Carrier Violations Best Practices

A carrier violation is the recipient’s telecom provider flagging a text for potential spam. Telecom carriers such as AT&T, TMobile, Verizon, etc. have very advanced algorithms to try to prevent spam. Although they do not provide us exact data on what gets flagged, we have formatted best practices from data testing.

In addition to A2P 10DLC registration, which is required to text leads from any application, we also recommend registering directly with mobile carriers to help reduce the risk of text messages being flagged for spam:

1. Register your phone numbers with FirstOrion so T-Mobile knows who you are. Registering is free and easy, and you can do so here: https://portal.firstorion.com/app/landing/#/signup.

2. Register your phone numbers with Hiya so that AT&T knows who you are. Like FirstOrion, Hiya is free of charge and makes it easy to register. You can register with Hiya here: https://hiyahelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new.

3. Verizon registration option, which is also free and easy to register with: https://www.voicespamfeedback.com/vsf/

 

We built an AI that will detect when sending bulk text messages if after about 8 text messages send, if the remaining text messages are over 70% likely to be flagged for spam or in other words, the text would be undelivered due to a carrier violation. To avoid having texts undelivered for this reason and charged for texts undelivered, we will stop those remaining messages from sending. This gives you the opportunity to edit that message, and try to resend it from the Campaigns page located in the navigation bar. When this occurs, you will get a notification on your Dashboard with further details as to how many texts were stopped and what text it was exactly. 

 

You can also view leads whose last text message was undelivered due to a carrier violation by locating the Leads page in the navigation bar. In the Only Show filter option, the last option you can select in the dropdown menu is "Leads whose last text message was a carrier violation."

 

To view carrier violations received over time, select the Reports page in the navigation bar, and choose the Team Analytics tab. Under the User Summary report, you can find how many carrier violations you accrued over a custom range of time. You can also view carrier violations accrued per phone number in the Phone Setup page located in the navigation bar, and under the Phone Numbers tab. When a text message is flagged for spam or in other words undelivered due to a carrier violation, carrier violations will begin to accrue on the phone number that sent that flagged text message. 

Below any text template, you will find the rotating phrases button. This will alternate certain words or phrases you create so multiple leads are not all receiving an identical text at the same time.

 

You are able to trickle SMS Drip Marketing messages. Below the SMS Drip Marketing message you are creating or editing, choose "Trickle this SMS drip." Then decide how many texts to send within a given amount of minutes. The number of texts to send per every few minutes would be subject to your lead volume. This is beneficial so all messages are not sent at the exact time. 

 

Try to avoid messaging thousands of leads all at once. When uploading or bulk messaging a mass amount of leads, ensure you are uploading/texting 200 leads or less at a time and spread out multiple sheets through the working day so there isn't a high volume of traffic coming to/from your account all at once.

Having at least 3 initial presets for leads to round robin through, if you do not already, will significantly decrease the risk of carrier violations in the future as the messaging is not always the exact same when leads are integrated via a Lead Vendor. When uploading leads, you can change up the verbiage of your initial text in Step 3. It is advisable to keep your texts within 160 characters or around 200 characters. Excess texts increases your risk of carrier violations. You can view the character count per text below any textbox in Ringy.

If you include your name in bulk messages with the Available Keyword #my_first_name, carriers will identify there is a sender (Preferably in the beginning of the message rather than at the end of the text). The CTIA also says that the initial text message you send to a consumer must clearly identify you in the text message. If consumers see that you're giving them the opportunity to stop these messages, and you also identify who you are, it might build more trust and could make it less likely for them to opt-out. Please always use the Available Keyword #first_name so carriers recognize it is a personalized message. We recommend you use at least 3 Available Keywords that specifically pertain to the lead to vary your messaging when sending bulk texts, such as #city, #state, #last_name, #full_name, #street_address, and #birthday. That goes for initial presets, drip messages, campaign blasts, texts via an automated action, etc. We also suggest you avoid using all capital letters in addition to symbols like #, $, %, etc. as carriers will recognize that as spam. Using links as well as adding phone numbers to the text, could also be potentially marked as spam by carriers. If you can, we suggest you add links to emails instead and avoid inputting a phone number. 

Providing opt out notice in your first text and every 30 day period you text a lead if the lead has never responded to you is required due to SMS regulations for all users. If you start receiving too many opt outs such as leads responding with stop, end, quit, etc. not only will that get flagged on our software, but also with our phone number provider you purchase your Ringy numbers through. Our phone number provider would flag your account if you get a high number of opt outs, because they will be under the impression that you're not getting the proper consent to be contacting your leads. This creates a long winded ordeal to get that reversed. If this does happen to you, our Compliance department at Ringy will email you as soon as possible. When our phone number provider flags your account, they communicate directly with telecom carriers so it also increases the number of carrier violations you would be receiving.

Lastly, please make sure you have a phone number in each state you are licensed in so you are not texting leads across the country from just one phone number in addition to giving you a more local presence. When a text message is flagged for spam or in other words undelivered due to a carrier violation, carrier violations will begin to accrue on the phone number that sent that flagged text message. If you have any phone numbers with over 50 carrier violations, it is advisable to delete them as messages will be blocked from such numbers regardless. Please be sure to purchase a new phone number prior to deleting so leads will automatically be assigned to the new phone number in their state. When deleting, you can choose to “yes, charge my account $1” so leads previously assigned to it can still call or text you for another 30 days with that number. Inactive phone numbers are still being used for leads previously assigned to it, so it is in your best interest to actually delete it. If you do wish to keep it inactive, you still need to also “detach from leads” using the More button. Keep in mind you are still charged for inactive numbers. Also, please ensure your default number is not reaching high Carrier Violations as well, to ensure you are receiving text notifications and able to reach all leads.