Uber Opted Out Of Sms

Chapter 1

Using SMS and Email Together

Using SMS and Email to Engage Your Customers in 2021

For companies around the world, email is the go-to channel for customer communications. Whether it's logins, notifications, promotions, password resets, or policy updates, email is a tried-and-true platform with more global accessibility than any other medium .

However, email is only one part of the customer engagement experience.

Regardless of who you're trying to contact or where they are, you can now complete the customer engagement package with another robust API: SMS .

START SENDING

No matter what language you're coding with, getting started with SMS is quick and easy. If you're ready to start sending, our Sales team is here to help!

Alone, SMS is a powerful engagement tool that allows businesses to send concise, timely messages to their customers. Combined with email, the two create a seamless customer communication experience that's reliable, scalable, and downright powerful.

We're refreshing this guide each year to provide you with the most up-to-date information and best practices. This year's guide includes updates on:

SMS carrier compliance changes
Common messaging use cases
Email best practices
Common email and SMS mistakes
How companies use email and SMS together

We'll walk you through how SMS can complement your email program, use cases, best practices, mistakes to avoid, how to get started, and more.

What's an SMS?

SMS stands for Short Message Service and is a more technical term for what we know as a text message. The SMS API bridges the gap between the Internet and the carrier network in order to send and receive SMS messages.

Email is the most popular communication channel globally, followed by SMS.

2020 Global Messaging Engagement Report

The Need for SMS and Email

Chapter 2

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Chapter 2

The Need for SMS and Email

When it comes to business communications, consumers have varying preferences. According to our 2020 Global Messaging Engagement Report,people across generations and borders prefer email and SMS for their communications. That's why SMS and email both deserve a place in your communication toolset.

A chart showing which communications channels customers prefer The same chart continued - showing the majority of consumers prefer email and SMS to communicate with their favorite brands

Using multiple communication channels provides customers with a seamless experience. With multiple mediums to choose from, customers can engage with your business on the channels they prefer.

Like email, SMS needs to be used at the right time and for the right message. Below are some of the most common use cases for leveraging SMS in addition to email.

Reminders

A reminder is a perfect example of how SMS can enhance your existing communication plan with your customers. If your customers have already received a booking confirmation, sending another email the day before or the day of their appointment, trip, or reservation may be overkill. Unfortunately, customers that don't receive a reminder may not show up, leading to lost revenue. A concise SMS can be the perfect prompt for them to check their calendar and follow through.

Alerts

SMS can be an excellent way to immediately inform your customers and account holders if security-related actions have been performed in their account, if there's a public safety announcement, or if there's a relevant neighborhood update. You may have received similar SMS messages in the past after changing your email or password in an online account. Alerts like these are not only wanted by customers, they're expected. The SMS API even allows you to program repeat updates, like weekly account balances if your customers want them.

Confirmations

For many customers, a confirmation message is an essential communication that they want to receive after placing an order online or making an account update. It lets customers know that your company has received their order or has accepted the changes they've made to their account. What happens if that customer no longer uses their email address? Or perhaps the confirmation isn't delivered to the inbox correctly? With an SMS, you can add an extra layer of communication, and text the confirmation to your customers.

Notifications

Like a reminder, a notification is a perfect email enhancement. It may be inappropriate or unwelcome to send yet another email to your customers if a shipment has been sent, or if an order is available for pickup. An SMS in these situations can be the perfect way to communicate a real-time update to your customers. For most people, a mobile device is on-hand all the time, which makes an SMS notification even more valuable if you're looking to communicate with customers immediately.

Marketing

SMS marketing—also known as "text marketing"—is a favorite because of highly receptive audiences, unmatched open rates, and timeliness ( 90% of all text messages are read within 3 seconds ). When there's a timely deal, an SMS can create a sense of urgency and inspire immediate action. It also gives you a seamless opportunity to turn your typical one-way outbound marketing into a two-way conversation .

