Please follow this checklist and best practices below to ensure that your Toll Free SMS requests will get reviewed in a timely manner.
To get started:
•Any text message sent form a Toll Free Number (TFN) must be verified and approved. This includes messages to Canada.
•All toll free messaging must comply with all TCPA, CTIA, and State guidelines as well as each mobile carriers acceptable use and codes of conduct. Please don’t submit a use case for something that violates these rules.
•All fields on the submission are required. If you believe that a question/field is not applicable its always best to put “Not Applicable,” “N/A,” or “none.” In addition, adding a small explanation as to why its not applicable goes a long way to help the reviewer understand your process(es).
•Use Case Summary: What’s the message type and/or what will it be used for? Some examples: conversational, account 2FA/OPT/alerts, delivery notifications, political, customer care, EDU, charity, fund raising, emergency, sweepstakes, gambling, social, marketing, mixed (multiple types), etc. The more detail the better.
•Proof of Opt-In: This is a critical step. Be sure to clearly explain the process of how you get mobile subscribers to opt-in for your message content. In addition, YOU MUST PROVIDE SCREEN SHOTS of this process (even if it’s a form the subscriber completes in person or on social media). Forms without screenshots will be rejected.
•Call to Actions(CTA): If you are asking the subscriber to click a link or call a number, you will need to list those on this field. Note: Please confirm/test your CTA links and phone numbers are working properly; the reviewer will most likely check these.
•Expected Monthly Volume: Populate this box with the expected monthly volume of the campaign 6 months from the start date, and with the value closest to one of these numbers.Verification will FAIL if a value other than one of these is submitted. Only one value is accepted.10; 100; 1000; 10000; 100000; 250000; 500000; 750000; 1000000; 5000000; 10000000.
Best Practices for Verification Submissions:
Business Name:
The end business / the business the consumer is engaging with. This should not be the ISV unless the ISV is directly engaging with the customer.
Corporate Website:
The website of the end business/ the website the consumer is engaging with. This should be the website of the business name that was previously listed. This can include social media links like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. in case the business does not have a website. Please note: The page/website must be live, working, and publicly accessible.
Business address (include street, city, state, and zip code):
The address of the end business the consumer is engaging with. This should be the end business physical location.
Business Compliance Contact (first and last name, email address, phone number):
The first and last name, email address, and phone number for the contact of the end business. Please note: this is not used to contact the customer during the verification process, but it is important to keep it on records.
Expected Message Volume (Select One: 10; 100; 1000; 10000; 100000; 250000; 500000; 750000; 1000000; 5000000; 10000000+):
Estimated Monthly Volume for the submission. Choose the closest value and if the customer is ramping, please use the value of where the customer will be in 6 months.
Phone number(s) to be verified:
The Toll Free numbers that are part of the submission.
*Submissions of up to 5 numbers will be approved without need to provide an explanation as to needing multiple numbers
*Submissions over 5 numbers will need to provide an explanation.
Listing different addresses will indicate different locations or including the location name in the business name with each location's physical address is acceptable.
Alternatively, Explanation can be provided in the additional supporting documentation field. I.e - Multiple recruiters/agents for each phone number
Use Case Category:
Choose the use case that you believe best fits the customer's traffic pattern. If you wish to add in multiple use-cases, please separate them with a comma.
Description of the Use Case / Summary:
Description of the use-case/submission. The more detail, the better!
Production Message Content:
Provide production use-case examples.
Opt-in Workflow Description (Text - online, text to join, point of sale, etc.):
Provide how a consumer/subscriber opts into this submission. The opt-in submitted should be what the mobile user sees when providing their phone number. Please note this should be the description only, any links should be added in the next section: Opt-in Image URLs.
Opt-in Image URLs (URLs separated by semicolon):
Provide images of the opt-in process and what a subscriber is agreeing to. This should be where the customer’s phone number was entered by the customer agreeing to receive the SMS.
If online: please provide the link to the direct opt in page or a screenshot of the website opt-in page. Note only the phone number opt in page should be included. An opt in for an email address is not acceptable for SMS Toll Free Verification opt in.
If text to join - what is the keyword? Where does the consumer/subscriber find the keyword? Screenshots/pictures/urls are best.
If point of sale - provide a screenshot/picture/url of the opt-in from the Point of sale, language the customer is subscribing to.
Please note:
**Don’t include links with opt-ins behind username/password logins, links to secured google drives, or other non public accessible websites.
***Only including “online”, “text to join”, “point of sale”, “web” is not enough for the opt-in requirement.
Additional Supporting Details:
Any additional details that you want to add or that you believe will help with the verification such as privacy policies, AUPs, additional onboarding controls you have, links, etc. This is a great field to explain reasoning for having more than 5 numbers with the same business name and business address.
