Last updated September 5, 2024

There are some significant changes that have occurred in the cellular industry that will affect the way you communicate with your customers through text messaging.

This is part of an ongoing effort to ensure consumers are only receiving wanted text messages from companies that they have consented to communicate with.

The registration process can take 21+ days to complete, so we strongly recommend that you submit your business registration as soon as possible.

During the registration process, you will be asked to provide the following:

Also note that the carriers have adopted a manual verification process, which entails a one time $19 up-front fee, charged upon registration. Once approved, the carriers are charging $1.50 per month on an ongoing basis.

The new registration process is a requirement from major cell phone carriers for businesses that send text messages. It includes providing your business information, industry, how you're using text messages, and proof of opt-in consent from your customers.

This change is part of ongoing efforts by cell phone carriers to regulate the industry and protect consumers from unwanted or intrusive text messages.

Unfortunately, the process can take 21+ days to complete. Sometimes it only takes a couple days however.

Express written consent means that your clients have knowingly agreed (in writing or verbally) to receive text messages from you. It's a legal requirement that ensures your clients want to be contacted in this way.

In other words, you cannot assume opt-in until your contacts opt-out. Instead, you must confirm opt-in before texting them. Texting them to get consent is not recommended as it is a sign that you have not collected consent prior to texting them.

Gathering consent for future clients and leads ought to look like including a checkbox on your lead collection forms on your website and including a paper agreement on your lease and management agreements. Example of a paper agreement here.

If you're unsure, we recommend revisiting your contact forms, property management agreements and lease agreements to ensure they're compliant with these requirements.

Follow the instructions in this article!

No, the requirements are the same in both cases: prospects and clients both need to opt in to receive text messages. More information about consent requirements.

We are working on adding a new functionality that will import their opt-in/opt-out preferences, avoid sending text messages to leads who have not opted-in, show them in the app, and allow them to be updated if the contact opts-in or out verbally on the phone.

Contacts can opt-out of text messages by replying with any of the standard opt-out words. (STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT). These are not case-sensitive.

When a contact opts-out, they will be automatically unsubscribed from text messages in LeadSimple going forward.

The {{first_name}} merge tag will not use "Unidentified Caller" or "Unknown" as the first name in the message. Instead, it will use the default word in the merge tag {{first_name | there}} or leave the merge tag blank and notify you that the text did not go out.

Registration is now available in LeadSimple at https://app.leadsimple.com/v2/settings/sms-inbound-calling!

You will need to provide your business name, website, tax ID, your industry, examples of how you're using text messages, and documentation of how contacts opted in to receive your texts.

No, the registration process is for your whole LeadSimple account and will include all your current and future phone numbers.

If you are using those platforms to send business and commercial text messages (both promotional and informational), you will need to register there as well. They should provide you with a similar registration process.

If you have already registered with another phone provider, you will also need to register with LeadSimple, as registration is not transferrable between applications and must be completed with each application.

Text messages sent manually from a personal cell phone are considered person-to-person rather than business-to-consumer, and currently aren't subject to registration.

All messages sent from an application (like LeadSimple, Google Voice, Ring Central, etc), are considered business-to-consumer messages.

Yes, you will still need to register even if you only send informational texts. This requirement is for any SMS exchange with leads or clients.

We're here to guide you every step of the way - please reach out if you have any questions!

The carriers are charging an up front fee of $19 for a new business registration ($4 for business registration, and $15 for verifying your SMS use case). These fees will be passed through upon registration. Once approved, the carriers are charging $1.50 per month on an ongoing basis. Note that these fees are for your whole account, not for each individual phone number.

You can always reach out to our customer support team with any questions or concerns: support@leadsimple.com.