Twilio's SMS and SendGrid email APIs are perfect for when you need to let your users know what's going on in multiple channels. In this video, we'll send an appointment confirmation email using Twilio SendGrid. Then, on the day of the appointment, we'll send an SMS reminder using Twilio Programmable SMS.

sg-2020-messaging-guide-landing-page-opt-b-1000x525 (1)

What's New for SMS & Email in 2021

Chapter 3

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Chapter 3

What's New for SMS & Email in 2021

While there aren't many new regulations shaking up the email world, the US messaging ecosystem is undergoing a once-in-a-generation shift. US carriers have introduced new registration requirements for business messaging over 10-digit-long codes, A2P 10DLC . This change reflects the global movement towards consumer trust and privacy across the communications space including initiatives such as SHAKEN/STIR . Long term, a trusted verified ecosystem will lead to continued high engagement and personal connection with messaging.

If you are a Twilio customer using a 10-digit longcode and have not yet registered, please visit the Twilio console to get started. Registration is required.

How does this benefit brands and their recipients?

SMS and MMS have unprecedented levels of engagement with 90% of recipients opening their messages within the first three minutes of receiving them. The addition of A2P 10DLC registration requirements will continue to protect the integrity of SMS as a channel by building a spam-free, trusted ecosystem that preserves customer engagement. In doing so, it also improves both consumer trust and the ROI of business messaging. Here's how:

For recipients:

Reduces spam
Builds trust
Preserves confidence in the messages they do receive

For brands:

Improves long term customer engagement
Improves deliverability
Increases throughput

When carriers know who you are and what you're sending, they will be less likely to block your messages.

A2P 10DLC and US Business Messaging

So, what does this mean for your business?

If your business doesn't send messages to users in the US using long code numbers or, if you're a hobbyist, independent developer, or a very small business, you don't need to do anything at this time. However, if your business does use long code numbers to message users in the US, you will need to complete the new mandatory registration process. At Twilio, we recommend anyone who sends more than 3000 daily messages or uses more than five phone numbers should register now.

What does this new registration process require? It has you share information about your brand and campaigns, or what types of messages you'll be sending—for example, using SMS for account notifications, customer support, or marketing purposes. Each campaign will need to be registered separately.

Once your registration is complete, the carrier will give your business a TCR Trust Score of either Low, Medium, or High, which will determine your messaging throughput. Any non-registered traffic will be subject to heavier message filtering and potential fines in the future, so it's in your business's best interest to register early. All Twilio clients can easily complete their A2P 10DLC registration directly through our Trust Hub .

What A2P 10DLC Registration Means for You

How will this impact your number-selection process?

In the US, there are three types of numbers: short codes , toll-free numbers , and 10-digit long codes (10DLC). Depending on how you plan on using SMS in your business strategy, you will need a specific number type.

Previously, if you wanted strong deliverability for high-volume messaging, your best bet was to buy a short code. Now, thanks to A2P 10DLC, shortcodes might not be the most financially savvy decision for most businesses.

To determine which number type is best for your business goals, you'll need to evaluate the throughput/volume of messages you will need, whether you need voice enablement, the geography of your customers, your messaging use cases, and more. For help, you can use our "2021 Guide to Business Messaging Number Types" guide for quick side-by-side comparisons of number types and their capabilities. For more information on number types and tips on how to choose the best number type is best for your business, check out our additional resources below.

Other helpful resources for A2P 10DLC:

FAQ: What is A2P 10DLC?
Your Guide to A2P 10DLC
On-Demand Webinar: U.S. SMS A2P 10DLC: What You Need to Know
Tutorial: How to Register Your Business for A2P 10DLC Messaging Capabilities
Twilio's Trust Hub

Common Use Cases for Email & SMS

Chapter 4

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Chapter 4

Common Use Cases for Email & SMS

While email has been around for what seems like ages, the way we use the channel is always changing. From confirming transactions to re-engaging users, here are a few of the most common ways companies leverage email to communicate with their customers:

4 Common Email Use Cases

1. Transactional

Emails are a great way to timely and securely communicate with users along the customer journey. Sending u ser-triggered transaction messages —like password resets and purchase or shipping confirmations—you can keep customers updated every step of the way. These emails are never promotional , rather they act as digital receipts for customers to track their actions on your site, order details, support requests, and shipping confirmations.

