Update To Cellular Carrier Filtering

Recently Sprint and T-Mobile have increased their text filtering criteria causing some text messages to fail to send. Unfortunately, failed messages are not always able to be flagged by our service provider meaning that you might not have been alerted to a failed message. Phone numbers that are sending text messages that look similar to over 200 unique phone numbers per day are getting flag by carriers.

Majority of the failed messages are due to hyperlinks. We have found that having a link present in your initial text to your clients causes many of the failures that we have seen, though it does not cause every message to fail. If you are using default message template, Apptoto automatically populates a link to the appointment page so that your clients can add the appointment to their calendar. Alternatively, if you are including a link to paperwork or a survey, that can also cause the message to fail.

To avoid failed messages, here is a quick workaround: Add the hyperlink into an auto-reply, rather than the initial message.

Here is how to set that up:

  1. Add Auto Reply/Action in the Auto Messages Tab
    Select Add Auto Reply/Action from the drop down menu
  2. Select If “Client Confirms” option, then choose “Reply” from the action drop-down menu.
    Select Client Confirms option
  3. Edit the message and include the intended link, whether it is a link to the appointment page, a survey or anything else.
    Edit the contents of the auto reply message.

Cellular carriers will continue to change and restrict their messaging filters to combat the bots and SPAM that we experience every day. That is good news! Rest assured that the experts at Apptoto will keep you updated on how to ensure that your business is able to send effective, useful and appropriate communication to your clients.

To learn more about our Auto Messages product features, watch this quick video.

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