twilio number ever used with that contact)

If that number got removed, we will then use:

2. Default outbound number

When we hover over the text messages in the conversation, we can click on the three dots to view Details. This helps to indicate which Twilio number is used when sending SMS.

Issue:

There's confusion regarding sending text messages in Mexico, as the recipient sees a different number than the one you sent it from. This happens due to a specific regulation in Mexico for mobile text messages.

In Mexico, AT&T is the only mobile company that allows texts to be sent from a regular phone number. These messages are primarily intended for person-to-person, or P2P, conversations. According to the rules, if more than nine texts are sent from the same number in less than two minutes, the system automatically changes the 'Sender ID'—the number from which the message appears to be sent. This is done to comply with Mexico's regulations.

Therefore, if your messages are appearing from a different number, it's due to this regulation being applied. To avoid this, please vote here so we can support shortcode.

Error and Opt-out Rate Monitoring

• We are focused on helping our customers deliver trusted communications. To make sure that the carrier does not block or suspend the account permanently based on bad usage.
• We will be monitoring the delivery rate of the overall account and be taking proactive measures (as mentioned below) to keep the delivery rate in check:
  • Violation Email - We will send out an email notification as soon as the account hits the error rate of 8% and opt-out rate of 2%.
  • Temporary Account Restriction - We will send out a suspension email as the account hits the error rate of 12.5% and opt-out rate of 3%.

Please Note:

As soon as the account will hit the temporary suspension all upcoming outbound SMS will be failed till 00:00 AM UTC.

What should we do when we get a violation email?

    1. Stop all your workflows, campaigns, triggers, and/or bulk actions to contacts who have not                  explicitly opted in to receive messages from the account.

    2. Enable and customize the Opt Out language and SenderID message as per your use case so that         all the upcoming messages are not flagged.

    3. Please discuss this with your client to make sure no bulk communication, message blasts, or cold         prospecting message campaigns are sent in the near future before we receive your reply to this           ticket.

What are error and opt-out rates and good thresholds?

• A High Opt-Out Rate indicates that contacts receiving your messages have objected, generated complaints, or marked your SMS as spam. A good opt-out rate is typically in the range of 0—1%. Once the opt-out rate hits 2%, the account will be locked for sending text messages for 24 hours.
• A High Delivery Error Rate indicates that you are sending SMS to contacts that are no longer in service, are unreachable, or use a non-SMS-capable device such as a landline. This may also mean that external carrier filters are refusing to deliver your SMS due to bad sending behavior in the past. A good error rate is typically in the range of 0—6%. Once the error rate hits 12%, the account will be locked for sending text messages for 24 hours.

What do I do to get the suspension removed early?

• The account suspension will be lifted in 24 hours. However, if the account is permanently suspended.

How to prevent future SMS suspension

The account should be able to send SMS after 00:01 AM UTC the next day after you received the non-compliant email. You can check the best practices below on how to reduce the error rate:

1. Add Opt Out language ("Reply STOP to unsubscribe") in all the first SMS sent to a new contact.

2. Add Sender information (introduction of yourself/company) in all the first SMS sent to a new             contact.

3. Do not send messages to SMS-incapable devices like landlines. Enable the Number Validation         feature for this. This feature will look up the number before sending out the message and enable         a temporary DND on the contact.

4. Avoid sending URLs shortened using a public URL shortener like bit.ly or rb.gy. Instead, send         the original full link.

5. Make sure the Business Profile, A2P Brand, and campaign are registered, as the messaging world is moving towards the direction where with these registrations, no messages will be delivered. You can view the Trust Center tab once the account country is set to the US:

• Info Required for Business Registration

• Business Profile creation and registration

• A2P Brand Registration

• Campaign Registration and Messaging Service

Some additional docs to help you out:

• Trust Center Support Doc

• A2P Campaign Registration Best Practices

If the country is not set to the US, you can still use the system following the best practices so that the delivery rate is high and the SMS is not flagged. A2P campaign is just a more enhanced safety net for delivery, but that doesn't mean you cannot use the system without it.

Note: Campaign Verification can take up to 6-7 weeks. If it is not approved after the 7th week, please raise a support ticket with us to escalate the request to TCR.

