SMS Best Practices to Avoid Being Blocked

Summary: 

While Kixie will always send your SMS messages to their destination, it's possible that the recipient's mobile phone carrier i.e. AT&T/Verizon may block delivery of the SMS message due to a number of factors related to the SMS message itself, which of course is completely beyond Kixie's control. 

Overall Best Practices to Avoid SMS Messages Being Blocked by Receiving Carriers:

• Keep your messages short and conversational, and avoid lengthy/marketing-heavy messages. This especially applies to your first-ever SMS message to someone.
• The first-ever message to the prospect's number ideally should be a conversational introduction like "Hi (first name)". Then, delay for at least a few seconds, and send the remainder of your text, and then send whatever un-shortened link you want to send (so 3 total messages). This is easiest to accomplish with auto-SMS via Zapier or directly from a HubSpot workflow, which of course also has the benefit of standardization and automation, so you don't have to trust your reps to remember to send the text the right way.
  • The initial "Hi (first name)" text increases the chances of subsequent messages being allowed through by the mobile carrier, especially if you plan on sending a link afterwards. And again - never use shortened links like bit.ly or tinyurl.

The Main Reasons an SMS Message Would be Blocked by a Recipient's Mobile Phone/Carrier:

• The message contains a URL (especially a shortened link such as bit.ly or tinyurl)
  • If you're going to use a URL, it is worse if it is a repetitive URL(s), and worse still if it is a shortened link (such as bit.ly)
    • repetitive url example: https://example.com/pages/pages/page1
• The same message has been sent repeatedly - without variation or personalization 
  • workaround - use [fname] in your SMS template to personalize it automatically, or use the rep's first name in your auto-sms via Zapier.
• More than 200 SMS/day are sent per SMS number
  • workaround - call more, text less!
• Long texts
  • no special characters? 160+ characters is considered long by most carriers
  • special characters? 70+ characters is considered long by most carriers
• The receiving mobile device blocks unknown SMS numbers as a rule
  • perhaps the user downloaded an anti-spam app
    • perhaps the mobile device may also send SMS messages from numbers for which there has never been a phone call in the past, right to spam
      • workaround - call your prospect's number before texting them
• Your number was manually reported as spam to a carrier(s).
  • workaround - you can easily replace any agent's DID/SMS DID with a new one anytime which will fix this issue.
• The ratio of incoming to outgoing SMS on an SMS Number is more than 1:3
• The same message is sent from the same number within 5-10 seconds of the first message

Please email support@kixie.com or reach out to your Account Manager for help crafting the most deliverable auto-SMS and/or SMS templates for your team, we're always happy to help!