2. Customer feedback

Another effective use of email is to use it to request customer feedback. You can set up a workflow to reach out to customers following the receipt of their order or redemption of a service and ask them to share their thoughts. Collecting customer feedback and reviews can not only help you identify areas of improvement for your business, but it can also help grow your brand recognition and credibility in the marketplace.

3. Engagement and storytelling

Odds are many users in your database won't be quite ready to convert when they first discover your brand. Email marketing can build a stronger relationship with these users over time, helping to increase visibility and familiarity of your brand's products and services, while reinforcing your brand's reputation. Welcome emails , item restock announcements, product spotlights, promotions, and monthly newsletters can keep your brand top of mind for these customers so when it comes time to convert, you're their first pick.

4. Reengagement

Lastly, sending targeted emails can be a great way to reengage customers who did not complete their journey on your website. You can send abandoned cart emails with the specific product they were considering buying and a personalized discount code to try to entice them to complete their checkout experience. Or, you can give them the option to resume an application or form they failed to finish. These emails allow your customers to pick up right where they left off and allow you to reduce customer drop-off.

5 Common Use Cases for SMS

Like email, SMS needs to be used at the right time and for the right message. And, because SMS has more immediacy than email, it's often better suited for certain messages over others. Below are some of the most common use cases for leveraging SMS in addition to email:

1. Reminders

2. Alerts

3. Confirmations

4. Notifications

5. Marketing

Email vs. SMS: Deciding Which to Send

Chapter 5

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Chapter 5

Email vs. SMS: Deciding Which to Send

The most effective SMS program is used to enhance your emails, not replace them. SMS and email are used for many different types of communication, but ultimately, your customers want both.

The best way to determine how to include SMS into your communication strategy is to ask yourself:

How quickly should the recipient receive the message?
How business-critical is the content of the message?

Depending on your answers to those questions, and how much imagery, branding, or design your messages require, you can quickly map how you should get your message to your recipients and by what channel:

A chart showing business-critical need and timeliness so help you determine whether to use email or SMS for a particular business use case

In some cases, it may be necessary to send both an email and an SMS. In a security breach situation, you want to inform any affected customers immediately—sending messages across both channels is advised. In other cases, sending over both channels should be driven by recipient engagement.

For example, a retail promotion might include both SMS and email messages, but you'll want to use engagement segmentation to send over the channels users actually engage with. For some recipients that will mean complementary texts and emails, whereas others will only receive one or the other.

A Venn Diagram of Email and SMS Similarities and Differences

Businesses identified as leaders in customer communication tailor their communications to deliver the right information using the right channel at the right time.

Twilio, Customer Communications Report 2017

Learn How to Send and Receive SMS

Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

Learn How to Send and Receive SMS

In a few lines of code, your PHP application can send, receive, and reply to text messages with Twilio Programmable SMS.

There are now 6.3 billion smartphone users in the world.

Smartphone subscriptions worldwide 2016-2026, Statista, 2021

Email Best Practices

Chapter 7

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Chapter 7

Email Best Practices

When it comes to sending strategic, effective email communications, you'll want to make sure you consider adopting these best practices:

Be Strategic about Email Collection: Never buy email lists—they're a sure-fire way to harm your email deliverability and IP reputation and violate GDPR. Not the mention, they usually result in abysmal engagement rates. Instead, build your lists steadily over time to ensure you attract recipients who actually want to hear from your brand.

You'll also want to keep in mind how you're adding recipients. Storing as much user information at the point of collection as possible—like IP address, date, time, form, URL, etc.— can be useful down the road and come in handy if you need to resolve issues with blacklist operators and ISPs.
Stay Compliant: Email is one of the best, most commonly used communication tools in the world. If you're sending emails to recipients in other countries, make sure you're following any and all applicable laws. Whether it's CAN-SPAM or GDPR, make sure you're practicing safe emailing.
Other Inbox Providers: Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail may be the most commonly used inbox providers, but there are many others out there that you may want to consider. Mail.ru, Live, and GMX may not be common inbox providers in the United States, but they're much more common in Russia, Germany, and Canada. If you're sending email to other countries, make sure those messages are optimized for those inboxes.
Build Better Segments: Every audience is unique. Focus more on building smaller, more targeted audience segments, so you can cater your messages to your recipient's specific interests and needs. That can help you drive engagement, improve your relationship with customers, and, ultimately, boost sales.
Test, Test, Test: Every email program is different, and the fact is, what works for one company (or industry), may not work for you. It's important to be agile, test new things, and keep an eye on all your engagement metrics to make sure you're always improving. A/B testings can help you experiment with new visuals, messaging, send times, senders, and more to compare results and see what resonates with your audiences, helping you incrementally improve your email program.

