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International communication – these country-specific rules should be observed in your SMS campaign

Mobile Marketing, Tutorials
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Communication knows no borders: However, if you’re planning an international SMS campaign, you should pay attention to a few key details and know what you need to pay particular attention to in each country.

There are different habits, regulations and options all over the world – this also applies to sending and receiving SMS. Do you want to target customers, business partners or external employees abroad? Then you should take the following information into account, which we have put together in detail for some countries.

You can find an extended list of rules, sorted by continent, at the bottom of the article.

SMS within Germany

In Germany, you can use both alphanumeric (11 characters) and numeric sender IDs as usual. However, shortcodes such as 12345 as sender are often not delivered correctly and the success of your SMS campaign could suffer significantly. It may surprise you, but this “freedom of choice” isn’t common in every country. The same applies to the registration of the sender: In many countries a sender advance notification is required – but not in Germany.

You should stick to German-language messages, as they are considered more trustworthy. English SMS or faulty translations are often simply ignored by the recipient.

A personalized salutation also strengthens customer loyalty and gives more confidence to the German, who is always focused on safety. They can now assume that the sender of the message knows them personally. With a professional gateway, you can easily personalize even bulk SMS and send them safely, quickly and reliably.

Since April 2016, social invitations have been blocked by network operator T-Mobile.

SMS to France

All forms of sender IDs are supported in France only under strict conditions. Which of these forms you choose depends on your project.

  • numeric IDs: only long, virtual numbers are allowed to avoid identity fraud. Otherwise, numerical senders will be automatically replaced by shortcodes (exception is the network operator LycaMobile, which replaces these with local numbers)
  • alphanumeric IDs: depending on the network operator, these are only delivered from Monday till Saturday between 8 am and 8 pm local time. Special characters are not allowed and will either be replaced by an escape sequence or the message will be rejected altogether. Unicode is supported for alphanumeric senders, but not always reliable. If the message contains network names, it will be rejected. The network NRJ overwrites alpha values ​​with a shortcode. Long virtual numbers can successfully bypass these filters.

Also, for Two-Way-Messaging, note that outgoing messages from French long virtual numbers are throttled down by 1 SMS every 2 seconds.

Marketing content must additionally contain “STOP au 36179” at the end of the text message, so that they are not filtered. This implemented opt-out function is supposed to give the recipient the possibility to unsubscribe of your contact list at any time. The opt-out is mandatory. Likewise, marketing campaigns aren’t sent on Sundays and public holidays between 8.30 pm and 8 am local time.

If you send an international SMS to France, it’s still essential to translate it into French. The reason: Many French people don’t like getting messages in English or any other language at all.

SMS to China

In this huge and fast-growing market for mobile messaging, it is not easy to place SMS campaigns due to numerous filters. Cheap routes are sometimes simply rejected, sender IDs filtered and content censored.

  • international IDs are replaced by numeric sender.
  • The character set length for Unicode is a maximum of 70 characters, for GSM 160 characters. Chains of multiple SMS are supported, but the character set is shortened accordingly.
  • Content that falls under the protection of minors or which are politically or religiously ambitious are blocked. To this end, the Chinese government specifies special keywords for filtering. Gambling, education, real estate, migration, finance, healthcare, alcohol and advertising are also prohibited topics.
  • Arabic characters are not supported in any of the Chinese networks.
  • Binary coding, WAP push messages and concatenated SMS are not supported, or only partially supported, depending on the routing.
  • Duplicate messages can not be sent to the same recipient within one day. A maximum of 10 SMS with different content per day and recipient is allowed.

However, a professional SMS Gateway allows you to use better connections, provided they are registered.

SMS to India

India is a very complex market for international SMS campaigns and has a number of diverse restrictions.

  • alphanumeric sender IDs: The pre-registration is mandatory. In addition, the ID must be 6 characters long and transmit at least 25,000 text messages per month. For registration, it’s recommended that you contact a professional provider who offers an appropriate HTTP API.
  • Also typical for India is the preposition of two letters to identify sender and gateway: an ID with e.g. “VD-SMS” is transmitted by the network Vodafone and in the region Delhi. “AP-SMS” stands for the network Airtel and the region Punjabi, etc.
  • Nevertheeless, a big part of international senders is overwritten to ensure delivery.
  • Unregistered IDs will be replaced by a local shortcode.

In addition to the network filters in India there is an NDNC registration, in which all recipients can register. Messages from unregistered IDs to numbers noted in this Do-Not-Call list are automatically blocked. You can check recipient numbers in advance in the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India registry.

Furthermore, official time slots are set for Marketing SMS. Delivery is allowed between 9 am and 9 pm. After that, the messages will end up in a queue until the next day, but will still be charged in full.

Also spam filters are active and block all messages that are sent more than 6 times to the same number within one hour. On the other hand, recipients can rarely receive more than 200 SMS per day via incoming streams.

For political reasons, messages to the Jammu and Kashmir networks are currently blocked by the government in principle.

SMS to Russia

Cheap connections for mobile messaging to Russia are heavily filtered. Even legitimate A2P messages often don’t arrive. Thus, it is strongly recommended to use a provider with direct HTTP API connection and adaptive routing. For this, several routes are constantly being tested and in the event of problems, an alternative connection can be used at short notice, so that all text messages arrive as quickly and reliably as usual.

Since 2013, Russian carriers are filtering numeric shortcodes as well as unregistered sender IDs. To bypass such filters, the IDs are overwritten.