6. Future website form opt-in setup, please include a checkbox to ensure the lead gives consent when filling out the form, if that's where the leads opt-in. You can type something like this as an example:

"By providing your name and contact information, you are expressly consenting to receive communications from COMPANY_NAME or one of their licensed agents, which may include phone calls (including to any wireless number that you provide), including automatic telephone dialing systems or by artificial/pre-recorded messages, text message, and/or emails for the purpose of marketing insurance products and services, including health, medicare, and life insurance plans. By providing your information, you understand that your consent is not a condition of the purchase of any product or services, and carrier messaging and data rates may apply. You may revoke this consent at any time by calling us at 1-800-000-000 or by emailing us at EMAIL_HERE to be placed on our do-not-call list."

7. Good to Have: The first message should state the source of how your leads opted in.

8. Good to Have: Add opt-in language so contacts actively double opt-in via SMS and web form checkbox (reply 1 to subscribe).

If you've recently sent text messages to United Kingdom (UK) mobile numbers using international long codes. Here's what you need to know:

• Effective from June 1, 2023, UK network operators will block SMS messages sent with international long codes.
• This change is happening because UK network operators consider the use of international long codes for Application-To-Person (A2P) SMS as an abuse of Person-To-Person (P2P) routes. To comply, SMS messages to the UK must be sent with a local number.

What do you need to do?

• Before June 1, 2023, use a local UK number to send A2P messages to the UK:
• If you are on LC Phone and not sure how to buy an SMS-capable number, please reach out to support so we can buy a mobile UK number for you.
• If you are not on LC Phone, follow these steps in the Twilio Console:
  • Develop > Phone numbers > Buy a number > Country set to UK > Un-check Voice capabilities
  • This will return a list of numbers you can buy for receiving messages

What if you don't take action?

Failure to take action will result in the blockage of SMS messages sent to the UK using international long codes starting from June 1, 2023.

In simple terms, link tracking helps measure the success of text message campaigns, but it can cause problems for users. Public shortened URLs often redirect multiple times and don't provide much information about the sender, which can lead to text messages being blocked. To solve this issue, using custom domains that match your website or are familiar to your company's brand is a straightforward solution. Interestingly, T-Mobile has also addressed this problem.

Just to recap, T-Mobile introduced their Code of Conduct for Commercial Messaging on September 1st, 2020. This code lays out T-Mobile's guidelines and expectations for business-related messaging on their network. If you want to communicate with someone using a T-Mobile-connected device, it's important to follow these new rules.

T-Mobile has a preference for using a single, recognizable domain name. According to their Code of Conduct, messaging programs should be connected to a business's web domain. While using the complete domain is preferred, using a branded short URL is acceptable for delivering custom links. This helps maintain consistency with consumers, enhances brand awareness, and boosts confidence in the links.

T-Mobile has more to say about URLs. In their section on "Prohibited Messaging Practices," they have two rules related to URLs:

1. They prohibit the use of URL cycling to bypass spam filters. This means that public URL shorteners like bit.ly or rb.gy are likely to be blocked, preventing messages containing those URLs from being delivered.
2. T-Mobile discourages the use of URLs that redirect multiple times. Such URLs can hide the actual website destination from consumers, potentially leading to fraudulent websites. T-Mobile's spam filters specifically check for URLs with multiple redirects, and messages containing them are likely to be blocked.

In fact, AT&T has decided to completely block public link shorteners due to their association with fraudulent activities and phishing scams. Although T-Mobile and others haven't taken the same stance yet, it would be wise to take steps to improve message deliverability now to prepare for the future.

What does all of this mean?

The efforts to minimize or eliminate the use of public link tracking domains for shortened URLs or URLs with multiple redirects aim to reduce spam, fraud, and abuse in the messaging industry. However, link tracking is one of the few ways for companies to measure engagement or the success of SMS/MMS programs. This creates a frustrating situation for companies, especially when they are sending important messages that contain necessary links.

3 ways to improve delivery of messages with links

To enhance the deliverability of messages containing URLs and avoid accidental blocks, here are a few steps you can take:

1. Limit the number of redirects in your links. When a link takes users through multiple jumps to reach a different landing page or domain address, it raises suspicion for both users and carriers. Optimize your link destination and consider using tracking methods like UTM parameters to avoid multiple redirects.

2. Using a full-length URL is the carrier's first suggestion, but it can take up valuable space in an SMS where you also need to include your business identification and contextual information within the 160-character limit. If you have critical links, it might be best to use full-length URLs and accept the extra cost for additional message segments.

3. When space is limited, consider using a branded shortened URL that is identifiable with your domain. This method is not limited to big brands like ESPN, Nike, or the New York Times. While it may seem cost-effective to use free public link shorteners like bit.ly or rb.gy, if your messages are not being delivered, the cost to your business can add up. Investing in a custom domain for shortened URLs is often more affordable than expected.

