- Toll-Free Message Verification for US/Canada
- Why Toll Free Numbers?
- Why Don't You Use Short Codes?
- Is regulatory compliance an industry standard?
- Why does AppointmentReminders.com require it?
- Do other reminder services require it?
- Help on Getting Your Application Approved
- 1. Ensure Business Information is Accurate and Verifiable
- 2. Ensure that your company’s online presence can be validated
- 3. Specify Your Use Case Clearly
- 4. Provide Opt-In Consent with Clear Documentation
Toll-Free Message Verification for US/Canada #
Why Toll Free Numbers? #
Quicker & simpler onboarding / verification: Toll-free numbers can be verified more directly and internally. The process generally has lower friction compared with some long-code (especially unregistered 10DLC) options.
Strong deliverability & less filtering: Because toll-free numbers are registered and recognized by carriers, they tend to face fewer filtering issues than unregistered 10DLC long codes.
Why Don't You Use Short Codes? #
Expensive and slow to obtain
Leasing a dedicated short code costs thousands of dollars per month.
We are an ISV (Independent Software Vendor) with many end-customers. You can’t just let all of them send from a single short code — that violates carrier rules. Each Customer Would require a separate short code.
Approval/activation can take 8–12+ weeks (sometimes longer).
Lacks flexibility for scaling customers
TFNs (Toll Free Numbers) are much quicker to get approved. This means allowing text messaging quickly for new clients.
Short codes don’t support this agility — every new client could mean a new code, long wait times, and big costs.
Is regulatory compliance an industry standard? #
Yes.
In SMS/messaging, “regulatory compliance” isn’t optional — it’s required by carriers, regulators, and industry groups.
Examples:
In the U.S., CTIA (the wireless trade association) and carriers enforce rules around consent, opt-outs, and message content.
In Canada, CASL (Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation) governs messaging.
In the EU, GDPR and ePrivacy apply.
These rules form the industry standard that every SMS provider (Twilio, AppointmentReminders.com, Podium, etc.) must follow.
Why does AppointmentReminders.com require it? #
Because they send text messages on behalf of their customers, they have to prove to Twilio (or whichever aggregator they use) and to carriers that:
Messages are consented to (opt-in).
Users can opt out easily.
The content is not spam, fraud, or disallowed.
Without compliance, carriers can filter or block messages, and AppointmentReminders.com’s whole service could be blacklisted.
By requiring their clients to be compliant, they protect both themselves and their customers’ deliverability.
Do other reminder services require it? #
Yes, all legitimate reminder services do.
Services like Podium, Weave, SimpleTexting, Zipwhip (before being absorbed by Twilio), etc., all require compliance with:
Opt-in rules (patients/students/customers must agree to receive reminders).
Opt-out support (“Reply STOP to unsubscribe”).
Content restrictions (no spam, no prohibited industries).
They may enforce it differently (some request information from the customer, others actively collect compliance evidence), but they all require it because carriers will not deliver non-compliant traffic.
Help on Getting Your Application Approved #
Your TFN Compliacne Application is approved by our partner Twilio, not us. Here are some tips and resources to make sure it gets approved:
View/Download Twilio Toll-Free Approval Requirements Here
1. Ensure Business Information is Accurate and Verifiable #
Rejections occur when we receive business details that are incomplete, incorrect, or unverifiable. To avoid this:
- Ensure your business name, website, and email domain match and are publicly accessible.
- Use an official business email rather than a freemail account (e.g., use yourcompany.com instead of gmail.com).
- Make sure the submitted business details align with your legal business name. Some companies may have a legal entity name such as “Company Name LLC” as well as a different public name known by the customers. The latter is referred to as the Doing Business As or DBA. If this applies to your case, please include both names in the request (include DBA & legal name in the same legal name field). If the DBA name is too long to fit, you can add it to the Additional information field at the end of the request.
2. Ensure that your company’s online presence can be validated #
Another common rejection reason is because we are unable to validate the business URL provided in the application. This happens when:
- The website has no content or is under development.
- The site is private, password-protected, or otherwise inaccessible.
- The URL is misspelled or does not match the business name.
