Business Text Messaging: Getting Started

Send and receive text messages from your business numbers without handing out a personal phone. This walks through your first conversation.

Before you begin

• You need a text-enabled phone number on your account. Texting is a capability of the individual number, not of your plan.
• Match the number to the country you are texting. Canadian recipients are reached from a Canadian number; United States recipients from a US number. A number cannot text across the border.
• Texting the United States needs approved registration. See Business Texting Registration (10DLC), Explained. Canadian texting needs none.
• Messaging is billed per message segment. See What Text Messaging Costs.

Open your messages

1. Click Messages in the sidebar.
2. Your conversations appear on the left, newest first. A status shows whether you are Connected, so you know new messages are arriving in real time.
3. Use the search box to find a conversation by name or number.

Start a new text conversation

1. On the Messages screen, click New Chat.
2. Choose to start a text (SMS) conversation and enter the recipient's mobile number.
3. If your account has more than one texting number, pick which one to send from.
4. Type your message and press Enter to send. Shift + Enter adds a new line without sending.

Sent and received messages appear together as a single thread, so you always have the full history.

Read and reply to incoming texts

Incoming texts land in the conversation they belong to and move it to the top of your list. Open the conversation and reply from the same screen.

Incoming texts are not forwarded to email. Keep the Messages screen open, or check it regularly, so nothing waits unanswered.

Know your character count

A standard text fits 160 characters. Go longer and the message is split into segments that are stitched back together for the reader, and each segment counts separately. Using emoji or certain special characters switches the message to a format that fits only 70 characters per segment — so a single emoji can more than double the cost of a long message.

As you type, a counter shows the segment count and warns you before a message becomes several segments.

Tip: Shorter messages are more reliable and cost less. Say what you need in one or two segments when you can.

Good habits from day one

• Get permission first. Only text people who have agreed to hear from you.
• Identify yourself. Include your business name, especially in a first message.
• Honour opt-outs. If someone replies STOP, their number goes onto your opt-out registry automatically and every later message to it is refused — including a reply you type by hand. You will see a clear message rather than a silent failure.
• Text at reasonable hours. Respect the recipient's time zone.

Troubleshooting

My message will not send. The error tells you which rule stopped it:

• "does not support outbound SMS" — the sending number is not text-enabled.
• "cannot send to United States numbers" — you are sending from a Canadian number to a US recipient. Use a US number with approved registration.
• "cannot send to Canadian numbers" — you are sending from a US number to a Canadian recipient. Use a Canadian number.
• "Business texting registration (10DLC) must be approved" — your US registration is not yet active.
• "has opted out of messages from your account" — the recipient is on your opt-out registry.
• "not supported... Canadian and United States numbers only" — the destination is outside our coverage.

I am not seeing incoming texts. Confirm your number is text-enabled and that the Messages screen shows Connected. Texts may be waiting in a conversation without a notification.

Read next

• Picture and Multimedia Messages (MMS)
• SMS Templates for Faster Replies
• SMS Consent, STOP, and Opt-Outs