Remember, you pay for the messages you send, not just the ones that are delivered. Therefore, maximizing your delivery rate is in the best interest of your business overall.

Message filtering refers to the blocking of messages that are unwanted or illicit. Filtering may occur to enforce LC - Phone Messaging Policy or to comply with regulations and wireless carriers’ messaging policies.

This article is about steps and specific guidelines to reduce the risk of messages being filtered. For general information about message filtering.

The best way to prevent your messages from being filtered is to follow the guidelines in LC - Phone Messaging Policy, LC Phone System Trust Center, A2P 10DLC Campaign Approval Best Practices, and avoid sending spam or fraudulent traffic. If your use case is a forbidden use case for messaging in the United States, that will also lead to filtering in the US.

If you're sending to more than one country, check the SMS Guidelines for the countries you are sending messages to. These pages are up to date with rules and best practices for each country.

Below are some guidelines that will greatly reduce the chances that your messages will be filtered.

Consent and opt-in

• Ensure that you only send messages to mobile users who have provided consent (opted-in) to receive messages from you.
• Ensure that your messages clearly identify who is sending the message, and how to opt out. If you are contacting the same recipients multiple times per month, you do not need to provide opt-out instructions in every message, but you must do it at least once per month.
• The opt-out language you include in your messages must include a widely accepted keyword for opt-out. In the US and Canada, this is typically STOP, e.g. "Reply STOP to unsubscribe." Using alternative phrases like "text 2 to opt out" is not compliant, and will result in filtering.
• If you are sending messages to users repeatedly over a long period of time, you should check in with your recipients at least once every 18 months to ensure they still want to receive messages from you. The mobile number you are sending messages to may have changed owners, or the recipient may not remember giving consent to receive messages from you.
• You should process the DNDs daily. Once a customer deactivates their phone number, you no longer have consent to send to that number.
• Monitor your opt-out and consumer complaints data for any spike in activity. This is an indicator that something needs to be corrected in your consent or opt-out mechanisms. Carriers will start filtering heavily or completely block traffic as phone numbers receive complaints/high opt-out rates.

Use case and sender selection

• Check the SMS Guidelines for the countries you are sending messages to. These pages are up to date with rules and best practices for each country.

• Before sending messages to the United States or Canada, ensure that your use case is not among the Forbidden message categories for SMS and MMS in the US and Canada.

• In general, use only as many phone numbers as are required for your business. LC - Phone Messaging Policy forbids "snowshoeing" message sending across multiple phone numbers for the purposes of evading message filtering systems. Examples of valid reasons to use multiple phone numbers are having numerous business locations or matching phone numbers with users in different geographic locations.

• All traffic is considered application-to-person (A2P), and the carriers in the country you are sending to may require that this traffic be sent from a short code or from a pre-registered Alphanumeric Sender ID, if available. These are both ways that carriers can review your messaging use case in advance and offer better delivery as a result. In addition, some countries (such as France) have prohibitions against local numbers from that country being used for A2P traffic. In such cases, Alpha Sender ID (if available) or a number from a different country is a good solution for 1-way A2P messaging. If in doubt, check the SMS Guidelines for the countries you are sending messages to.

• If you are sending abandoned shopping cart messages to users in the US, there are specific compliance requirements – see "Specific Use Case Requirements" on the SMS Guidelines page for the US for more details.

Message contents

• URL shortening: Do not send links that have been shortened using shared public URL shorteners, such as TinyUrl or free Bitly links. United States carrier policies discourage the use of shared public URL shorteners.

• If possible, when sending URLs/links in your messages, use domains that you control. Similar to the shortened URL guidance above, when sending links it is best to use a URL that is specific to your business. For example, if you control the domain mybusiness.net, you can be certain that only your business is using this domain, and nobody else could be sending URLs with that domain name that could link to objectionable content. Using URLs that may also be used by other services/individuals is permitted and is not guaranteed to result in filtering. However, it increases filtering risk, as another user of that same URL domain could send something spammy or objectionable and get that domain flagged by filtering systems. Obfuscated URLs are common in spoofing/phishing attempts and will be filtered.

• Don’t use emojis, or unnecessary special characters/capitalization, and watch your grammar and spelling. Typically, these messages are structured in a way to attempt to evade detection of unwanted messaging, and your messages will be filtered.

• Do not send content that is illegal in your sending area or is forbidden by carriers. 

I think my messages are being filtered by mistake. What can I do?

