Why delivery can fail
Email providers and mobile carriers evaluate sender identity, recipient consent, number registration, message content, traffic patterns, links, and recipient behavior.
A message can be:
- Rejected before sending
- Accepted by the provider but filtered by a carrier
- Delivered to a spam or unknown-sender folder
- Delivered successfully but not opened
Use the relevant checklist before sending another copy.
Text-message checklist
Register the sending number
Complete the registration required for the number type and destination.
For example:
- US local numbers used for application-to-person messaging require A2P 10DLC registration.
- US and Canadian toll-free messaging requires toll-free verification.
- UK sender and business registration requirements depend on the number and messaging route.
Registration validates the business, messaging purpose, sample content, opt-in process, and expected traffic. Keep this information consistent with the messages you actually send.
Confirm recipient consent
Before sending:
- Verify that the recipient agreed to receive messages from your business.
- Confirm that consent covers the message subject.
- Retain the date, method, and disclosure used.
- Do not use purchased, rented, shared, or transferred consent.
- Suppress recipients who opted out.
Informational messages such as appointment reminders require prior express consent. Promotional texts require prior express written consent.
Identify the business
Except during an established conversation, identify the sender in each message.
For example:
Hi {{CLIENT_FIRST_NAME}}, this is {{COMPANY_NAME}}. Your visit is scheduled for {{VISIT_DATE_AND_TIME}}.The recipient should immediately understand who sent the text and why.
Include a clear opt-out
The first message to a recipient must include a straightforward instruction such as:
Reply STOP to unsubscribe.Respect standard opt-out keywords and stop subsequent messages after the permitted confirmation.
Keep the message concise
SMS is processed in segments:
- GSM-7: 160 characters for one segment, then 153 per segment
- UCS-2: 70 characters for one segment, then 67 per segment
Longer messages cost more segments and can attract additional filtering. Move detailed instructions to email or a secure Fieldified page.
Use appropriate content
Avoid:
- Misleading or deceptive wording
- Excessive capitalization or punctuation
- Artificial urgency
- Repeated promotional phrases
- Content prohibited by Twilio, carriers, or applicable law
- Attempts to disguise restricted terms
Transactional reminders should remain focused on the appointment, work, payment, or action the recipient requested.
Send at reasonable times
Schedule automated texts during the recipient’s expected waking or business hours. Follow applicable quiet-hour laws and use the company timezone carefully when serving clients in another region.
Use trustworthy links
Use secure Fieldified links or a domain controlled by your business. Avoid shared public URL shorteners, which are commonly associated with abuse and can be filtered.
Do not paste a secure client link from another recipient’s message.
Ask the client to save the number
Some phones separate unknown senders or use spam-detection folders. Ask clients to save the dedicated Fieldified business number after the first successful exchange.
If delivery is marked successful but the client cannot find the message, ask them to check:
- Unknown senders
- Spam and blocked folders
- Blocked contacts
- Device-level message filtering
Email checklist
Verify the address
Check:
- Spelling before and after
@ - The complete domain
- Accidental spaces
- Whether the mailbox still belongs to the client
Repeated sends to invalid addresses can damage sender reputation.
Make the sender recognizable
Use your current company name, logo, reply address, and business details. Introduce the purpose of the message early.
Update branding from Business Profile and the company reply address from Company Settings.
Keep the content relevant
Personalize the greeting and describe the client’s actual work or account action. Avoid unrelated content or sudden changes in message purpose.
Do not request sensitive personal or payment information directly by email. Send the client to the appropriate secure Fieldified page.
Avoid spam and phishing signals
Review the subject and body for:
- Misleading promises
- Unnecessary urgency
- Suspicious attachments
- Mismatched link domains
- Excessive promotional language
- Requests for passwords or full payment credentials
Help clients trust the sender
If a valid email lands in spam, the client can:
- Mark it as not spam
- Add the sender to contacts
- Allow the sender domain
- Ask their organization’s mail administrator to review filtering
Use the exact sender address shown on the delivered Fieldified email.
Read delivery status correctly
Communication history can show:
- Queued
- Sent
- Delivered
- Undelivered
- Failed
- Opened for trackable email
Sent means the provider accepted the request. Delivered means the receiving carrier or email server reported delivery. Neither status proves the person read the message.
For a failed text, review:
- Twilio error code
- Destination number format and capability
- Opt-out status
- Sender registration
- Geographic permissions
- Message content
For a failed email, review:
- Bounce reason
- Mailbox and domain validity
- Attachment size
- Recipient server rejection
Before retrying
- Correct the underlying recipient, registration, consent, or content issue.
- Avoid repeatedly sending the same rejected message.
- Use another consented channel when urgent.
- Record any corrected contact information.
- Contact Fieldified support with the message ID, timestamp, recipient, and displayed error when the cause remains unclear.
Do not include confidential client content when sharing diagnostic information.