Updating your Brand and Campaign information
The wireless carriers have been introducing new rules and policies since 2021 in response to an FCC mandate ordering carriers to minimize spam and unsolicited messages their subscribers receive.
These rules only apply to text messaging. Voice calls are not affected, and you will be able to make and receive phone calls and receive text messaging even without an approved brand and campaign.
Reducing spam is a great goal, but we must do some extra work to register our businesses and commit to keeping our registration up to date, or else we risk the wireless carriers blocking our texts.
In particular, we need to ensure our website URL, sample messages, and opt-in details are provided and accurate.
Missing info may result in the wireless carriers blocking your texts.
Instructions to update the required information:
Note you only need to complete this once, not for each number you have with Vumber.
Navigate to your Vumber dashboard at https://app.vumber.com. Select your profile in the top menu, and select 'Text Campaigns.'
The Text Campaign page will have two options, 'View Brand' and 'View Campaign.'
Brand
First, let's choose 'View Brand.' The brand page will be displayed.
Please locate the 'Website URL / Online Presence' field and make sure your company website address is current. If you don't have a website, please supply a social media link (LinkedIn, etc.)
Please don't enter 'N/A' or a dummy URL. We are now seeing brands that do not have a valid website URL rejected.
The website URL is the only thing we need to update on this page - so once done, hit submit.
Campaign
A single campaign will cover up to fifty numbers on your account.
After hitting 'submit,' you will be returned to the main page. Now select 'View Campaign.'
On this page, we will need to update:
Campaign Description
Enter a description that accurately describes your campaign. A minimum length of 40 characters is required.
Sample messages.
Please provide a minimum of two sample messages. These must broadly match the messages you send out.
Wireless carriers check the messages being sent and compare them with these samples. If they see a large discrepancy, they may block your text messages.
You can add up to five samples if you need to.
Opt-in
The wireless carriers insist that you have an opt-in mechanism in place. You can not send texts to numbers that have not opted-in to receive text messages from your Vumber number.
In this section, describe the opt-in mechanism you have in place.
Examples might be:
- A customer sends us a text message, and we respond to their questions.
- Consent is given verbally and entails back-and-forth text exchanges in a conversational manner with our customers and associates.
- The opt-in is part of a contractual agreement (please ensure you're ready to present an example if requested by the carriers)
- Your website hosts the opt-in page - provide a link to the opt-in page.
The key is to explain your opt-in clearly and concisely.
Once these two fields are completed, you can hit 'save changes,' and the update is complete.
Provided you have explained how you have permission to text and your text volumes are consistent with the opt-in type, we do not envisage any issue from the carrier.