LC phone works hard to ensure that customers do not see filtering on legitimate messaging that follows all applicable rules. However, no automatic system is perfect. If you have reviewed the above information thoroughly, and you believe your messages are compliant, please grab 3 or more examples of the Contact example links that have the “undelivered” status with error 30007 within the previous 7 days and share it with our team so we can troubleshoot further.

We can help review your messaging and determine if an error was made, and put you in touch with our Compliance team if needed. 

To protect agencies' SMS reputation and limit exposure, we have implemented the below features available in LC - Phone System ONLY!

This messaging policy applies to all your accounts that are using LC - Phone for communication within the CRM.

We all expect that the messages we want to receive will reach us, unhindered by filtering or other blockers. An important step that LC - Phone and our customers can take to make that expectation a reality is to prevent and eliminate unwanted messages.

We make sure that the messages sent through LC - Phone are to consenting parties and follow applicable laws, industry standards, and guidelines. We also want to be mindful of measures of fairness and decency when in doubt.

LC - Phone Messaging Policy

All messaging transmitted via the platform - regardless of use case or phone number type (e.g., long code, or toll-free) - need to comply with the Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging. All A2P messages originating from the system are subject to this Messaging Policy, which covers messaging rules and/or prohibitions regarding:

• Consent (“opt-in”): Consent can't be bought, sold, or exchanged. For example, you can't obtain the consent of message recipients by purchasing a phone list from another party. And SMS should only be sent to the opted-in contacts.

• Revocation of Consent (“opt-out”): The initial message that you send to an individual needs to include the following language: “Reply STOP to unsubscribe,” or the equivalent so that individuals have the ability to revoke consent at any time by replying with a standard opt-out keyword.

• Sender Identification: Every initial message you send must clearly identify you (the party that obtained the opt-in from the recipient) as the sender, except in follow-up messages of an ongoing conversation.

• Messaging Usage: You should not be sending messages in any way related to alcohol, firearms, gambling, tobacco, or other adult content.

• Filtering Evasion: As noted above, we do not allow content that has been specifically designed to evade detection by unwanted messaging detection and prevention mechanisms. This includes intentionally misspelled words or non-standard opt-out phrases which have been specifically created with the intent to evade these mechanisms. We do not permit snowshoeing, which is defined as spreading similar or identical messages across many phone numbers with the intent or effect of evading unwanted messaging detection and prevention mechanisms.

This policy applies to all customers who use LC - Phone messaging services to safeguard their messaging capabilities and services.

How We Handle Violations?

When we identify a violation of these principles, where possible, we will work with customers in good faith to get them back into compliance with the messaging policy. However, to protect the continued ability of all our customers to freely use messaging for legitimate purposes, we reserve the right to suspend or remove access to the platform for customers or customers’ end users that we determine are not complying with the Messaging Policy, or who are not following the law in any applicable area or applicable communications industry guidelines or standards, in some instances with limited notice in the case of serious violations of this policy.

1. SMS Ramp-Up Model (V2):
   Starting February 1st, 2024, all the accounts created under LC - Phone will have an 8-level ramp instead of the 7-day ramp with a lower limit. Below is the table which will give you a detailed idea of the ramp:

How it Works:

This ramp will not start on the signup date. In contrast, it will start on the day when the first successful SMS message is sent. Learn more 

1. All accounts start at Level 1, enabling them to send 100 SMS within 24 hours.

2. To increase sending limits, the account must send the full level sending limit within a 24-hour window.

3. After sending the full level sending limit within 24 hours, the account will be temporarily restricted from sending SMS for the next 24 hours. During this temporary restriction, SMS sending is disabled.

4. After the 24 hours, the temporary restriction will be removed. The account will be able to send messages again, and the account will unlock the next level sending limit, increasing their sending limit.

An example:

• A new account will start on Level 1 Sending Limits of 100 SMS within 24 hours.
  
• To unlock Level 2, an account must send 100 SMS within 24 hours.
  
• After sending 100 SMS within 24 hours, the account will be temporarily restricted from sending SMS for 24 hours. After 24 hours, SMS sending will be allowed again and you will unlock Level 2 sending limit of 250.
  
• Then to unlock Level 3, you must send 250 SMS within 24 hours; after sending 250 SMS within 24 hours, you will be temporarily restricted from sending SMS for 24 hours. After 24 hours, you will unlock Level 3 sending limit of 500.
  
• This process of hitting the level sending limit and waiting 24 hours continues until Level 8, which allows for 3000+ sending.

FAQs on SMS Ramp

• Can I change or remove this Ramp-Up Model?
  No. Previously we had an option for the agency to change the SMS limit within the ramp or post-ramp period. That capability has been taken away.

