Sending messages to the United States and Canada has several unique requirements that must be met in order to manage campaigns compliantly.

In the USA, cellular networks require the use of either a long code or short code for application to person (A2P) messaging. You can read information on Which USA Sender ID is right for me? in order to help you select the Sender ID that is right for your business needs.

Toll Free Number Mandatory registration

Registration is mandatory for customers wanting to send to the USA and Canada using a Toll Free Number.

You will need to complete our Toll Free Number Registration Form which gathers information that the cellular networks require in order to approve your traffic on a Toll Free Number.

Prohibited Content in USA / Canada

Once your Toll Free number registration has been reviewed and approved by the mobile carriers you will be able to send your traffic into the USA. Please ensure that you advise your account manager if you would like to register your traffic on both USA and Canadian mobile carrier networks at the time of registration.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why has my messages been marked with a Hard bounce status?

This indicates the number is invalid or disconnected. Confirm the number is a valid cell phone number, at times customers will provide details of their landline. When reviewing a contact list, both landlines and cell phone numbers look very similar.

If you believe the hard bounce is in error and the device should be receiving messages, we suggest you advise the recipient(s) to follow the procedure below to fix any of the potential handset-related problems that caused messages to be delivered with delay or undelivered:

Ask the recipient to:

• Restart the handset by removing the SIM card and inserting it back again and then retest.
• Free up some phone memory in case the inbox is full and then retest.
• Try a different handset and then retest. Make sure that the device is in full network coverage and then retest.
• To be in-home network (not in roaming network) and check if there is the full network coverage.
• Check if the sender id is blocked by any application or device.
• Check to see if the phone has credit (pre-paid services with no credit cannot receive A2P messaging)

How do I ensure I have processed all opt out requests from customers?

Once a campaign has been delivered, you should be checking the responses received. Sometimes, a contact will mistype 'STOP' and not opt out properly. Anyone who is trying to opt out but hasn't done so successfully should be manually opted out. This is important because if someone is not interested in the material you are sending them, it's valuable to retain that expense

Why has my message been marked with a Soft bounce status?

For each message that we send once the handset acknowledges that they received the message a Delivery Receipt is sent to the carrier that is returned to us. A Soft bounced status indicates that we did not receive a Delivery Receipt (DLR) from the carrier.

Recommended Solutions

Message Segmentation

Message segmentation is a way to split your contact list on an outbound campaign from a single number. For best results it's ideal to use 250-300 contacts per split every 5 minutes. When you have a contact list of 2,000, you would want to split this into at least 10 segments. This feature can also be used to ensure you are within the daily 2,000 sending limit when sending to the USA with a Toll Free Number that has a status of "Pending Verification"

Using Links within your message

Do not use free link shortened URLs such as bit.ly, tiny.url, short.io, tapth.is, get.info as the messages will be blocked. The use of shortened URLs to save space in the character count inevitably results in messages being eventually rejected.

When using a direct URL in the SMS content, it is advised to shorten it using the Burst SMS track link feature.  This will then provide a shortened URL so it saved on character count and also offers tracking so you will be able to identify who is clicking on your link from your SMS.

To configure a custom domain track link, you will need access to your website's DNS records. This process is recommended to be completed by either a web developer who manages your website or an IT manager who manages your network at your organizaton.

Setting up a Custom Domain for your Tracked Links

Best practices for Marketing messages

Marketing style messages should always start with the Business Name at the start of the message and contain an opt out mechanism at the tail end of the message - ie Opt-out reply STOP. By default, this will be included when typing a new message in the campaign window and will use 18 characters