Toll-free number verification guide for business owners

January 22, 2024

If you use a toll-free number to text your customers, an industry-wide compliance regulation requires you to “verify” your number.

A toll-free number is one that starts with 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, or 833. And whether you’re a SimpleTexting customer, you use another texting service, or you’re just thinking about getting started with business texting — we’re here to help you make the smoothest transition possible.

The alternative? If your number isn’t fully verified, you won’t be able to send messages as quickly (or as many of them). Yes, seriously. Mobile carriers are currently placing limits on toll-free traffic, and those limits could increase until you’ve submitted your verification form.

So we’re pulling out all the stops to get you verified as quickly as possible.

⚠️ This advice is for informational purposes only and is neither intended as nor should be substituted for consultation with appropriate legal counsel and/or your organization’s regulatory compliance team.

📕 Resource: How to get a toll-free number for your business

Toll-free verification is the process of registering your toll-free number with wireless carriers. Every business that wants to text via a toll-free number needs to get their number verified.

The process is free, and our customer support team will help you every step of the way.

Verifying your toll-free number with wireless carriers will:

• Help you experience smoother message delivery
• Help your messages get delivered on time
• Keep your return on investment rolling

Toll-free registration helps make sure only legitimate businesses are texting consumers. The registration requirement keeps consumers safe from spam and fraud, and the trust it builds can help maintain texting’s 98% open rates.

And because this is an industry requirement (and not just a SimpleTexting rule), we want to help regardless of whether you’re one of our customers. Helping businesses do more of the good stuff, avoid the bad stuff, and engage customers on their terms is what we’re all about.

You’ll verify your toll-free number by:

• Upgrading to a paid SimpleTexting plan,
• Selecting a toll-free number,
• and filling out a toll-free verification form.

When you upgrade your SimpleTexting account and select a toll-free number, we’ll direct you through the toll-free verification process.

Here’s what the process looks like:

First, if you haven’t already done so, we’ll help you conquer the all-important contact opt-in process with helpful tutorials, options, and best practices.

Opt-in mastery is crucial — you won’t make it through the verification process without a clear description of how you’re getting your customers’ consent to message them.

Opt-in methods could be text-to-subscribe keywords, web forms, or physical forms.

Start the process by filling out the verification form (only takes 10 minutes, on average). We’ll take it from there to push your information through the verification process with the carriers!

To make the process smoother, have the following information on hand:

• Your name and email address
• Registered business or organization name, website, and address
• How many messages your business sends every month
• Your primary use for toll-free messages (marketing, customer support, emergency alerts, etc.)
• Some sample text messages you send or plan to send
• Some screenshots and or photos of the method contacts use to opt in to your messages

We’ve also put together a detailed help center article to understand what a successful form entry looks like. While our form is specific to SimpleTexting customers, the information we request is fairly universal. It’ll give you a great leg up on working with your texting platform provider.

Note: Once you choose your toll-free number, you won’t be able to send messages until you’re fully verified (that’s usually 1-3 days).

In many cases, we can get your toll-free number verified in 1-3 business days. You’ll need to wait until your number is verified before sending messages, and our customer support team will keep you informed of your verification status. 

We won’t let toll-free number registration slip your radar until you’re good to go 😊. Our customers hear from us regularly over email and in-app, with friendly reminders and nudges until they take action.

Our goal is to keep your toll-free texting game as strong as ever, with as little interruption as possible, and on terms that bring great communications to your customers and awesome value to your business.

Questions? Tap the blue chat box in the bottom right corner to speak with our team.

• Your business can send text messages through a toll-free number.
• SimpleTexting will help you select a new toll-free number or text-enable your existing foll-free number.
• Toll-free number verification helps carriers deliver your texts and prevent spam.
• Toll-free verification may take 3-5 days, which is longer than 10DLC number registration.
• After you upgrade to a paid SimpleTexting plan, you’ll select a toll-free number and fill out a toll-free verification form. SimpleTexting will then submit that information to the carriers on your behalf to get verification.
• Check the status of your toll-free verification in the Numbers settings panel in SimpleTexting, which will show either Verified or Needs Review.
• If we hit any snags verifying your number, SimpleTexting customer support will reach out to you.

⚠️ This advice is for informational purposes only and is neither intended as nor should be substituted for consultation with appropriate legal counsel and/or your organization’s regulatory compliance team.