• Do one-to-one and Missed Call Text Back SMS count toward my daily limit sending?
  Yes. Previously one-to-one messages and Missed Call Text Back messages were not considered as part of the day’s total message; this will be counted henceforth.

• Can I send one-to-one messages during the 24-hour temporary sending restriction after reaching my level limit?
  No. Previously, when a location was restricted temporarily, the one-to-one messages used to be allowed; we have taken that capability away.

Why the change?

LC - Phone policy was implemented to:

1. Avoid SMS Spam blasts from fake signups. New accounts on LC - Phone will follow the Ramp-Up Model.
2. Avoid getting accounts blocked due to suspicious activity.
3. Avoid legal actions due to increased spamming to non-consenting customers. Only bulk SMS sending will have daily limitations to avoid account suspension due to non-compliant messaging activity.

What error screens or notifications will an account see during a violation?

    1. Conversation Error: You have exceeded your SMS sending limit.

    2. Bulk Action: You are allowed to send 5000 message(s) in a day. You have already sent 5000 message(s). If you wish to proceed, 1 Message(s) will be failed.

2. Spam Message Handling:

    Each of the messages sent out from your account ends up with the following 4 statuses:

1. Sent: The messages whose response we did not receive from the carrier, can be in any of the three statuses below.
2. Delivered: The messages which were successfully delivered and sent to the contact.
3. Failed: The messages which were canceled or were not sent to the carrier to forward to the contact.
4. Undelivered: The message sent was suspicious or did not fulfill the messaging policy.

As part of this feature, we will only consider Undelivered messages. All the undelivered messages end up with a particular error code and we will start storing them at each of the message levels. We will further use them to start enabling Temporary/Permanent DND at a contact level so that new SMSs are not sent to them, increasing your deliverability rate.

The below table summarizes the undelivered SMS error codes and what each of them means and the relevant remediation measure we are taking:

Temporary DND : The DND set at a contact level can be revoked by the location or your account.

Permanent DND : The DND set at the contact level cannot be revoked by the location or your account as the contact is incapable of receiving the message or has opted out from receiving messages.

Opt-Out Keyword : Individuals must have the ability to revoke consent at any time by replying with a standard opt-out keyword like STOP, Unsubscribe, etc. In this case, a permanent DND will also be enabled at the contact level.

Advantage : 

• This will restrict the location from sending SMS to non-relevant contacts, ultimately increasing the deliverability rate and decreasing the possibility of getting blocked. 
• The locations will only send out messages to the contacts who have opted in.

Spam Messaging Error Screens

1. Conversation: Cannot send messages as DND is active for SMS.

2. Bulk Action: All SMS sent via features like workflow and bulk SMS will automatically skip the DND-marked contacts from the sender list.

How to Revoke the DND for a Contact?

    1. For Temporary DND: Go to the contact details and remove the DND flag. Below is the screenshot of the sample screen:

    2. For Permanent DND: You cannot revoke this from the UI. To revoke the permanent DND, request the contact to send a reply with the "START," "YES," and "UNSTOP" keywords to the number. This should automatically remove the DND from the contact.

Please Note:

If the START keyword does not revoke the DND and still incoming/outgoing messages are failing, please raise a support ticket.

3. Opt-Out Language Addition

• Consent for sending out communications cannot be bought; the only way is to obtain explicit consent from the user for SMS campaigns and communications. 
• This consent is taken by a specific entity, in our case, your accounts that are the actual senders of these communications. 
• To comply with messaging policies, each initial message sent by the company to an end user must include the following two mandatory pieces of information: Sender ID and Opt-Out Language.
• Opt-Out Language: The end user must have the capability to remove consent at any time. Thus, similar to above, each initial message must also include opt-out keywords like STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, etc. We will additionally add the opt-out language: “Reply STOP to unsubscribe."
• 
  

Please note:

The "Opt out message" setting will apply SMS messages sent using these methods if it is the first SMS message being sent to a new contact and that contact has never sent an SMS message to your system phone number:
1. A Bulk Action in the Contacts area of the app (i.e. when selecting multiple contacts and choosing the "Send SMS" button in the top toolbar
2. Workflow "Send SMS" Actions 
3. Campaigns (legacy feature) 
4. One-on-One messages sent via the Conversations area of the app

Sample Opt-Out Language Message Screen:

How Can I Customize the Opt-Out Message?

Go to Your Account -> Settings -> Business Info -> General, where you can customize the opt-out message. Below is the screenshot for reference:

What Happens if My Message Already Has an Opt-Out Keyword?