GET MORE OUT OF YOUR A/B TESTS

Learn more about A/B testing and how to listen to your recipients to continuously improve your email marketing efforts in our, "Guide to Email A/B Testing and Optimizing Your Call to Action."

Find Your Engagement Sweet Spot: Think of your engagement metrics as a scale. As you increase the number of messages you send each month, your open and click rates will likely go down. Try testing different send frequencies or mixing up the content of your emails to find the right number of messages to send each month while maintaining as high a click-to-open rate as possible.
Create a Preferences Center: One of the top reasons recipients unsubscribe from emails is because they hear too frequently from a brand. A preference center lets your subscribers determine how often they'd like to hear from you or choose what content they want to receive.
Practice Good List Hygiene: Periodically, take the time to "scrub" your email list, or remove inactive, invalid, bounced, and non-engaged email addresses. This practice can help you improve your sender reputation, boost engagement rates, and reduce the chance of landing on an email deny list.

Common Email Mistakes to Avoid

Chapter 8

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Chapter 8

Common Email Mistakes to Avoid

We're all human—mistakes happen! But, while your recipients might be willing to overlook the occasional spelling error or broken link, they might be less forgiving when it comes to certain email faux pas, like send frequency and a lack of personalization. Here are the most common email missteps we see brands make and how to ensure your brand doesn't fall victim to them:

Losing The Personal Touch: Ditch the batch and blast mentality and replace it with hyper-personalization. Segmenting your lists by demographics, engagement levels, or even recent activity can also help you send more valuable, relevant content and offers to your audiences, which can increase engagement and boost conversions.

DIVE DEEPER INTO LIST SEGMENTATION

Check out our, "Essential Guide to Email Segmentation," for ways to improve engagement and your sender reputation.

Including Broken Links: Broken links not only frustrate your users, but they also hurt the ROI of your email program. Before hitting send, make sure you double or triple-check every link to ensure every link works. It never hurts to implement and follow a consistent pre-send routine so that you can check these factors before you press send—our Pre-Send Email Checklist blog post can get you started on creating your own.
Sending Too Many Emails: Our 2020 Global Messaging Engagement Report revealed that 50% of recipients said they would unsubscribe if they started receiving emails daily. Experiment with different send frequencies, but be cautious of email fatigue. Better yet, create a preferences center so recipients can set how frequently they want to receive your emails.
Not Optimizing for Mobile: With recipients opening emails on their smartphones throughout the day, you need to ensure your emails maintain their visual integrity on smaller screens. If your messages aren't responsive and don't render correctly, you'll create a poor user experience and increase the likelihood of your email getting deleted. Responsive design is certainly the ideal, but if it can't be incorporated into your messages, we recommend at least approaching design from a "mobile-first" mentality.
Ignoring GDPR: As of 2018, the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) made it so companies cannot email individuals who have not explicitly opted-in to receive their communications. Just because someone does business with your company, doesn't mean they've agreed to receive your marketing emails. You need their explicit permission to email them, otherwise, you can face hefty fines.
Not Analyzing Email Performance: Every email you send is a direct link to your customers. Every action they take (or don't take) is a strong indicator of what they like (or don't like) about your email strategy. Tracking open rates, click rates, influenced sales or conversions, and A/B test results can allow you to hone your email strategy and continue to send messages your audience loves.

