I’m Derek Johnson, with tatango.com, and I’m answering the question: “How do SMS
providers handle deactivated phone numbers?”
So, first, let’s talk about what a deactivated phone number is.
So, let’s say, myself: I have a phone, and my phone is on AT&T.
I pay AT&T every month for my cell phone.
And let’s say, you know, maybe on Friday, I decide I do not want to be on AT&T anymore.
But also, I do not want my phone number anymore.
So what I would do is, I would AT&T and I would say, “I want to cancel, you know,
my subscription or my plan, and cancel…I do not want my phone number anymore.”
Not really an issue for consumers, but it is a big issue for SMS marketers and brands.
Because, my phone number is opted in to a lot of different SMS campaigns that are out
there.
So, what happens, unfortunately, is if an SMS provider doesn’t handle deactivated
phone numbers correctly, what will happen is this phone number, my phone number, will
be deactivated.
And then depending on the carrier, it will be reactivated anywhere from 2 days later
to 60 days later.
And it will be given to someone else.
You can see the problem here.
So if I sign up for, let’s say, Pizza Hut, you know, text messages on my phone number,
I opt-in.
Then I deactivate my phone number, and then two, three days go by, maybe a month goes
by and then AT&T gives my phone number to somebody else, the SMS provider, if they’re
not handling deactivated phone numbers, will continue to send messages to my phone number,
which is now somebody else’s phone number.
So you can see the issue, because that other person has not opted in.
And an opt-in is not based on the phone number, the consent, it’s based on the person.
So, just because that person has my phone number, my old phone number, does not mean
that consent goes with the phone number.
It goes with the consumer.
So the minute that phone number goes to a new consumer, that consent is broken.
So, here’s how it works, and here’s how you wanna check to make sure that you’re
SMS provider is handling deactivated phone numbers properly: So, an SMS aggregator, or
the carriers, will give SMS providers…software providers…a deactivation report.
Okay, they do that nightly, every 24 hours.
And the reason they do that nightly, is because some wireless carriers will only keep a phone
number deactivated for two days, and then they’ll give it to somebody else,one of
their other customers.
So, when an SMS provider gets that deactivated report, it’ll have a bunch of phone numbers
in it from all the major wireless carriers.
Okay, so all the phone numbers in there.
The SMS provider will then have to remove, or unsubscribe, or clean those phone numbers
from your SMS marketing database, every single night.
If they wait every 30 days, or every 60 days to do it, they’re not gonna get every single
phone number, and then you’ll be sending text message spam to people that have not
opted in to your text messaging list.
So, it’s essential that your SMS provider is getting those deactivation reports from
the major wireless carriers, then every night, every 24 hours, they’re removing all those
phone numbers in the report from your SMS database so that you don’t text message
them in the future.
Now, there are things called a ported phone number, which is when I take my phone number
from AT&T to Verizon, but that’s a different video, and you can find that video on tatango.com.
But right now, I’m talking about deactivated phone numbers, where I have my phone number,
and I no longer need it, and I get rid of it.
And that’s the way that SMS providers should handle deactivated phone numbers.
And if they don’t, you definitely want to find an SMS provider that does, because sending
text message spam is something you do not want to do.