    If the message already contains one of the opt-out keywords mentioned in the above screenshot,         no additional opt-out keyword will be added from our side.

What Happens When an End User Replies with the STOP Keyword?

    If individuals reply with a standard opt-out keyword like STOP, consent to send SMS will be                 revoked. All upcoming and queued messages will fail. Additionally, a permanent DND will be             enabled at the contact level.

Please Note:

This is mandatory info that should be shared with the end customer so this is a mandatory check for all the initial messages.

4. Sender Information Addition

• The consent for sending out communications cannot be bought and the only way is to take explicit consent from the user for the SMS campaigns and communications.
• The consent is taken by a specific entity, in our case locations that are the actual sender of these communications.
• To comply with the messaging policies each of the initial messages sent out by the company to an end-user should have below two mandatory information, ie, Sender ID and opt-out Language:
• SenderID: Every message you send must clearly identify you (the party that obtained the opt-in from the recipient) as the sender, except in follow-up messages of an ongoing conversation. We will additionally add the sender info: “Thanks, <Location Name>".

Please note:

“Sender ID” feature is only applicable to Bulk action(Bulk SMS), Workflow and campaigns and is not applicable to One on One conversation.

Sample message screen:

How Can I Customize the Opt-Out Message?

Go to Your Account -> Settings -> Business Info -> General, where you can customize the opt-out message. Below is the screenshot for reference:

Please Note:

This is mandatory info that should be shared with the end customer so this is a mandatory check for all the initial messages.

5. Error and Opt-out Rate Monitoring

• We are focused on helping our customers deliver trusted communications. To make sure that the carrier does not block or suspend the account permanently based on bad usage.
  
  
• We will be monitoring the delivery rate of the overall account and be taking proactive measures(as mentioned below) to keep the delivery rate in check:
  • Violation Email - We will send out an email notification as soon as the subaccount hits the error rate of 6% and opt-out rate of 2%.
  • Temporary Account Restriction - We will send out a suspension email as the subaccount hits the error rate of 10% and opt-out rate of 3%.

Please Note:

As soon as the account will hit the temporary suspension all upcoming outbound SMS will be failed till 00:00 AM UTC.

What Should We Do When We Receive a Violation Email?

1. Stop all workflows, campaigns, triggers, and/or bulk actions to contacts who have not explicitly opted in to receive messages from your account.
2. Enable and customize the Opt-Out language and Sender ID message as per your use case to prevent future message flags.
3. Please discuss this with your client to ensure that no bulk communications, message blasts, or cold prospecting message campaigns are sent until we receive your reply to this ticket.

What Are Error and Opt-Out Rates, and What Are the Good Thresholds?

• A High Opt-Out Rate indicates that contacts receiving your messages have objected, generated complaints, or marked your SMS as spam. A good opt-out rate is typically in the range of 0—1%. Once the opt-out rate hits 2%, the sub-account will be locked for sending text messages for 24 hours.
• A High Delivery Error Rate indicates that you are sending SMS to contacts that are no longer in service, are unreachable, or use a non-SMS-capable device such as a landline. This may also mean that external carrier filters are refusing to deliver your SMS due to bad sending behavior in the past. A good error rate is typically in the range of 0—6%. Once the error rate hits 12%, the sub-account will be locked for sending text messages for 24 hours.

What Do I Do to Get the Account Suspension Removed Early?

• The account suspension will be lifted in 24 hours. However, if the account is permanently suspended, please refer to the article "Why is Your Account Suspended?" to unsuspend the account.

Please Note:

One on One conversation, Test SMS, Resend Message, and MissedCallTextBack are allowed even if the account is suspended.

FAQs

How often does the SMS limit last?

The SMS limit will refresh every 24 hours. If the account is brand new then each day the increments will increase according to the table above. Once you have hit the 8th day your SMS limit will be capped at 5000 per day.

I'd like to send more than 5000 SMS per day, how can I increase my limit?

Once your location(s) hit the 8th-day mark (5000 SMS per day), you may reach out to support and request a Limit extension. 

What happens when we hit our daily limit, will we be able to respond to SMS if a lead replies?

No, you cannot respond manually to incoming messages. SMS daily limits will affect all messaging activities including manual SMS in conversation, automation within workflows, and bulk actions.

Can we undo the DND option in bulk?

No, we cannot because this is to prevent sending SMS in bulk again after DND is enabled for the contacts. 

Is the auto append Sender ID and Opt-Out Language feature applying to every first text of workflow or manual SMS as well?

