Register your local phone number to enable texting

Due to a new industry-mandated regulation, all customers who use SMS/MMS to U.S. numbers are required to register their brand and SMS campaign(s).

What is the new regulation?

There is a new industry-mandated regulation to protect consumers (your customers) from spam texts. Mobile carriers in the U.S. and Canada that deliver SMS traffic must now register with The Campaign Registry (TCR). Registration is required to ensure SMS delivery for U.S. phone numbers.

Follow the steps below to register your local phone number(s) for texting compliance.

What is the TCR

The Campaign Registry (TCR) is a third party agency designed to help telecoms protect consumers from unwanted SMS via a mandate for brand and campaign registration. Learn more.

Who does this impact?

Who has to do this?

Registration is required for all customers who send SMS/MMS messages to U.S. numbers for conversational purposes, regardless of whether the customer intends to send business-related campaigns or just a single response to an SMS received by a user/client. This impacts all U.S. customers; however, if the businesses are outside the U.S. and send a message to customers with U.S. phone numbers, they will also be impacted. 

I don't send bulk messages. Do I still need to register?

Yes, registration is required for all SMS traffic regardless of volume. During registration you will be asked to specify the amount of messages you plan to send.

What happens if I don't register?

As of February 3, 2025, carriers have blocked all outbound messages from unregistered phone numbers. Also, you cannot add new numbers with texting capabilities or make any changes until you have successfully registered a campaign.

Pre-registration Checklist

Ensure you have all of the following in place for a smooth registration. The reviewers will check for these items when reviewing your registration. Your submission will likely be rejected if they cannot verify any of the following items.

For more information on CTIA messaging principles and best practices, learn more here.

Provide a working website

The campaign reviewers will look for a website associated with your brand entity. We recommend providing this in your registration. If it is accessible and verifies the business identity, this can be a social media page. If you are collecting customer information on the website, we recommend including a link to your privacy policy.

Note: Learn more about prohibited content, which would lead to a rejection.

Include opt-in language on phone collection forms

To be approved, you must ensure that all of your phone collection forms on your website include opt-in language.

Most rejected campaigns are due to insufficient opt-in methods, so ensuring your methods are compliant before registering your campaign is crucial. All entities sending text messages are required to follow CTIA guidelines for the text messaging opt-in process.

Opt-in messaging should include a clear and concise description of how a customer signs up to receive messages. The reviewers need to be able to verify this method easily.
Opt-in must be 1-to-1, cannot be shared with third parties, and cannot be implied. It must also be clear, evident, and not obscured within the terms and conditions and/or other agreement(s).

The opt-in method most likely to be approved is collecting phone numbers and opt-ins through your working website, as this is the easiest method to verify. If you collect opt-ins through the website, the campaign reviewers will check the website you provide to confirm that all forms collecting phone numbers contain clear opt-in language and a link to your compliant privacy policy.

Important: Even if the opt-in methods section indicates that opt-ins are collected outside the website, all lead intake forms on the brand's website will be reviewed. If the phone number field is required, the disclaimer about the SMS opt-in must be included. Otherwise, the campaign will be rejected.

Examples of compliant opt-in messaging:

Entering a phone number through a website and agreeing to receive messages. For example, customers opt-in by visiting www.examplewebsite.com and adding their phone number. They then check a box agreeing to receive text messages from the example brand.
Clicking a button on a mobile webpage.
Sending a message from the consumer’s mobile device that contains an advertising keyword. For example, customers opt-in by texting START to (111) 222-3333.
Initiating the text message exchange in which the message sender replies to the consumer only with responsive information.
Signing up at a point of sale (POS) or another message sender on-site location.
Opting in over the phone using interactive voice response (IVR) technology.

Examples of non-compliant opt-in messaging:

The Voter File, or accessing any public database with phone number information.
Purchased list of phone numbers.
Texting existing customers without prior explicit opt-in.
Pre-checking an opt-in check box on a phone collection form.

Ensure a compliant Privacy Policy easily accessible on your website

Tip: Privacy Policy Generators can facilitate the creation of a privacy policy. The following websites offer such generators:

We recommend double-checking that your privacy policy is compliant and easily accessible from your main website.

