How to improve SMS delivery rates
This topic describes why SMS messages fail, how to improve your delivery rate, and how Alibaba Cloud Short Message Service ensures reliable delivery.
Background information
As a direct and rapid communication method, SMS is vital for business-to-customer interactions. The SMS delivery rate determines whether messages reach their recipients, which directly impacts customer reach and brand reputation.
Overview
This topic covers the following:
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Common factors that affect SMS delivery rates
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Recommendations for improving SMS delivery rates
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How Short Message Service ensures a high delivery rate
Common causes and solutions
Users of Alibaba Cloud Short Message Service can use the following methods to identify the causes of delivery failures and make adjustments:
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Troubleshoot issues based on API error codes for messages to Chinese mainland and the corresponding error messages.
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Subscribe to delivery receipts and refer to the Status report error codes for messages to Chinese mainland to identify root causes and find solutions.
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Category |
Cause |
Solution |
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Phone number and data quality |
Invalid numbers: The recipient number list contains numbers that are no longer in use. |
Maintain and clean your recipient list on a regular basis. Use signals such as customer activity, delivery receipt feedback, and complaint data to reduce sends to invalid numbers and uninterested recipients. |
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Incorrect format: The number format does not comply with international or regional standards. |
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Typos: The number was entered incorrectly. |
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Mobile number portability: Porting a number can cause temporary delivery failures. |
Use the Phone Number Service to filter these numbers before sending messages. |
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Network and technical issues |
Signal strength: The recipient is in an area with weak or no signal coverage. |
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Carrier network congestion: The carrier's network processing capacity is limited during peak hours. |
We recommend choosing a reliable, high-performance communications platform like Alibaba Cloud to ensure stable and efficient messaging. |
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Technical failures: The SMS provider's servers or network equipment fails. |
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Provider quality |
Insufficient infrastructure: The service provider's servers have limited capacity. |
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Concurrent processing capability: The provider cannot elastically handle large send volumes during traffic spikes. |
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Improper maintenance: The provider lacks regular inspection and maintenance of communication equipment. |
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Provider misconduct: Practices such as message volume deduction (reducing the number of messages sent to cut costs) or using unauthorized resources. |
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Message content issues |
Sensitive content: The message contains illegal or non-compliant content. |
Regularly review and adjust your customer-facing message content strategy based on metrics like delivery receipt feedback to ensure your messages are precise and engaging. |
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Message length exceeds limits: The message exceeds the character limit set by the carrier. |
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Encoding issues: The use of special characters or non-standard encoding causes parsing failures. |
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User device and settings |
Phone powered off: The recipient's phone is turned off. |
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Storage full: The recipient's phone has insufficient storage for new messages. |
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Message blocking: The user has set up message blocking or filtering rules. |
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Regulatory and policy factors |
Sending time restrictions: Some regions have restrictions on when messages can be sent. |
Work with your SMS provider to complete legally required processes such as real-name registration to comply with industry regulations. |
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Content review: The message content does not pass review by the carrier or regulatory authorities. |
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Number blocking: The recipient's number has been added to a blacklist by the carrier or regulatory authorities. |
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Real-name registration: In compliance with MIIT Document No. 794, you must enforce real-name registration to ensure authentic and legal user information. |
Work with your SMS provider to complete legally required processes such as real-name registration to comply with industry regulations. If your signature has a low sending volume, some provincial routes may not have completed registration. We recommend that you continue sending messages in small batches to gradually increase route coverage. |
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Customer sending behavior |
Correctness of API call parameters |
To ensure correct API usage, first read our API overview documentation. Then, validate that your request parameters and format meet the requirements. |
How Short Message Service ensures reliable delivery
The instant delivery of SMS messages is a critical part of business-to-customer communication, making service stability essential. This stability relies on robust product capabilities, strong technical support, and a detailed service management system.
Product capabilities and technology
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Real-time connectivity to the MIIT's mobile number portability platform: Accurately identifies the number's carrier.
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Carrier-grade operations and maintenance: Monitors delivery rates in real time and provides automatic failover.
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Compliance and filtering: Ensures message content meets regulatory requirements to avoid being blocked by carriers.
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Intelligent routing: Uses intelligent algorithms to analyze network conditions and carrier performance, dynamically selecting the optimal sending path to improve success rates.
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Efficient scheduling algorithms: Handles business pressure during peak hours by using queues for peak shaving and valley filling to reduce peak system load.
Service level
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Professional customer support team: Promptly responds to and resolves customer issues.
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Exclusive DingTalk group service: Provides real-time consultation and consolidates common self-service features.
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Continuous proactive monitoring and optimization: Keeps the system in an optimal state to improve service quality and stability.
Unified access and gateway
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Multi-region deployment: Deploys at nearby edge locations to reduce access costs and minimize latency during data transmission over physical network links, ensuring communication quality.
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Cross-region disaster recovery: If a region fails, the service seamlessly fails over to another region, improving overall stability and reliability.
Phone Number Service
Phone Number Service helps you understand the enterprise or individual information behind a phone number to improve user experience and service quality.
Features
Phone Number Service is a collection of number information services provided by Alibaba Cloud. After you obtain authorization from an enterprise or user, you can use features such as:
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Number origin query: Queries the origin information of a mobile number, including the province and city, the base carrier, and its mobile number portability status.
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User's time on network: Detects how long a user's mobile number has been active with its carrier.
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Recycled number query: Detects whether a registered user's mobile number is a recycled number reissued by a carrier.
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Phone number status query: Uses carrier signaling to query the real-time status of a mobile number, such as normal, powered off, suspended, vacant, or busy.
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Carrier 2- or 3-factor identity verification, and enterprise 2-, 3-, or 4-factor identity verification.
Use cases
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Financial services: Send transaction confirmations, security notices, and account change notifications to ensure timely and accurate information delivery.
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Healthcare: Send appointment reminders, health tips, and emergency notices, which are critical for patient health and safety.
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E-commerce: Send order confirmations, logistics tracking updates, and promotional information to enhance customer experience and satisfaction.
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Logistics and delivery: Send shipment details and pickup notices to avoid delivery delays or errors.
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Education: Send course reminders, exam schedules, and emergency notices to students and parents.
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Government and public services: Send policy announcements, public safety information, and emergency alerts.
Phone Number Service helps pinpoint the causes of delivery failures related to phone numbers. Although Short Message Service does not charge for these failures, a higher first-attempt delivery rate ensures prompt and accurate delivery of critical information.
Conclusion
Together, Short Message Service and Phone Number Service offer a complete solution for business communication.
To learn more about Phone Number Service, see What is Phone Number Service?.
Related reading
If you have other questions about sending SMS, see Message Sending FAQ.