SMS Best Practices

Chapter 9

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Chapter 9

SMS Best Practices

To get the full benefits of SMS communications, you'll want to make sure you follow a few best practices:

Get permission: Like with email, you'll need to get permission before sending SMS messages to your customers. Customers can opt-in to receive your text messages through an online form or by texting to the message with a keyword or phrase. For example: "Text MOBILE to 75757 to subscribe to our weekly discounts!" If you don't have permission, don't message a number.
Check your list: Double check that the phone numbers on your list are correct and can receive text messages. Invalid numbers (like landlines) will cause message delivery problems, and changed (or fake) phone numbers will fail to reach their destination. If someone requests to stop receiving SMS messages from you, promptly remove them from your list and honor their opt-out.
Use a shortcode: Use either toll-free numbers or short codes—both support higher sending volumes and reduced filtering. Shortcodes are 5 or 6 digit phone numbers made specifically for mass mobile communications. Wireless carriers individually approve shortcodes, so they're less likely to be blocked and can send at a faster rate compared to regular mobile numbers. Consider using a unique, brand-friendly shortcode for mass SMS messages. Note: Toll-free numbers and short codes aren't available in every country.
Improve deliverability: Follow country, state, local regulations, and wireless carriers' messaging policies to improve your SMS deliverability. A reliable API will help you send and receive SMS with custom shortcodes, engage in two-way conversation, and use RCS (Rich Communications Services) to send images and attachments that are automatically optimized for mobile. For help with your email deliverability, reference our 2020 Deliverability Guide .
Keep it simple and concise: Text messaging is intended to be short and sweet. Keep your messages simple with clear-cut CTAs and relevant content.
Control your frequency: How often you send is just as important as what you send. Less is more. Excessive content, deals, and updates can cause annoyance and even increase opt-out rates. Data shows that opt-out rates tend to increase significantly when businesses begin sending more than 10-15 SMS messages a month.

START SENDING

No matter what language you're coding with, getting started with SMS is quick and easy. If you're ready to start sending, our Sales team is here to help!

Nearly 7 out of 10 UK businesses think they're communicating with their customers effectively, while only 2 out of 10 customers agree.

Twilio, Bridging the Communications Divide

Common SMS Mistakes to Avoid

Chapter 10

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Chapter 10

Common SMS Mistakes to Avoid

SMS is a powerful tool, but it can be equally destructive when used incorrectly. Here are the most common SMS mistakes and how to avoid them:

Sending unsolicited messages: Permission, permission, permission. Like with an email preference center, be transparent and let your customers know what to expect. Better yet—let them decide the specific messages they receive, the frequency, and the timing.
DTR from the start: A common mistake with SMS communications is not laying the foundation for future messaging. Failing to let your customers know when and how you plan to stay in touch can leave them angry and confused when they receive your next SMS blast. DTR (define the relationship) from the beginning with a welcome text after users opt-in to explain the terms of your communications.
Using the same messages for SMS and email: While it might save time to copy/paste the same email and SMS messages, you'll lose out on the benefits each channel offers. Due to its 160-character limit, SMS is perfect for short, time-sensitive promotions and information. Email, on the other hand, is great for longer messages with important links and images. Sometimes you'll send the same information via email and text, but make sure you optimize the message to fit the medium.
Poor timing: Whether you're sending to locals or a global audience, a poorly timed message is an unopened or irrelevant message. SMS is best used to encourage urgent action, so timing means everything. To account for a global audience, use an API provider that systematically scales and optimizes for different countries' mobile regulations. Since no one wants to receive brand texts at 1 AM, use a provider that automatically delivers your messages to your audience at the right time in the right time zone.
Sending long messages: SMS is meant to be short and sweet. Longer messages on mobile go ignored, so make sure your message length matches the medium. If you can, condense the message to fit the 160-character limit—if you can't, determine if the message would be more appropriate as an email.
Forgetting a clear CTA: Because SMS messages are so short, there should never be more than one CTA. Whether it's completing a task, subscribing to your mailing list, entering a contest, participating in a sale, or responding to a survey, limit your messages to one ask.
Sending too many messages: Less is more when it comes to SMS. Sending multiple messages a day is a good way to earn unsubscribes and blocks—limit marketing texts to your customers to once or twice a week.
Using Link Shorteners: While you can include links in your SMS/MMS messages, try to avoid using URL shortening services as they can be flagged as spam and impact message deliverability. Some spammers use these services to hide the true destination of a URL, which can flag these services on spam filters and blacklists, ultimately impacting your message deliverability if you use the same system.
Not thinking of the customer first: Think about what messages your customers actually want to receive on their phone. They may have opted in to receive important updates from your company, but they likely couldn't care less about your new product when they reached for the phone expecting a personal message from friends or family.
Only using SMS: Don't hop on SMS to replace email or your other channels—use it to complement your entire communications strategy. SMS and email don't compete with each other—they're used hand-in-hand to create a seamless communication experience for your customers.

