Get thinQ’s SMS texting scorecard to be sure your messages make it to your recipients and avoid carrier spam traps.
Text messaging is wildly popular. Not only is texting convenient, 9 out of 10 are read within 3 minutes, making them a game-changer for SaaS platforms and any businesses who needs to engage with current or potential customers.
The challenge arises when businesses, intentionally or not, break the rules set by the TCPA or CTIA and discover that their content is blocked or undelivered by the carriers. These organizations were formed to create guidelines for the industry to avoid SMS and MMS channels being overwhelmed with inappropriate, illegal, or spammy content.
Learn more about our thinQ’s A2P SMS/MMS platform, including long code and toll-free messages per second, supported message sizes, and more in our knowledge base.
How do I prevent my messages from being filtered?
Follow the guidelines in thinQ’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and always avoid sending spam or fraudulent traffic. We’ll keep this page and our policies up-to-date with the industry’s best practices. In addition, here are additional guidelines that will greatly reduce the chances that you will have messages filtered by carriers.
- 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 (for example, “Reply STOP to unsubscribe”).
- 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.
- 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.
A+ SMS Scorecard
Be sure your messages score an A to ensure delivery potential and don’t get caught in a carrier’s spam trap. Here’s our A2P (Application to Person) SMS content grading scale, where we provide hands-on examples of messages that fall into each category.
A Messages (Best Delivery)
Your Bank: We suspect transaction at Retailer is fraud. Reply YES if this was your charge.
Here is your one time password: PW
Your appointment with Company is scheduled for 3PM tomorrow. Reply YES to confirm or NO to reschedule.
B Messages
Your bill with Company is due. Please make your payment today.
C Messages
You haven’t been to Restaurant in a while. Here’s a coupon.
D Messages
You were thinking about buying Product, here’s a message about that. Buy now at this link: https://bit.55666.ly
F Messages (Worst Delivery)
Student loans
Debt refinance
Mortgage loan
Pay day
Marijuana / CBD
Cam girls
Medication
Adult / Porn
Sending unwanted traffic could result in blocking your source numbers (DIDs) from being able to send texts. Here are additional guidelines on the types of traffic we recommend and restrict:
Traffic Requirements for A2P: Long code, Toll-free, Shortcode
Notifications
Two Way Communications
Chatbots
Opt-In Appointment Reminders & Customer Scheduling
Marketing Requirements: Long code, Toll-free
Opt-in Promotional Traffic
Consumer Expectation of Communication
Restricted Categories
Adult material
Dating
Phone Service Solicitations
Financial
Pharmaceutical
Casino & Gaming
Fraudulent Intent
With thinQ, you can scale your text messaging campaigns or power your reminder or appointments platform using our high-performance API. Whether you already have existing apps for your business or are starting from scratch, our API will help you get the text messaging features and performance you need.
thinQ’s SMS API is an easy way to integrate messaging solutions into your apps and provide new communications experiences to your end users. Our API integration will equip you with the tools needed to deliver high-volume, commercial-grade SMS, MMS, and toll-free functionality across your apps and phone numbers.
Whether you simply want to integrate SMS, add multimedia messaging into your applications, or experiment with outbound SMS marketing or appointment reminders, thinQ’s SMS API has got what you need to create an application that will satisfy your users and allow you to communicate via text messages instantly and cost-effectively.
Learn more and get a demo with one of our text messaging experts today.
