Setting up SMS marketing with Shopify Messaging

Registering and verifying your sending number helps carriers trust your traffic and is a key part of your deliverability. To learn how registration affects whether your messages reach customers, refer to Building and maintaining your SMS deliverability.

The registration and verification process depends on the countries that you want to send marketing to:

• Europe and United Kingdom: For the United Kingdom and the list of supported countries in the European Union, you need to configure an alphanumeric sender name. You can create and send campaigns immediately after you set up your sender name.
• Canada and United States: To send SMS marketing campaigns to Canada or the United States, you need to fill in the toll-free registration form to set up a toll-free sender phone number. Toll-free registration can take 2 to 5 business days, and you receive an email when verification is complete. Your toll-free sender number is randomly assigned and is for delivery purposes only. You can't receive customer replies to your toll-free sender number.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Messaging.

2. Click Settings > SMS.

3. In the Targeted countries for SMS marketing section, click Add countries.

4. Select the countries that you want to send to, and then click Next.

5. Depending on the countries that you're sending to, do the following:

• For the United Kingdom and countries in the European Union, fill in the Create sender name field, and then click Done.
• For Canada and the United States:
  1. In the Provide company information for US and Canada toll-free registration form, complete the fields in the Contact information, Business information, Privacy policy, and Terms of service sections.
  2. Click Next.
  3. Review the Set up your sender information page, and then click Done.

If your toll-free registration is rejected, then a banner is displayed in your Shopify admin, and you receive an email explaining the reason. Review the following table of the most common rejection errors, and suggested solutions:

Common errors for SMS toll-free registration

Error message	Common causes	Suggested solutions
"Age verification"	You sell products on your store, such as alcohol or other restricted items, that require you to verify your customers' age.	Add an age verification app to your store that verifies your customers' date of birth. If you already have an age verification app on your store, then ensure that it either requires users to enter their full date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY) or uses a third-party age verification service. A simple checkbox or confirmation button isn't accepted.
"Business email requires an official domain"	The email address that you provided doesn't use an official business domain. Personal or free email addresses, such as Gmail or Yahoo, might not be accepted unless they're displayed on your online store as a legitimate contact method for your business.	Update your toll-free registration application with an email address that uses your business domain, such as contact@yourbusiness.com. If you must use a free email service, then ensure that it's displayed on your online store's contact page as an official contact method.
"Contact must be a business representative"	The contact name provided for SMS registration doesn't appear to be an actual person authorized to represent the business. Generic names or titles such as "Admin," "Support," or incomplete names aren't accepted.	Provide the full first and last name of an authorized business representative. Ensure that the contact person listed holds an official role within the business. Don't use generic titles, roles, or partial names.
"Could not validate business information"	Your business information couldn't be verified, such as your business name, address, website URL, website email, or business contact information. This could be because the information didn't match what's displayed on your online store, or because the website URL that you provided wasn't available, or a generic placeholder was provided.	Review the following business details on your form to ensure that they match what's displayed on your online store: Business contact name Legal business name Business contact email Business phone number Business address

After you follow the instructions to resolve the error, you need to resubmit your verification form. If there are no steps to resolve the issue, then contact Shopify Support.

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Apps > Messaging.

2. Click Settings > SMS.

3. For the country where verification was rejected, click Manage.

4. Ensure that the fields on the toll-free verification form are accurate, and then click Resubmit form.