WHAT IS MOBILE DELIVERY?
Mobile Delivery is a measure of how many sent SMS and MMS messages actually go to their intended destination. While sometimes referring to the status of a single message, mobile delivery usually is a rate of delivered versus intended messages, and is summarized as an ‘SMS Delivery Rate’.
Send vs. Delivery
Total Sent: The total number of text messages sent.
Total Delivered: The total number of text messages that have been delivered to a recipient’s device as confirmed by carriers.
NOTE: Major Carriers can take up to 24 hours to share Delivery Confirmations and Smaller/Regional Carriers can take up to 72 hours to feedback Delivery Confirmations.
WHY IS MOBILE SMS/MMS DELIVERY IMPORTANT?
Deliverability is key to your Mobile program’s ultimate success – you have spent money and efforts on shopper acquisition & setting up your campaigns, but it does not mean anything if your SMS/MMS ends up not being delivered. Additionally, you want to be able to understand your clicks and eventually revenues coming from your SMS and MMS campaigns.
NOTE: Bluecore manages campaign build out, audience segmentation, and sends messages to partner aggregators. From there, our SMS aggregators further pass the messages to mobile carriers who will ultimately be responsible for end-state message delivery to shoppers. Because of the dependency on carriers, confirmations on SMS delivery can be sometimes unreliable and may suffer from poor, latent, or unavailable feedback from carriers.
COMMON CAUSES OF TEXT MESSAGE DELIVERY FAILURE
There are quite a few places where SMS and MMS delivery might fail, especially as messages move through the interfaces between pieces of infrastructure.
NOTE: Sometimes deliverability issues are deliberate - for example, messages judged 'spam' may be blocked by our carrier partners.
Although not an exhaustive list, common failure sources include:
Telecommunications Networks and Carriers
End-Device Level Errors and Exceptions
Invalid Numbers or Information
SMS API Provider
Delivery Lacking Confirmation - Not an error per say but carriers can have issues in provisioning delivery confirmations
The device endpoint is an especially common source for deliverability issues. Sometimes roaming devices or quickly moving devices do not acknowledge SMS or MMS reception, leading to messages being received more than once, or never received at all. Additionally, sometimes end devices or numbers just can't receive SMS messages. Invalid numbers are the most common reason for message delivery problems. Changed (or fake) phone numbers won't reach their intended destination, decreasing your message delivery rate.
MOBILE CONSENT
One of the best ways to capture mobile information is via Bluecore Site™ campaigns. Launching on-site campaigns that request this information can help you capture leads and grow your lists, but in the SMS world, it’s imperative that your shoppers are explicitly consenting to receive messages to align with key compliance requirements.
You must make it clear that providing a phone number means agreeing to receive SMS/MMS marketing messages.
If applicable, you must clearly state fees might be associated with communications.
You must clearly explain the steps a shopper should undertake to stop receiving messages even if they opted in before (more on legal language below).
NOTE: Remember that consents from other channels (like opting into email) do not count as consent for Mobile SMS.
The Bluecore Message Builder allows you to easily include the legal language you need to be consent-compliant, whether you are enforcing single or double opt-in in your mobile campaigns.
The Bluecore Audience Builder will automatically select ONLY shoppers who are opted in to receiving mobile messages.
Talk to your Customer Success Manager to learn more about Mobile Consent.
WHY IS BLUECORE SUPERIOR?
1. BLUECORE IS COMPLIANT WITH MOBILE REGULATIONS
Being compliant is vital to ensure your messages are not being flagged as spam, unwanted or fraudulent by carriers’ (e.g. Verizon, AT&T) filters. If your messages are flagged, they won’t get delivered to your shoppers, resulting in potential revenue loss.
Bluecore built a secure system for you and your shoppers – we are compliant with Mobile rules and regulations, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA), sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, and tobacco (SHAFT) & prohibited content, and the Americans With Disabilities Act for Accessible Design (ADA).
TIP: Learn how Bluecore prioritizes compliance to warrant you the best experience possible here.
2. BLUECORE OPTIMIZES YOUR DELIVERY PERFORMANCE
PHONE NUMBER TYPES
Bluecore will help you determine what the best option is for you (i.e. toll-free number or short code). In addition to enabling the best phone number type for your brand, Bluecore:
Submits all toll-free phone numbers to Twilio Traffic Verification to make sure they won’t be flagged as spam
Supports vanity short code, further minimizing the opt-out rates.
ACQUISITION
Bluecore minimizes the shopper sign-up errors (i.e. entering the wrong phone number by mistake) by offering:
Tap-to-Join Sign-Up (on mobile devices) – avoiding the shopper having to manually input their phone number. Learn more about Tap-to-Join Sign-Up here.
Double Opt-In Sign-Up (both on desktop and mobile devices) – ensuring the shopper has to confirm their sign-up to the program through a second step. If the shopper entered a wrong number, they won’t receive this second step verification. Learn more about Double Opt-In Sign-Up here.
SENDING THE MESSAGE
Bluecore helps you finetune your strategy by helping you:
Choose the right send frequency & implement custom frequency caps in the UI
Choose the right send time & day
Implement “Quiet Hours” which reduce opt-out rates and prevent messages from being flagged as unwanted by carriers
MONITORING
Bluecore provides best-in-class delivery support to our Mobile customers. Work with your CSM to understand your campaigns deliverability and make sure you are applying guidelines and best tips every time you send an SMS/MMS!
Easily set up alerts in the UI to make sure you’re notified the second your SMS/MMS campaign has been delivered.
Additionally, Bluecore uses advanced monitoring tools to track deliverability of all messages sent by our customers and flags any failing sends.
We also have a dedicated Delivery team whose goal is to investigate (error code) and resolve any deliverability issue promptly if they arise.
WHAT IS A GOOD DELIVERY RATE?
It is recommended to keep your performance within these key ranges:
Delivery errors should be between 3-5% to avoid issues with carriers.
Bluecore reviews error codes to quickly understand and troubleshoot common issues to increase our customers deliverability.
Opt-out responses should be under 3% per day. Opt-out rates above this threshold may result in filtering.
THROUGHPUTS AND DELIVERY SPEED
Bluecore offers a standard of 100 MPS for Short Codes and 3 MPS for Toll-Free numbers. The speed for your message deliverability will be highly contingent on the Audience Size you’re targeting and the number of message segments in your campaign (see understanding character counts and segments).
As an example, a mature SMS program looking to migrate into Bluecore, with a list size of 1,000,000 SMS subscribers at a standard 100 MPS Short Code, in sending 1 message segment SMS campaign, should expect a full-list send to complete message sends in ~167 minutes.
For Toll-Free users that are approaching or have 100K Subscribers, we highly recommend reaching out to your Account Manager to acquire Short Codes.
For Short Code users that require a higher throughput than 100 MPS i.e. for faster delivery for flash sales and other urgent marketing events, please inquire with your Account Manager on options for upgrading