Per CTIA guidelines, message senders must maintain a readily accessible, compliant Privacy Policy. The Privacy Policy should be easy to access from your main website and linked to from all forms for collecting phone numbers. A compliant policy must state that consumer information is not shared with third parties for marketing purposes. If your company shares information with third parties, add language to your privacy policy to specify that text messaging is excluded. For example: "Text messaging opt-in is excluded from information sharing with third parties."

Your privacy policy should include the following details:

The nature of the information you collect.
The methods by which you gather information from your users.
How you utilize and distribute any collected information.
Clearly states that you do not share or sell collected information without consent unless legally obligated.
Steps by which users can unsubscribe/opt-out from your communications.

Important: The absence of a privacy policy or the presence of a non-compliant one will likely result in the rejection of your campaign. Non-compliance typically pertains to sharing consumer information with third parties for marketing purposes. The Privacy Policy must clearly state that personal information will not be shared with third parties without consent or unless legally required.

Link to your privacy policy from your phone collection forms

In addition to requiring opt-in language on all phone collection forms, each form must also link to your compliant privacy policy.

How do I register?

GoTo has made it easy: You can register in GoTo Admin. You will need to register your company as a brand and then register your texting campaigns. Please note that registration can take a few weeks to process.

Register your brand

Register your company to create a brand. A brand is otherwise known as "who" is sending a message. This is usually your business or company name.

Before you begin: The following items are required to complete SMS registration:

You must be assigned the super admin role to perform this task.
For US customers, we suggest using the confirmation letter from the IRS (SS-4 form) you received when they applied for an EIN. You can also contact the IRS tax specialty line at 800-829-4933 to validate your information.
For Canadian customers, you must complete SMS brand and campaign registration to send SMS communication to US numbers. You must use the Business Number registry the CRA (Canadian Revenue Agency) issued.
Add your business address in Locations within GoTo Admin.
The form must be filled out correctly to the carrier's requirements. Please see these best practices provided by T-Mobile.

Important: Your legal business name, business information, and Tax ID Number/EIN must match exactly, or your application will automatically be rejected.

Important: Each submission is charged registration fees, whether successful or unsuccessful. If your registration is rejected for any reason, you will be charged another $15 USD to resubmit. Your carrier charges us those fees, and we will reflect those charges on your next invoice.

Sign in to GoTo Admin.

Attention: SMS Registration is only available in the GoTo Admin portal. Admins who primarily use the PBX Administration portal ( https://my.jive.com/pbx) will need to complete these steps in GoTo Admin.
From the left navigation, select Phone System.
Select SMS Compliance.
Review the cost breakdown for SMS registration.
Select Register your brand.
Enter all company information required:
1. Legal company name: This entry must match how your business is registered with the corresponding federal agency that issues your business registration number/EIN/Tax ID (e.g., IRS SS-4).
2. Optional: Brand name
3. EIN/Tax number issuing country: Enter the country where your business is registered.
4. EIN/Tax number: Must be the business registration number assigned to your business by a federal agency. For example, in the US, the IRS provides the EIN. Failure to provide your correct business registration number and business name will result in automatic rejection by TCR. If you don’t have an EIN, you’ll need to register for one with the IRS.
5. Legal form of your organization
6. Industry
7. Optional: Company website
8. Contact email
9. Contact phone number
10. Business address: Select from the drop-down list. If you have multiple addresses listed, select the address of the legally registered business entity. This address should match the address on your Federal Tax ID.
  
  Note: If your business address is missing from the drop-down list, select Locations from the left navigation menu to add your business address.
Select Next: Review brand registration.
Carefully review and verify the information is correct and the total cost, then enable the check box to confirm.
Select Submit.

Results: Your brand registration takes a couple of minutes to verify. Once completed, you can start the campaign portion of registration.

Note: If the brand registration is rejected due to invalid information, you will receive an automated email asking to resubmit your brand registration in GoTo Admin. Please see Resubmitting brand registration from Troubleshooting below.

