If your texts aren't reaching customers, the cause is almost always carrier registration or filtering — not the kind of number you have. This article explains how texting numbers work in Run a Call and walks through the fixes.
Do I need to register a toll-free number?
No. Texting in Run a Call goes out from a local business number that's registered with the carriers through A2P 10DLC — the form you fill in once when you set up texting. When you get a number in Run a Call, you choose it by local area code. There's no separate toll-free verification for you to file.
If a phone company or someone else has asked you to "verify your toll-free number" for texting through Run a Call, send us a request from Support before doing anything.
Check your texting registration
Open Conversations → Messages. Until texting is live, the page shows your registration progress:
| Step | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Business Verification | A few moments |
| Run a Call review | Same day |
| Brand Registration | 1–2 hours |
| Campaign Approval | Up to 10–15 business days |
| Number Activation | Instant |
| Texting active | — |
Texts to customers can't go out until you reach Texting active. You can also see a simple Brand and Campaign status in Settings → Phone → Messaging.
See Registering your business for A2P 10DLC.
If the registration was rejected
The progress screen shows Registration issue with next steps. The most common causes:
| Cause | Fix |
|---|---|
| Business name doesn't match IRS records | Your legal name must match your IRS EIN letter (CP-575) exactly, including Inc, LLC, or Corp. Send us a photo of the letter through Support. |
| Campaign turned down by the carriers | Often your website doesn't mention that customers may get texts from you. Our team contacts you to help fix it. |
| Something else | Our team emails you next steps. If a Retry registration button appears, you can resubmit yourself. |
Registered business details can't be edited from Settings — contact support to change them.
If texting is active but some customers don't get texts
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| One customer never gets texts | They replied STOP | They need to reply START to your number. See How customers can opt out of texts. |
| A few customers on one carrier miss texts | Carrier spam filtering, often triggered by links or all-caps promotional wording | Keep messages short and conversational; avoid link shorteners |
| Automatic texts don't send | The automation is turned off, or texting isn't active yet | Check the Automations page. See Enabling SMS-based automations. |
Still not working?
Send us a request from Settings → Support with the customer's number, when you texted, and what you sent.