Alphanumeric IDs can be pre-registered if the volume is more than 1 million SMS per month.

Also in terms of content, numerous restrictions apply in Russian networks. Among other social invitations and topics such as gambling are prohibited. SMS containing an URL are usually classified as spam and consequently blocked.

SMS to South Africa

South Africa is a country that is very interesting for international SMS marketing, as it is increasingly joining in on the SMS boom and still has a lot of customer potential. Here, however, international sender IDs are usually overwritten with a random, national long code to ensure delivery. Dynamic sender IDs are not possible. Thus marketing campaigns can sometimes be quite difficult to place.

Central Distributor is an independent organization called WASPA, to which all MNOs pass on their regulatory duties.

Parallel, South Africa has an explicit code of conduct on content and message types. In it, it is specified that direct marketing may take place between 8 am and 8 pm on regular days. On weekends and public holidays, direct marketing may take place between 9 am and 1 pm. Exceptions require an explicit agreement between sender and recipient.

Content restrictions concern topics that fall under the protection of minors as well as political and religious topics. Terms like “price” and “profit” should also be avoided. In addition, abuse, spam and phishing are prohibited.

Dedicated phone numbers and so-called shared numbers are generally allowed in South Africa. Unicode, concatenation of messages and DLR are supported.

SMS to Brazil

Brazil has always been quite complicated in terms of SMS campaigns. The reason: The local mobile service providers block international SMS or simply don’t support them. No routing seems to be working properly, let alone being stable. Providers with direct connections and additional adaptive backups still achieve the best possible quality.

Sender IDs are changed to a fixed shortcode or local number to bypass most of the filters.

In terms of content, there are similar limitations: Marketing, politics and religion are among the inadmissible topics. Unicode and binary forms need to be avoided, because they’re not supported.

Please also note that landline connections are constantly being converted to mobile numbers because of the limitations of the mobile numbering plan. The porting information is updated only once a month, which can cause delays if this information becomes current.

SMS to the USA and Canada

For the USA and Canada, there are very specific SMS restrictions, so a direct connection is needed to ensure transmission to each of the many networks.

Sender IDs must be either a US pre-approved long number or a short code. Alphanumeric IDs are not supported. This is what you need to pay attention to depending on the context of your SMS campaign:

  • For P2P, it’s best to choose long virtual numbers. These can be obtained on request from your provider. Binary formats are not supported, Unicode mostly, but not reliable in all networks. Also euro signs and some accents are problematic.
  • In addition, you can send a maximum of 1 SMS per second and per virtual number to the US or Canada. This is determined by the local carriers. Those who send faster will be rejected. If you still need higher throughput, you can use multiple registered senders and split your traffic accordingly. Virtual numbers are limited to approximately 500 messages per day and will be blocked if exceeded.
  • Furthermore, the operators expect bidirectional traffic. SMS with repetitive URLs and keywords are also blocked by the filters.
  • For A2P and bulk SMS it’s recommended to use shortcodes, although the network operators T-Mobile and Sprint filter heavily here. Alternatively, you can send toll-free numbers to the United States via the direct HTTP API.
  • However, US codes can not be used for Canada. Instead, Unicode and binary formats are supported better. Also, there are no limits on maximum throughput for shortcodes and toll free numbers.

Social invitations also seem to be quite difficult, but not officially prohibited. This is not true for financing offers: these are expressly not allowed for shortcode senders.

SMS to Australia and New Zealand

Australia is an extremely complex market when it comes to sending international SMS. Numerous filters are pushing the cheap SS7 networks ever further away. A stable and direct API is therefore essential for the successful delivery of SMS. For sender IDs, content and encoding, there are no special restrictions.

In New Zealand, on the other hand, international sender IDs are sometimes replaced by long, virtual numbers to ensure delivery. For purely transactional applications with more than 25,000 SMS per year, it’s advisable to register such a number in advance. Otherwise, IDs are also replaced by local shortcodes. For content is only to note that social invitations are not allowed in New Zealand.

However, these are only a few country-specific tips. Aditionally, you should always check your international SMS marketing for current requirements and obligations on the part of the recipient country, so that your campaign does not cause misunderstandings, but only satisfied customers.

Summary: Our advices for international SMS campaigns

  • Sender ID

    Pay attention to which formats (numeric and/or alphanumeric or dynamic) are allowed. Which special features – such as no spaces – must be considered?

  • Inbound SMS

    If possible, use virtual or physical numbers as sender ID. If needed, you can implement a return channel for feedback etc. in parallel, thus optimizing your service.

  • Opt-in & Opt-out

    Take into account the respective regulations for subscription and unsubscription functions. These are usually enshrined in law. Irrespective of this, however, you should always give your customers the option of subscribing to your distribution list or, if desired, to unsubscribe. This promotes the positive and trustworthy image of your company and makes your offer more serious.

  • Time window

    In some countries it is common, sometimes even a requirement, to observe certain times for direct marketing. These are usually weekdays between morning and evening. Other times may be disruptive for customers and will ultimately throw a bad light on your campaign.

  • Trust

    Gain the trust of your customers by speaking their language. That means: translate your message into the language of the recipients, but also pay attention to age, gender and other specific characteristics. A personalized greeting also benefits your customer relationship.

  • Contents

    Watch out for censorships. What contents are prohibited in the country of your recipient? Spamming, phishing, and misusing marketing would only hurt your business anyway.

Best regards
Your sms77 team

Header picture by geralt via pixabay.com

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