Register your campaign(s)

Once brand registration is complete, you will need to register your SMS campaign using the steps below. An SMS Registration (10DLC campaign) contains information about your intended use case and traffic type. You can associate one or more phone numbers to a campaign or create multiple campaigns. Registering a campaign is not an instant process: there is a vetting period of approximately 5-10 business days after it’s been submitted. GoTo cannot expedite the carrier’s review timeline.

Sign in to GoTo Admin.

Attention: SMS Registration is only available in the GoTo Admin portal. Admins who use the PBX Administration portal ( https://my.jive.com/pbx) will need to complete these steps in GoTo Admin.
From the left navigation, select Phone System.
Select SMS Compliance.
Review the cost breakdown for SMS registration.
Select Register SMS campaign.

Enter all campaign information required:

Use case: Choose the use case that best fits your SMS campaign.
- High volume: More than 2000 texts/day. Frequent text messages to customers (i.e., daily or weekly).
- Low volume: Less than 2000 texts/day. A few text messages to customers (i.e., monthly).
  Note: Low volume is recommended for majority of our customers.
- Marketing: You're sending any type of marketing or promotional messages.
Campaign description: Provide detailed info on the type and content of SMS messages you plan to send to your customers, whether it's about sales, customer service, follow-up messages, etc. Your registration description should include:
- Your business description
- The targeted user of your SMS messages (e.g., employee, client, customer, patient, etc.). Be sure to specify if you're sending internal messaging among your employees
- Reason for sending SMS messages. Learn about ineligible use cases
- Messaging frequency (e.g., how many messages are sent in a day/week)
- If donations are collected in your campaign, you must include this statement: "Donations will be secured through ___ and Accreditation listing is ___."
- Good example: We are an Automobile dealership that will be sending SMS to our customers for informational purposes, this can include appointment reminders, repair updates, satisfaction follow-ups, online bill payment notifications, and two-way conversations.
Once you've included info in Campaign description, select Help me with an AI assistant to use AI to clean up your description and include any missing info. Select Generate in the Campaign assistant, and then select Set changes.
Terms and conditions link and Privacy policy link: In the respective fields, provide the URLs to your Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy pages from your website. These documents should be included on any web pages where customer data is collected (e.g., phone numbers).
- Select Verify with AI to ensure that your Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy meets all requirements. If they do not meet all requirements, you'll receive a detailed description on any missing info. The confidence level indicates the likelihood that your SMS registration will not be approved if these pages are submitted as is.

Opt-in methods: Provide detailed information on how users agree to receive and consent to SMS messages. To get help generating this info, select Help with an AI assistant to open the Campaign assistant window.

Check the box next to each method in which you allow your users to provide consent.
Select Generate . The AI will suggest info in the text box to the right.
Review the info to make sure how users agree and give consent to receive SMS. Once done, select Accept changes.

There are three main types of messaging content: conversational, informational, and promotional. Each of these messages use different methods of required consent.

**Types of Messaging Content & Required Consent**
Conversational	Informational	Promotional
Conversational messaging is a back-and-forth conversation between the consumer and a business.	Informational messaging is when a consumer gives a business their number and asks to be contacted in the future. Appointment reminders, welcome texts, and alerts fall in this category because the first text the business sends fulfills the consumer’s request. A consumer should agree to receive texts when they give the company their mobile number.	Promotional messaging is when a message contains a sales or marketing promotion. Adding a call to action, like a coupon code, to an informational text may place it in the promotional category. Before a business sends promotional messages, the consumer must agree in writing to receive promotional texts. Businesses that already ask consumers to sign forms or submit contact information can add a field to capture consent.
The consumer always sends the first message. No additional permission is required if the consumer initiates the conversation and the business responds.	The first message is sent by either the consumer or business, is either a two-way or one-way message, and the conversation includes information not requested by the consumer.	The first message is sent by the business promoting a brand or product. The message includes a prompt to purchase or go somewhere else.
Implied Consent: If the consumer initiates the text message exchange, no verbal or written permission is required, and the business only responds to each consumer with the requested information.	Expressed Consent: The consumer must grant permission before the business texts them information. They can grant permission over text, on a form, on a website, or verbally. Written consent also works.	Expressed Written Consent: The consumer must give written permission before a business texts them. They can sign a form or check a box to allow promotional text messages. Participation in international promotions should never be a requirement.

