As your partner in SMS marketing, Emotive is committed to staying ahead of changes that affect our entire industry—no matter how small. Recently, U.S. and Canadian wireless carriers have started filtering messaging with greater sensitivity. Rest assured that we’re on your side to ensure compliance and optimize deliverability when reaching out to your valued SMS subscribers! Read on to learn how your business and Emotive can team up for continued success:

What can my business do to prevent carrier blocking?

We’re glad you asked! Luckily, current best practices to help prevent carrier blocking are easy to employ, and you may already be ahead of the curve. Here are four key measures to take moving forward:

  • Mention your brand name every message. A few ways to achieve this are starting each broadcast with “Hey, it’s ALIAS from BRAND,” or simply “BRAND:”. For additional inspiration, we invite you to reference our monthly Broadcast Articles for templated copy examples.

  • Make your copy conversational. Your customers want to hear from a trusted human—even carriers agree! Our copywriting team is here to help craft messaging that drives sales while keeping it real (and delivered). 

  • Include opt-out language within your first message. As customers opt in to your text list, make sure to include “Reply STOP to unsubscribe” or similar verbiage. As you continue to broadcast, include the same language periodically (every 5 messages is good practice).

Update opt-in language on your checkout page. Within your eCommerce platform, check to make sure that any mention of SMS is omitted from the email opt-in field at checkout. Note: You may still opt in customers at checkout by adding a second checkbox below the phone field—just be sure it’s unchecked by default. If you have any questions about making these updates, please contact your Customer Success Manager for assistance.

What steps is Emotive taking?

As we know first-hand, staying proactive is the name of the game. Our team is working closely with our messaging provider, who works directly with carriers. Through this partnership, we’re staying abreast of any and all late-breaking updates that could impact message deliverability—and delivering this information to you.

Staying flexible? Also essential. We’re working to explore alternative phone number solutions when appropriate, including toll-free numbers, short code and 10-digit long code (10DLC). Additionally, we will be partnering directly with carriers to establish a personalized Trust Score for your business to ensure deliverability long-term.

What’s next?

As we face these industry-wide changes together, Emotive will make sure you have access to the knowledge and best practices you need to maximize message deliverability and revenue. Working with our messaging provider, our team will continue to monitor any and all updates to SMS carrier filtering. For now, we look forward to our continued partnership with your business, helping you leverage conversational texting to build meaningful relationships with your customers.

In summary

  • These are industry-wide changes. Emotive is not alone in navigating updates to carrier filtering. It is our utmost priority to stay as many steps ahead as we can to ensure your brand’s compliance and optimize message deliverability.

  • You can help prevent carrier blocking. Keep the tone of all messaging conversational, mention your brand name in all broadcasts, include opt-out language upon first message and every five message thereafter, and omit any mention of SMS from your email opt-in field at checkout.

  • Emotive is taking the lead. We’re working with our messaging provider to stay on top of carrier filtering updates, offering alternative phone number solutions, and will be developing personalized Trust Scores to help your business.