Toll-free number verification guide for business owners
We’ll outline why you should care about toll-free number verification and how to complete it quickly — even if you aren’t a Nexttexts customer.
If you text your customers using a toll-free number, an industry-wide compliance regulation requires you to “verify” your number.
A toll-free number starts with 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, or 833. Whether you’re a Nextexts 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.
What is toll-free number verification?
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.
Why do you need to register your toll-free number?
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.
Because this is an industry requirement, we want to help regardless of whether you’re one of our customers. We’re all about helping businesses do more of the good stuff, avoid the bad stuff, and engage customers on their terms.
How do you verify your toll-free number?
You’ll verify your toll-free number by:
- Upgrading to a paid Nexttexts plan,
- Selecting a toll-free number,
- and filling out a toll-free verification form.
When you upgrade your Nexttexts account and select a toll-free number, we’ll direct you through the toll-free verification process.
Here’s what the process looks like:
1. Document your opt-in method
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.
2. Fill out the toll-free verification form
Start the process by filling out the verification form (it 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
- Your employer ID number
- 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 into your messages
We’ve also put together a detailed help center article to help you understand what a successful form entry looks like. While our form is specific to Nexttexts 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).
3. Wait for your number to be verified
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.
Toll-free and SMS industry updates
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.
Key Points:
- Your business can send text messages through a toll-free number.
- Nexttexts will help you select a new toll-free number or text-enable your existing toll-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 Nexttexts plan, you’ll select a toll-free number and fill out a toll-free verification form. Nexttexts will then submit that information to the carriers on your behalf to get verification.
- You can check the status of your toll-free verification in the Numbers settings panel in Nexttexts. It will show either Verified or Needs Review.
- If we hit any snags verifying your number, Nexttexts customer support will reach out to you.