Sample messages: Provide at least three sample messages, a typical message exchanged between employees and clients or exclusively between employees. Important things to consider:
- Sample messages MUST include the brand name.
- Sample messages MUST include opt-out language if alerts, reminders, etc are sent.
- Sample messages MUST correspond to the registered use case. If a campaign is registered under multiple use cases (mixed), a sample message for each use case should be provided, or the use cases should be addressed in the description field. For example, if you register under the marketing use case, state in the description the use of texts for promotional purposes.
- Good example: Dear [Customer Name], This is a notification to inform you of the temporary closure of our service center on [Date]. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and will keep you updated on any changes. Thank you for your understanding. Should you no longer wish to receive SMS from us please reply STOP to unsubscribe.

Select Next: Campaign options and content.
Under Subscriber opt-in, Opt-out, and Help, configure the following:
- Keywords: Insert keywords your subscribers can text you in order to opt-in or opt-out of messages, or get help. The following keywords are required for each message service:
  - Opt-in: JOIN and SUBSCRIBE
  - Opt-out: STOP and UNSUBSCRIBE
  - Help: HELP and INFO
- Messages: Standard messages sent to your subscribers after using any of the accepted keywords. If you want help generating messages for you, select Help me with an AI Assistant, and then select Generate. Review the messages, then select Accept changes.
  - Opt-in: Message sent when consumers choose to opt-in to receiving text messages. In this message, you must also include how they can opt-out of SMS messages at any time, and include all keyword options you included under Opt-out.
  - Opt-out: Message sent when consumers choose to opt-out of receiving text messages. If you want to include info on how they can opt-in to messages, be sure to include all keywords you've included under Opt-in.
  - Help: Message sent to consumers if they use any of your included Help keywords.
Optional: Enable additional preferences to help tailor campaigns to your desired goal:
- Embedded phone number
- Embedded link
- Direct lending or loan arrangement.
- Age-gated content
- Number pooling
Select Next: Review and submit.
Carefully review and verify the information is correct and the total cost, then enable the check box to confirm.
Select Submit.
Result: Your brand and campaign registration has been submitted. The brand should be verified within a few minutes however, campaign vetting process can take up to 10 business days. GoTo cannot expedite the carrier’s review timeline. If there are any issues with the Brand or Campaign registration, a Telecom specialist will reach out to the customer to resolve the issue. All your numbers will automatically be associated with the campaign to send SMS.
Optional: If the vetting process is completed, you can delete a campaign by navigating from Phone Systems > SMS Compliance and selecting the trash can icon next to the campaign. Once the campaign is deleted, you can delete the brand following the same process.

Note: If you intend to use SMS in the future, do not delete your brand and campaign. Otherwise, you will have to re-register and incur the one time registration fees again. Once deleted, your organization will no longer be compliant with industry regulations. This means your business SMS messages might not be delivered reliably and carriers may choose to block your message.

Results: You can check the status of your brand registration in GoTo Admin. The possible statuses are: Active, Vetting, Update required, or Denied. If your SMS campaign registration has failed, view Common rejection reasons from the Troubleshooting section below, correct any mistakes, and resubmit. You will be charged an additional registration fee.

Tip: After you submit your SMS campaign registration, you can edit any of the submitted information while it is in Vetting status. Select the

icon at far right of your campaign registration to begin making changes.

Troubleshooting

Common Rejection reasons for eligible resubmission

Each of the below rejection codes are eligible for re-submission. To resolve these issues, please take the corrective action(s) outlined in the table below, and then re-submit your request with the updated information.