The "Opt out message" setting will apply SMS messages sent using these methods if it is the first SMS message being sent to a new contact and that contact has never sent an SMS message to your system phone number:
1. A Bulk Action in the Contacts area of the app (i.e. when selecting multiple contacts and choosing the "Send SMS" button in the top toolbar
2. Workflow "Send SMS" Actions 
3. Campaigns (legacy feature) 
4. One-on-One messages sent via the Conversations area of the app

GIF needs to be tapped to load on iPhones if a contact is not added into the phonebook. This is standard behaviour.

Twilio offers several tools for investigating the interaction between Twilio and your application. If a message fails to go through, is delayed, or otherwise behaves unexpectedly, these tools should be your first stops for debugging.

How to navigate to the Messaging Logs and how to use them?

You can view the error logs for your Twilio account by going to the Twilio Console. You can use this log to get an idea of which Twilio resources may be affected and who was responsible for them.

Log on to Twilio https://console.twilio.com/

Go to the top right -> Click Account -> Click your account

If there are too many accounts inside Twilio, you can go back to the software and copy the Account SID for that location to search in Twilio:

Now go back to Twilio with the copied Account SID.

Search based on the Twilio Account SID in account-level settings -> Twilio.
Paste the Account SID here and click on it:

Once you are in the account inside Twilio

Head to the Left panel, Click Monitor > Logs > Messaging

Put the contact's phone number (remove all phone format) in the FROM / TO field:

• FROM field: Contact's incoming SMS
• TO field: Outgoing SMS

Put the lead's phone number (remove all phone format) in the TO field:

From there, look for the message where the problem happened. Click the hyperlinked dates to go deeper into the details for each message. You’ll notice messages that don't hit a 200 are highlighted in either yellow or red.

As you can see above, each log line includes the number of message segments, the message status, TO and FROM numbers, as well as if any media was attached.

If it says delivered but the contact is not receiving it, grab this Message SID and create a support ticket with Twilio support.

In the detailed view of the message log, you can find the Message SID (Twilio's unique identifier for this message), as well as the time the resource was created, TO and FROM numbers, Delivery Steps, and the Request Inspector.

The Delivery Steps section of this log will show you when the request was created, how long it was queued on Twilio's platform, and when it was sent out to our carrier partner for delivery. These factors can help you determine where an undelivered message failed or investigate latency issues.

The request inspector shows all requests and responses made when sending or receiving this message. You can easily see errors on requests by the color-coded status on the right of a request.

In the above response, we can see that we received a 404 response because Twilio was unable to find the tunnel for the webhook we set up for messages.

If you hover over the records, it will preview the content of the message..

How to Check if the Twilio number is MMS capable:

1. Go to Explore Products > Scroll down to find Phone numbers

2. Click Phone numbers:

3. Check if the number has MMS capabilities, or if the number can send/receive SMS to domestic numbers only.

Common errors in your account settings

Maximum numbers reached for your account:

If you are on trial with Twilio, you can only have one your account. Once you upgraded to Twilio, the maximum number of your accounts will be 1000 your accounts. Closed your accounts do not count toward this limit.

If your upgraded project is approaching 1000 your accounts, please contact Twilio Support to ask about raising this limit.

Common Unsuccessful SMS errors in Conversation

For more information about why your SMS was unsuccessful, please click the ⚠️(red triangle) icon to view more details:

Common errors:

Solution:
You can try to enable geo permission here. However, to guarantee two-way messaging (receiving incoming messages from end-users), you must use a number from the same country as your recipient.

It's best to buy a phone number for the country your contact is in and use that as the default one. And delete the old default Twilio number.

Since the current leads will be stuck with the original Twilio number.

If you want to keep the original Twilio number, you can assign the phone number to the user, then assign the lead to the user, then you will be able to send from the new number.

Another way is to recreate the contact.

The Twilio API will return this message if you attempt to send an SMS or MMS to a recipient who has previously replied to your Twilio number with one of the following keywords:

STOP

STOPALL

UNSUBSCRIBE

CANCEL

END

QUIT

In this scenario, your message would not be sent, and you would not be charged for the message attempt.

Notice: When a user opts out of a phone number that belongs to a Messaging Service, the user is also opted out to receiving all messages sent from that particular Messaging Service.

In order to successfully send messages to such recipients, they must opt into your messages by texting your number with one of the following keywords:

START

YES

Why there are incoming calls from different people all being attributed to the same number (e.g. +266696687)?

When Calls from multiple contacts are merging into a single contact/conversation, it is because the leads are calling anonymously.

