Hi, Derek Johnson with tatango.com here.
One of the questions we get asked a lot here at Tatango is can I use a shared short code?
And what are the issues with using a shared short code?
So first off, let's talk about what a short code is.
A short code is a five to six-digit phone number that brands use to communicate to their
customers.
So it could be 12345 or 123456.
A shared short code is one of those phone numbers that is used by many different brands,
sometimes thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of different brands use that same phone number.
The way that they're able to do that is the owner of the short code they are the ones
that give out keywords on the short code.
So the owner would give out the keyword PIZZA to a pizza place.
And then DISCOUNT to a retailer.
So when the consumer text in one of those keywords they know which business or brand
the consumer is trying to interact with.
A dedicated short code, on the other hand, is when one brand owns, manages, and uses
that short code, and that's the only brand that uses that short code.
The reason why shared short codes are even around is the price for a dedicated short
code can be as high as $1,000 a month.
So that's a lot of money for a little small business.
On the shared short code side, the short code owner is still paying $1,000 a month but if
they're splitting that cost over thousands or tens of thousands of different businesses
it makes it pretty economical for a small business to use their short code.
But there are some issues with shared short codes and these are the reasons why at Tatango
we don't support shared short code messaging, and we definitely don't recommend it.
The few reasons are number one and I think this is the most important is on a shared
short code there's gonna be thousands or tens of thousands of different businesses and brands
or groups and organizations using that short code.
Now, everyone on that short code is responsible to everyone else for using the short code
properly.
If they use the short code improperly, then what happens with the short code it can potentially
be shut down, and when a short code is shut down, it's not shut down for just one brand
using the shared code, it's being shut down for everybody, and it's kinda not very nice
that everybody using the shared short code no longer can send messages or receive messages
because of one brand's misuse of the shared short code.
So if messaging is critical to your business this is something why brands move to a dedicated
phone number because they're responsible for their usage and only their usage.
And there are some reasons why brands also don't select SMS shared short codes, that's
because, from a brand perspective, you don't want your phone number, your short code being
associated with maybe your competitors or maybe groups and organizations you don't support
or you don't think your customers would be very happy thinking there's some kind of affiliation
there.
So a group that potentially you do not like or you don't think your customers would like
if they're using the same phone number as you that doesn't look very good from a brand
perspective.
There are also some reasons too technically.
A shared short code if I mistype a keyword into a shared short code I could either be
opted-in to some random text messaging campaign from another business that maybe owns that
mistype of the keyword or I can get an error message back and the error message is actually
from the shared short code owner.
So it would be...I would get a message back and I won't even know what the relationship
between the software provider it would say, "Sorry, that's not a valid keyword.
Go visit this software provider."
But I'm trying to opt-in for the pizza place it really doesn't make a lot of sense.
There are also some issues too with keyword availability.
On a shared short code, you're sharing the code with thousands of other brands.
All those other brands may have taken all of the good words, the keywords.
On a dedicated short code, you have access to every single word because you own the entire
phone number.
So I understand there are some instances when you are a very small business, one location
type business, you just can't afford the either $500 for a non-vanity dedicated short code
or $1,000 a month for a vanity dedicated short code.
So you just can't use a dedicated short code because of cost but you're sacrificing the
security of your messaging campaign, your brand but sometimes I understand that price
is an issue and you just can't afford it.
But if you are a brand that can afford the $500 and $1,000 a month and you are concerned
about your messaging security, keeping the short code active, the brand, the user experience,
you definitely want to be on a dedicated short code.