Error Code	Rejection Category	Rejection Reason	Correction Needed
30886	Invalid Campaign Description	Campaign description does not thoroughly explain the purpose of the campaign or description does not match the use case.	Verify that the campaign description is accurate and detailed. If you are an ISV registering a direct offering to your customers, please indicate that in the campaign description. Resubmit campaign for review.
30893	Invalid Sample Message Use Case	Sample messages are either not provided, unclear, or content does not match the campaign use case.	Verify that sample messages are accurate and detailed. Sample messages should reflect actual messages to be sent under campaign and indicate templated fields with brackets. At least one of the sample messages needs to include your business name. Use case and campaign description need to match campaign description.
30892	Invalid Sample Message - Public URL Shorteners	Public URL shorteners are not accepted. The website URL included in the sample messages was either from a public URL shortener or is non-secured.	Remove public URL shorteners from sample messages.
30891	Invalid Website URL	Invalid URL was provided for registration. Websites need to be functioning. If this is a registration pre-launch, it needs to be indicated in campaign description.	Verify that provided websites are functioning or detail is provided if the registration is for a pre-launch website.
30896	Opt-in Error	Opt-in message workflow is not sufficient for campaign type and consent is required or opt-in is shared with 3rd parties.	Verify opt-in meets CTIA's guidelines. All methods of opt-in need to be listed. If opt-in is collected through a paper form or behind a login, please provide a hosted link to the image of opt-in. If opt-in occurs on a website, please provide a link to the website. The website needs to have a privacy policy and terms of service. Ensure opt-in is not shared with 3rd parties.
30887	Opt-out Error	Campaign indicated collecting and processing consumer Opt-Outs, but the workflow is unclear, missing opt-out keywords or opt-message.	Verify that opt-out workflow is accurate and update Message Flow (labeled as 'How do end-users consent to receive messages' while submitting) description with opt-out process. If opt-out is managed, add opt-out keywords and update opt-out message to include acknowledgment of opt-out request, confirmation that no further messages will be sent, and brand name.
30890	Subscriber Help	HELP message reply does not contain brand name, phone number, or email address.	Verify that subscriber help message contains brand name, phone number, or email address. Message needs to guide customers on who they can contact after replying "help".
30889	Embedded Phone Number	Embedded phone number use is selected, but is not reflected in the sample message.	Verify embedded phone number selection is accurate. Update the Sample Messages with Embedded Phone Number or update Embedded Phone Number selection.
30888	Age Gate Not Present / Not Acceptable	Age gate is not present.	Verify and add a robust age gate to your website or opt-in policy.
30881	Invalid Brand Support Email	Support email is not associated with the brand. The brand support email was either invalid or associated with a public domain email.	Verify brand support email is valid and not associated with a public domain email.
30894	Invalid Brand Information	Campaign registration needs to be associated with the brand behind the campaign. If you are an ISV registering a direct offering, campaign description needs to indicate a direct offering.	Verify brand information is valid.
30895	Direct Lending - Campaign and Content Attribute Error	Campaign is for direct lending or loan arrangement and is missing content attribute indicating direct lending.	Verify direct lending or loan arrangement is selected for campaign registration. If the campaign is not related to direct lending or loan arrangement, please update the campaign description.
30903	Incorrect Sole Prop Brand Registration	Brand behind the campaign does not meet the small business Sole Proprietor (EIN) criteria set by TCR and mobile carriers. Campaign can not be registered with a Sole Proprietor use case.	Register the brand as a standard brand and register a standard or acceptable campaign use case that aligns with the registered brand’s classification.

Rejection reasons for ineligible resubmission (Forbidden messaging categories)

Each of the below rejection errors are due to forbidden messaging categories and are therefore ineligible for resubmission.

Error Code	Rejection Category	Rejection Reason
30883	Content Violation - SHAFT - Sex	Submission included content such as nudity, pornography, sex toys, or other adult content
30883	Content Violation - SHAFT - Hate	Submission included speech that is hateful, profanity, violent, incites violence, or similar speech
30883	Content Violation - SHAFT - Alcohol	Submission included alcohol.
30883	Content Violation - SHAFT - Firearms	Submission included: Firearms, Ammo, Gun Ranges (Common for guns to be sold at Gun Ranges)
30883	Content Violation - SHAFT - Tobacco / Vape	Submission included products such as: Cigarettes, Cigars, Tobacco Products (Chew, etc.), Vape, Vape Juice, or similar items
30883	Content Violation - SHAFT - Marijuana / CBD	Submission included products such as: Cannabis, Marijuana, CBD, THC, Hemp, or similar items
30884	Spam/Phishing	Spam/Fraud team has flagged the number/business/traffic for spam or phishing.
30885	High Risk	Spam/Fraud team has flagged the number/business/traffic for fraud or deceptive marketing.
30897	Disallowed Content	Submission included: disallowed content types, such as Loan Marketing, 3rd party debt collection, gambling, sweepstakes, stock alerts, cryptocurrency, risk investments, debt reduction, credit repair, 3rd party lead generation, and federally illegal substances.
30882	Terms & Conditions	Campaign does not meet Terms and Conditions.
30898	Excessive EIN	Same EIN is used for multiple brands. Only register minimum number of brands per EIN and do not resubmit until brand registration is updated.