Why you are seeing replies in separate conversations

If you notice that there are multiple conversations going on about the same topic, it is because your Twilio number is added to a group conversation.

Try to reset Twilio number if you are NOT on Leadconnector phone system:

If resetting the Twilio number is not working, When inbound SMS is not coming into your account:

1. Login to https://www.twilio.com/login

2. Go to the top right -> Click Account -> Click Subaccounts 

If there are too many accounts inside Twilio, you can go back to the account view in the software and copy the Account SID for that location to search in Twilio:

If you are on LC phone, please contact support

Now go back to Twilio with the copied Account SID

Search based on the Twilio Account SID in your account settings -> Twilio
Paste the Account SID here and click on it:

Check if the Twilio number is MMS capable:

Click on Phone numbers:

Check if it is configured as:

If not, please click the phone number and scroll down to replace the webhook:

Click save and

Now you can test again to see if incoming SMS will show up in your account.

If you have some messaging service that's connected to the Twilio number, click into the messaging service here:
Note for LC phone that might be the case once signing up for a2p messaging service, don't follow the steps here.

Click Sender Pool on the left
Remove all the Twilio numbers here

If NOT:

Verify if the Twilio number has an icon † next to it
†Can send/receive SMS to domestic numbers only

Left panel, Click Monitor -> Messaging

Put the lead's phone number (remove all phone format) in the TO field:

Click the Date on the left for further details:

If it says delivered but the contact is not receiving it, grab this Message SID and open a ticket with Twilio support

If you hover over the records, it will preview the content of the message. What does the status say?

If you're trying to send an SMS message and it's showing you this error message An error has occurred. Please try again. Error message: The From phone number is not a valid, SMS-capable inbound phone number or shortcode for your account.

That's because the Twilio phone number we use to send the SMS is Voice-capable only.

Let's make sure the Twilio number offers both SMS+voice capabilities based on the list of countries listed here: Twilio international phone number availability and their capabilities.

Since our search function is basic and it doesn't show much information about whether or not the Twilio number has SMS/voice capabilities, click here to learn how to buy a Twilio number for your account inside the Twilio console.

Troubleshooting SMS Forwarding Issues in the platform

If you're experiencing issues where incoming SMS messages are only visible in the conversation tab and not being forwarded to your designated forwarding number, this article is here to help. We'll guide you through the common reasons behind this problem and provide step-by-step solutions to ensure your SMS forwarding functions correctly. By following the troubleshooting steps outlined, you can resolve the issue and ensure that all incoming messages are properly redirected to your forwarding number.

We will only receive the inbound messages in the Conversation tab using the software's mobile app and web app.
Incoming SMS will not be forwarded to the forwarding number.
You set up a Customer replied workflow trigger like this with the Custom Value {{message.body}}.

Step 1: Click on Automation > Workflows > Create workflow

Step 2: Choose Start from scratch

Click on Create new workflow.

Step 3: Click on Add New Workflow Trigger

Step 4: Click on Customer Replied

Step 5: Click on Add filters

Step 6: Select Reply channel

Step 7: In the reply channel dropdown, choose SMS

Step 8: Click on Save Trigger

Click on Add your first Action.

Step 9: Click on Send Internal Notification

Note: SMS notification will create charges for every SMS sent.

Step 10: Click on Custom Values > Message > Message Body

Step 11: Click on Contact > First Name

Frequently Asked Questions

Currently no frequently asked questions.

This article "Setting Up SMS and Email Templates" provides a detailed, technical overview of configuring and managing communication templates within the software. It outlines the procedural steps required to establish SMS and email templates, including the technical aspects of template creation, customization, and implementation. The guide is intended for users who need to integrate these templates into their workflow to enhance automation and ensure consistent messaging across various channels. Key topics include template formatting, variable insertion, and deployment strategies to optimize communication efficiency and system performance within the platform.

Step 1. Delete and Re-create the contact

The new contacts will be using the new default Twilio number.

Step 2. Remove the old default Twilio number

We could remove the old Twilio phone number. That way all SMS will be sent from the new Twilio number bought.

Step 3. Assign the new default Twilio number to the user, assign the user to the contact and log in as the user to send an SMS

If you want to keep the old Twilio phone number, another suggestion would be to assign the new Twilio phone number to the user and log in as the user to send those SMS. You could also assign the user in the Workflow action. That way all automated SMS will be sent from the new Twilio number bought.

Frequently Asked Questions

Currently no frequently asked questions. Submit feedback on this article to help us add questions to this section!