Examples of Best Practice Tollfree Verification Submissions
Below are examples of the types of information that would get approved and rejected from the Verification Ops team for a Toll-Free Verification Submission.
Business Name
Approve: John’s Coffee Shop
This includes the end-user business that will be sending out the SMS messages that the customer/mobile handset is engaging with
Reject: ISV name provided, N/A
If the end-user business information is not provided, it will be rejected as Tollfree Verification Requests must provide end-user business information to be reviewed
Corporate Website
Approve: URL to direct end-user business.
If it is a smaller business with no direct webpage, social media links are acceptable (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). The social media pages will need to be set to public so they can be reviewed and not set to private.
Reject: No URL provided, URL not a live website, URL behind a login/password
If not URL is provided, the URL hasn’t gone live yet, or it is in a private state that requires a login/password, it is not reviewable. URLs are especially important for marketing use cases.
Business Address
Approve: 123 Main St, Seattle, WA, 98119
Full business address includes the street, city, state, and zip code for the end-user business that will be sending out the SMS that the customer/mobile handset is engaging with. This would be the physical location of the business
Reject: “N/A”
Business address of the ISV, No business address provided, not a valid address
Business Compliance Contact
Approve: John Smith, JohnSmith@JohnsCoffeeShop.com
First and Last Name and Email address of the contact at the end-user business. Note: This information is not used to contact the customer during the verification process.
Reject: Jane Doe, JaneDoe@ISV.com
ISV contact First and Last Name and email address. End-user business information is needed. If ISV contact information is provided, it will be rejected as Tollfree Verification Requests must provide end-user business information to be reviewed
Message Volume
Approve: One of the following: 10; 100; 1000; 10000; 100000; 250000; 500000; 750000; 1000000; 5000000; 10000000+
Provide the closest number of messages to one of the numbers listed above
Reject: N/A
For Tollfree Verification review, the approximate amount of messages is needed as part of the review process
Phone Number(s) To Be Verified
Approve: Tollfree Number of the end-user business that is engaging with the customer/mobile handset
Rejection: No Toll-Free Number provided
Use Case Category
Approve: General Marketing
This should be the use case that bests fits the types of messages being sent. Note: Multiple use cases can be provided with a comma separating them
Reject: No use case provided
For Tollfree Verification review, the use case category is needed as part of the review process
Description of Use Case/Summary
Approve: This number is used to send out promotional offers and coupons to the customers of John’s Coffee Shop
The more detail the better for the use case/summary!
Reject: Marketing
What kind of marketing? What will the customer/mobile handset be receiving from the end-user business?
Production Message Content
Approve: “Thank you for being a loyal customer of John’s Coffee Shop. Enjoy 10% off your next purchase. Reply STOP to opt out.”
This should be a sample message of the content that the customer/mobile handset will be receiving in the SMS
Reject: “Your appointment is today at 10:00 AM”
This should match the use case provided i.e. Marketing and should be similar types of content from the use case provided.
Opt In Workflow Description
Approve: Keyword Coffee. The keyword is found on a sign at the register of John’s Coffee Shop where customers can see the keyword and text in to the Tollfree Number. Once the customer texts the keyword, they are provided a double opt in where they are asked to Reply Y to confirm they would like to receive promotional SMS. The more detail about the opt in process, the better. The information provided for review should be clear to the Verification Ops team what specifically the customer does to opt in/sign up to receive SMS from the end-user business.
Reject: Keyword/Text to join. Online. PointOfSale
The examples of opt in are just a starting point. There needs to be details explaining exactly what the customer does.
Keyword - what is the keyword? Where does the customer find the keyword? What happens after the customer/mobile handset texts the keyword to the toll free number?
Online - what is the direct URL to the opt in/sign up page? Screenshots of the opt-in/sign up page are acceptable. This should be the SMS opt in/sign up, not emails
Point of sale - what is the process? Where does the customer give the consent? Provide a screenshot/picture/url and language the customer is agreeing.
Opt in Image URL(s)
Approve: www.johnscoffeeshop.com/signupforsms
Hosted image of the opt in URL or direct URL to the opt in sign up page. Screenshot of the SMS opt in page. Seeing directly how the customer opts in/signs up for SMS are helps the Verification team understand exactly what the customer sees and signs up for.
Reject: www.johnscoffedshop.com
URLs that don’t direct to the exact sign up, URLs that are behind a login/password screen, URLs that don’t resolve. The Toll-Free Verification ops team needs the direct link to the opt-in/sign up
*Note it is up to the customer end user to provide a link to the hosted opt in image. Hosting services are not part of the verification process that the TFV team can provide.
Additional Supporting Details
Approve: www.johnscoffeeshop.com/privacypolicy
This section is for any additional details that will help with the verification such as privacy policies, onboarding controls, justification for more than 5 numbers with the same business name and business address, etc. that don’t fit into the other fields on the submission
Reject: this is not a required field and can be left blank
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