Resubmitting brand registration

If your brand registration has been rejected due to missing or inaccurate information, the associated one-time fees will apply for each resubmission attempt.

If the brand registration fails, you will be contacted to provide the correct information or you can follow the steps below to update and resubmit the brand registration in GoTo Admin. Common rejections:

Tax ID/ EIN mismatch
Wrong company name
Entity type
Missing Website/Social Media presence

We suggest that customers use the confirmation letter from the IRS (SS-4 form) that was received when applying for an EIN. You can also contact the IRS tax specialty line at 800-829-4933 to validate their information.

Note: Canadian customers can provide their Business Number registry issued by the CRA (Canadian Revenue Agency).

Sign in to GoTo Admin.
Attention: SMS Registration is only available in the GoTo Admin portal. Admins who uses the PBX Administration portal ( https://my.jive.com/pbx), you will need to complete these steps in GoTo Admin.
From the left navigation, select Phone systems.
Select SMS Compliance.
Within the red notification banner, select Edit brand registration.
Please review and edit the information using the SS-4 form issued by the IRS. Fields that are commonly rejected are highlighted to help indicate information that may be inaccurate. GoTo is unable to know exactly which field(s) are accurate/inaccurate. Please review all fields and check for accuracy.
Note: The SS-4 form only applies to US customers. Canadian customers will confirm their Business Number BN- BN is the 9 digit account number issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Select Next: Review brand registration and verify that all information is valid before submitting.

Why am I getting an error saying my Tax ID doesn’t match the business name or type?

While we can’t know exactly the reason for the mismatch, some common issues are:

Special characters. The IRS doesn’t allow special characters in business names and accepts only: alpha (A-Z), numeric (0-9), hyphen (-), and ampersand (&).
INC or LLC: The registered name has or is missing a trailing “INC” or “LLC”. US customers can call the IRS helpline to verify their registered business name: +1 (800) 829-4933. When calling, first choose your language, then “1” for EIN questions, then “3” for “I have an EIN”.

FAQs

My registration has been declined – what do I do now?

If your registration is declined, you’ll receive an email notification and will see the status updated in the customer admin portal to “Declined” or “Failed,” with an associated reason code. For most rejection reasons, you can correct and resubmit your registration. View the Troubleshooting section above for guidance on common rejection reasons and how to fix them. Then, contact support for assistance in creating a new registration.

What fees are associated with registering my brand and SMS campaigns?

The registration process involves a $19 USD in one-time fees ($4 to register your company with The Campaign Registry and $15 for carriers to vet your campaign) plus a fixed monthly fee to carriers based on the campaign registered (see table below). If your campaign is rejected by the vetting partner due to missing or inaccurate information, the $15 fee will apply for each attempt. GoTo passes on these one-time and monthly fees without markup.

Per campaign fixed monthly fees:

Low volume mixed or conversational (Less than 6000 texts/day)	$1.50 per month
High volume conversational (More than 6000 texts/day)	$10.00 per month
Marketing	$10.00 per month

Does this impact my phone calls too?

This does not have any impact on your voice call features, ONLY texting.

Do I need to register each of my business phone numbers?

No, all your numbers with SMS permissions are automatically assigned to the campaign once it's approved. Any new numbers you order or port will also be automatically assigned.

I thought texting was included with purchase, why do I have to go through this extra registration?

