Who is this article for?
This article is for haulers who’ve been extended access to Hauler Hero’s SMS messaging capabilities and are setting up SMS messaging for the first time.
Who is Messaging for?
If you need a faster, more reliable way to keep your customers in the loop, Messaging has you covered. Whether it’s about missed pickups, invoice reminders, or important service updates, Messaging lets you text directly through Hauler Hero to your entire customer base at once.
Even more, you can send things like night-before pickup reminders, overdue invoice nudges, and weather delay alerts. Imagine taking care of your customers’ issues before they call you!
How do I get started?
First things first, we need to get your business registered.
U.S. carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon require each business to register before sending commercial texts. This is how they separate your legitimate communication from spam and make sure your messages actually make it to your customers’ phones.
Registration moves through 2 stages.
Carriers (i.e. AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, etc.) confirm you are who you say you are; typically takes 1-3 business days.
Carriers review whether what you want to text is legitimate and meets their requirements. This is human-reviewed, not automated, and may take a few business days to weeks. Hauler Hero cannot expedite this.
The registration wizard in our app will walk you through everything you need; just have your EIN and business info ready to go.
Before you start
You’ll need to have the following information on-hand to get through the SMS Registration process:
Your legal company name, DBA (or “brand name”), TIN or EIN, company type (private, public, sole proprietor, etc.), business address, and business website.
All information must exactly match what you have on file with the IRS; mismatches here are a common reason for registration rejection.
Contact information your customers can reach out to for support regarding your SMS
What you intend on texting your customers and why
How your customers give their consent to receive SMS from you
Your user also needs to have permissions to manage SMS registration; reach out to your administrator if you do not have permission to set up messaging and believe you should.
Let’s walkthrough the SMS Registration process
First, navigate to Settings (the gear icon next to your profile) and go to Messaging > SMS Registration.
Fill in your business’ information. Remember this must all match whatever is on file with the IRS, as applicable.
Let us know where customers can reach out to for support around your SMS program.
Tell us about what you intend to use SMS for with respect to your customers.
Account Notifications: Things like service reminders, billing alerts, etc.
Customer Care: Things in the realm of customer support.
Delivery Notification: Things like updates to an upcoming service, service confirmations, etc.
Campaign Description: A “campaign” is basically a categorized intent of your messages. Describe, in as much detail as possible, how and why you’ll be sending SMS to your customers’ phones. Vague descriptions are common grounds for registration rejection.
Provide at least 2, no more than 5, examples of the kinds of SMS you’ll be sending to your customers..
They must accurately reflect the actual SMS you’ll send
They must always include opt-out instructions (”Reply STOP to opt out.”).
Use realistic merge tags (a fancy term for placeholders that tell the reader what kind of text they should expect there).
No “lorem ipsum” generic text.
Confirm how your customers will opt into receiving your SMS messages.
Carriers require proof of how your customers consent to receive texts from you.
We’ve added a tool to help you build your opt-in description in a way carriers appreciate. Give it a read, add in more details on what you’ll text customers about if needed, and then click “Use this description” to automatically generate your “Opt-In Flow Description” below.
Next, you’ll want to confirm a couple documents carriers need from you: your Privacy Policy and your Terms & Conditions.
We recommend using the Hauler Hero-hosted policy we offer on your behalf, but if you have your own you’d like to use, untoggle “Use Hauler Hero-hosted privacy policy” and give us the public URLs to your own.
Review your registration and, if all looks good, click “Submit Registration.”
How do I monitor the status of my SMS Registration?
In the same place you started the registration process (Settings > Messaging > SMS Registration), you will now see the registration you submitted as well as its current status.
Feedback? Questions?
We'd love to hear your feedback to help us improve your experience. Please submit feedback through the chat bubble or email to support@haulerhero.com.