The global average open rate of SMS is 94%.

Esendex Blog "What is the open rate for SMS in 2018?"

Leveraging SMS to Improve Email and Vice Versa

Chapter 11

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Chapter 11

Leveraging SMS to Improve Email and Vice Versa

Some tasks can be accomplished via email but not SMS, and vice versa. However, the pair don't just benefit each other in a roundabout way. SMS and email have different purposes and use cases, but they can be used to directly benefit the other.

Grow your lists: Use your email list to cross-pollinate your SMS list. Encourage your email list to subscribe to your SMS messages so your recipients don't miss out on timely messages and exclusive deals from your brand.
Cross-promote campaigns: Some campaigns don't need to be email or SMS—they can be both. For example, at a hiring event, Twilio had interested applicants submit their application by texting a number—quite different than the traditional email registration approach.
Segment your audience: Learn from both SMS and email engagement holistically to create customer personas that transcend channels. If a customer always opens emails about new hats but not shoes, they'll likely respond similarly to SMS messages.

Companies Using SMS and Email Together

Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

Companies Using SMS and Email Together

It's one thing to talk about using email and SMS together, it's another thing to see it in action. Here's a closer look at how top brands, like Airbnb, Uber, Yelp, and Instantcart, use email and SMS in tandem to engage their customers.

Airbnb logo

When hosts receive a reservation request through Airbnb, they only have 32 hours to accept or decline the request. While Airbnb quickly shoots the host an email once a guest submits a rental request, the company knows hosts aren't always at their computers and able to respond quickly to email.

To facilitate a better user experience, Airbnb turned to text messaging. If a host doesn't respond to a booking request, they receive an automated SMS message with info on the guests, dates requested, and prices for the booking. Hosts can then easily accept or decline with a short text response.

Learn more about how Airbnb uses SMS to improve their user's experience →

Uber logo

Uber's emails weren't providing the speed and reliability riders needed in order to know if a ride had arrived or canceled on them. To deliver the level of communication its service demanded, Uber turned to text messages.

With Twilio SMS, customers can stay up-to-date on their Uber ride with real-time text alerts for when a driver accepts the request, is less than a minute away, or had to cancel for any reason.

Learn more about how Uber created a fantastic ridesharing experience with SMS →

Yelp logo

Yelp Reservations gives restaurants the tools they need to manage their reservations. However, they needed a way for restaurants to reach their customers in the critical moments before their reservation time.

Learn more about why Yelp chose to use SMS as the medium for those messages →

Instantcart logo

To help grocery delivery service company Instantcart optimize the shopper experience for their time-crunched customers, Instantcart partnered with Twilio to send timely SMS notifications to its employees and customers to confirm orders, share delivery ETAs, send customer satisfaction surveys, and alert employees when a new order has been received.

The immediacy of SMS is critical for Instantcart, a business that prides itself on the ability to deliver on their hour-or-less promise.

Learn more about how Instacart uses Twilio for an excellent customer service experience →

mta-hero

Chapter 13

Conclusion

Between email, SMS, WhatsApp, Instagram, and video, today's customers have a growing number of communications channels at their disposal. In order to stay relevant, you need to send messages where and how your customers want to receive them. That's why having a communications strategy that uses both SMS and email is critical for any company wanting to engage its users.

To build a successful email and SMS strategy, you need to follow best practices and listen to what your recipients want. Every audience is different—some individuals prefer email, some SMS, and some want both. The key to building engagement and lasting customer relationships lies in creating a communications strategy that reaches your recipients where and when they want to hear from you.

Getting started with email and SMS is incredibly quick and easy, no matter what coding language you're using. You can sign up for Twilio SendGrid for free and start sending today. Or, if you have questions on how to get started, our sales team is here to help !