Registration is an industry-wide requirement enforced by the wireless carriers who deliver messaging traffic to consumers. Like you, GoTo, and other service providers must comply with the industry's restrictions on unverified traffic.

I don’t send marketing campaigns or any proactive messages to my customers – I only reply to their messages. Do I still need an opt-in process? How do I answer the ‘how did you get permission to message your contacts’ question?

Yes, you still need a verifiable opt-in process, even if you only reply to customer messages. We recommend putting the opt-in language on your website as part of a “contact us” form.

Then, in your registration form, you can answer the “how did you get permission” question by referencing the opt-in process on your website.

Do I have to manually text opt-in language to my customers when they text me the first time?

No, you don’t need to include opt-in language in your text responses to a customer. You just need to have the opt-in available on your website as part of a contact form so reviewers can verify it.

Do I have to manually add opt-out language to every text message I send?

This depends on the type of message. You should include opt-out language in any proactive texts you send (marketing messages, proactive appointment reminders, etc). You do not need to include opt-out language in messages sent as part of a conversational exchange that was initiated by your contact.

Do you have a sample privacy policy I can reference?

GoTo is not able to provide comprehensive privacy policy language. Templates and policy generators are also available online, some free and some for purchase. The following are examples of privacy policy generators. Please note: GoTo is not affiliated with these services and does not guarantee success from using them.

If I don’t register, will I still be able to use the Instant Response feature?

Instant Response relies on outbound texting functionality. If outbound texting is blocked from your phone number(s) due to a lack of SMS registration, Instant Response will not work. If you previously configured Instant Response but do not have an active SMS registration on file before the deadline, your instant response capability will be disabled. Once your registration is approved, Instant Response will be re-enabled automatically with the same message(s) and settings you previously configured.

I just obtained a new EIN with the IRS, how long should I wait to register?

Processing may take up to 4 weeks before the EIN is available in the IRS database for SMS registration.

What is opt-in and opt-out?

A key motivation for the SMS registration process is to ensure message senders have obtained permission to message their contacts before sending texts. As part of your registration, you must demonstrate that you give your contacts the opportunity to “opt-in” or “opt-out” of communications with you. We recommend including opt-in/opt-out language on your website wherever you collect contact information from your customers/prospects. In addition to opt-in via a contact form on your website, other permitted opt-in methods are:

Keyword opt in: You instruct customers to text a specific key word to your number(s) in order to sign up for SMS.
Paper form/contract opt-in: You give your customers the opportunity to opt in or out for messaging in a paper form or contract.
Verbal opt-in: Your employees are trained to ask for customer opt-in using a specific script over the phone or in person. NOTE: If you use verbal opt-in, you cannot send any marketing or promotional messages.

Note: If you do not currently have an opt-in process, you must create one before submitting your SMS registration. This is required for all registrations, even if you do not send marketing messages and only use texting to reply to your customers.

Opt-in example: When customers complete a contact form on the website, they are asked if they agree to receive text messages to the phone number they provided. They can check a box to indicate they agree.

“I agree to receive text messages from [Business Name, phone number(s)] at the phone number provided above. Message frequency varies and will include [Types of messages: appointment reminders, order updates, etc.]. Reply STOP to opt-out or HELP to get help. We never share your mobile opt-in information with anyone. See our Privacy Policy for details on how we handle your information."

Opt-out example: In addition to the checkbox agreeing to receive messages, there should be a checkbox customers can select if they don’t want to receive messages.

“I do not wish to receive text messages from [Business Name]”.

Note: Even if a customer initially opts in to text communications, they should be able to opt-out if they change their mind later. You should include instructions for how to do this as part of the opt-in option (as shown in the opt-in example above).

Tips for success:

When creating your opt-in process please ensure:
- The opt-in/opt-out language is easy to understand and included wherever you gather customer contact information
- The contact can choose whether to opt-in or opt-out
- You clearly indicate the message sender (your business) and what kinds of messages will be sent
- You disclose the message frequency and that “messaging and data rates may apply”
- You disclose how they can opt out or get help later (by replying STOP or HELP)
- You provide a link to your privacy policy
- You provide a link to your messaging terms and conditions (if not already included as a section in your privacy policy)