If your company’s website is publicly unavailable or under construction, you can share publicly available social media pages (e.g., LinkedIn) for your business.
3. Specify Your Use Case Clearly #
Clearly defining your use case is critical for TFV approval. The more detailed information you provide for the use case/ summary the better. Most commonly, TFV requests are rejected because the use case description is vague or incomplete.
- A good example of use case is “This number will be used to send out promotional offers and coupons to the customers of [Company Name]”. Or “This number will be used to send out order confirmation and delivery information to the customers or [Company Name]”
- A bad example is “Marketing” or “Status”
Please note that some use cases such as communications related to multi-level marketing, illegal substances, debt collection, etc. are prohibited by carriers and will be automatically rejected.
4. Provide Opt-In Consent with Clear Documentation #
Opt-in consent is required for TFV to ensure recipients have explicitly agreed to receive messages from your business.
You can meet the Opt-in requirements for your TFN through verbal, web/online, paper, mobile QR code, and text-based consent. To see more details, please click on the method that your company will use to obtain customer consent for your use case.
- Web/Online Opt-in must be a standalone consent form present on your website / app (e.g., please check this box to opt-in for promotional messages from [Company Name]).
- Verbal Opt-in requires a detailed script showing how consent was collected.
- Paper Opt-in should be a signed document clearly indicating consent for messaging (e.g. Please sign here to opt-in to receive promotional messages from [Company Name])
- Mobile QR opt-in should lead to a web form to opt-in with a phone number OR to a templated message in the user’s messaging app seeking opt-in consent
- Text-based opt-in consent should provide keyword campaign information (e.g. Text ‘Subscribe’ to 12345 to receive updates)
1. Web/Online opt-in #
Some things to consider when using a web/online opt-in:
- Provide URLs or images of the opt-in request from your website/ application. You can take a screenshot of the webpage showing how you ask for user consent.
- Online opt-in can be a form on your company’s website that prompts end-users to enter their mobile handset phone number and opt into the texting campaign (as shown in the example below).
- Checkbox should not be preselected and should be selectable by the end-user if they decide to opt in.
Example of web/online opt-in (Build your own web Opt-In template here)
2. Verbal opt-in #
Some things to keep in mind when using a verbal opt-in:
- If you choose VERBAL, you must provide the sample verbal consent collection. Please copy paste the script in the OptInImageURLs document.
- Verbal consents are not sufficient for Marketing use cases. For Marketing use-cases, “written” consent is required. Requiring a customer to select a checkbox on a website or providing signatures or opting in via text is adequate.
Example of Verbal opt-in
Twilio IVR: “As part of our service we can send you automated monthly text alerts regarding Twilio account payment activity. We will send two messages per month. Message and data rates may apply, depending on your mobile phone service plan. At any time you can get more help by replying HELP to these texts, or you can opt out completely by replying STOP.
Twilio Customer: “Yes please”
Twilio IVR: “Great! We will send you a text message to confirm your enrollment here shortly.”
3. Paper opt-in #
Some things to consider when using paper opt-in:
- If you choose PAPER_FORM, you must provide the form in the OptInImageURLs document
Example
An in-store visitor completes a physical form that collects their phone number and their consent to subscribe to your texting campaign
4. Mobile QR opt-in #
Some things to consider when using paper opt-in:
- If you choose MOBILE_QR_CODE, you must provide the QR Code in the OptInImageURLs document.
- Please include a brief explanation of how the end users will get to know where the QR is located. This could be, for example, mentioning that the end users will find the QR in a banner placed in the cashier when paying for a product, in a social media advertisement, etc. This information has to be included in the “Opt in Workflow Description” field in the TFN request
Example of Mobile QR opt-in
5. Text-based opt-in #
Some things to consider when using text-based opt-in:
- If you choose VIA_TEXT, you must provide the keyword campaign information (e.g. text ‘Subscribe’ as stated in the above example) in the OptInImageURLs document
- Please include a brief explanation of how the end users will get to know where the keyword is located. This could be, for example, mentioning that the end users will find the keyword in a banner placed in the cashier when paying for a product, in a social media advertisement, etc. This information must be included in the “Opt in Workflow Description” field in the TFN request.
Example of text-based opt-in
