Sending Text Messages in the United States

In the ever-evolving realm of communication, text messages have emerged as a ubiquitous and versatile medium, transforming the way individuals and businesses interact. In the United States, the landscape of text messaging is rich and diverse, encompassing a myriad of messages tailored for both personal and professional contexts. Understanding the distinctions between consumer and non-consumer messages is crucial for unraveling the intricacies of this dynamic communication channel.

Types of Messages

All text messages sent to a mobile phone number in the United States are classified as either consumer or non-consumer messages. Consumer messages are those sent for primarily personal, non-commercial purposes. Non-consumer messages are those sent for primarily commercial purposes.

Example of consumer text messages:

Messages sent by a person to a friend or family member

Example of non-consumer text messages:

Authentication codes
Marketing messages
Political campaign messages
Delivery notifications

All consumer messages are subject to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which requires consent from the recipient before sending a text message. Non-consumer messages are subject to the TCPA and the CAN-SPAM Act, which requires that recipients be given the option to opt-out of receiving future messages.

In the world of text messages, ensuring that your messages reach the right audience involves navigating the challenge of spam filters.

SPAM Filters

Lately, cellular operators have taken a few measures to battle the increased spam activity over text messages (SMS). They have deployed a few tactics which sometimes also filter messages that are being sent in good faith. One of the tactics is message-throttling. If they see a phone number that has sent too many messages quickly, they start blocking those messages. Unfortunately, spam filters use AI, which adjusts itself and changes the parameters dynamically. The best solution is to make sure that when you send the messages, they do not resemble spam in any way.

Over the course of the past few years, we have collected a few best practices to decrease the chances of the message being marked as spam. However, none of these best practices will work if the end user marks the message as "spam," so it is important to make sure that all of the recipients are expecting this message and have agreed to it. Also, it is paramount to abide by all the rules and regulations, such as TCPA, set by the local governing authorities.

Disclaimer: We are not a service provider and do not guarantee the successful delivery of messages. By using this app, you assume full responsibility for the content and delivery of your messages, including compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and agreements with your cellular operators or network providers. We are not liable for any consequences that may arise from your use of the app, including but not limited to message failures, message delays, messages being marked as spam, unexpected charges, data loss, or legal repercussions. Please ensure that your messaging activities are in full compliance with local laws and any agreements you may have with your network providers.

Our recommendations

Use the "Fully Automatic Sending" mode
Decrease the sending speed
Keep messages short (The 160 Character Rule)
The optimal message length is 160 characters. Sending messages longer than that results in the splitting of the message. This is a limitation of the SMS (Text) technology which was invented in '84 and hasn't been improved much since. The splitting and the stitching of the SMS happens in the background of your phone, and what it does is increases the number of messages your phone sends. For example, if you send a 350-character-long message, your phone will split it into three messages, send them to the recipient, and the recipient's phone will stitch them together into one long message. This process happens for each recipient. So as you can imagine, sending a 1,000-character-long message to 200 recipients ends up being 1,400. And to make matters worse, when the split messages are sent, they are sent simultaneously, making it look like they are sent very, very fast. This could likely be caught in spam.
Increase engagement (Reply Ratio Higher than 0.5)
One of the characteristics of a spam message is that it goes out to many people with very few replies. However, in the real world, with 1-on-1 conversations, nearly every message results in a reply. So to increase user engagement, we recommend ending the messages with a question. This should increase the response rate.
No Links Rule
Sending web links is one of the fastest ways to get marked as spam by cellular operators. Links are what most spammers send, and thus, AI robots are trained to catch them.
Avoid Image/Video Attachments

Reach is in no way attempting to interpret any laws, rules, or regulations. This information is provided merely as a courtesy, and it is not intended to replace Your responsibility to familiarize Yourself with and abide by the legal requirements pertaining to Your texts, emails, messages, broadcasts, and campaigns prior to using Reach. You are ultimately responsible to make Your own informed decisions regarding Your texts, emails, messages, broadcasts, and campaigns.

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