URGENT Request for Alphanumeric Sender ID Support for SMS in the UK
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Jacques Van Den Wijngaerd
We’d like to request Alphanumeric Sender ID support for SMS in the UK to improve brand recognition and reduce unnecessary unsubscribes. Currently, GHL does not support masking SMS numbers with a recognizable Sender ID, meaning UK recipients see an unfamiliar number instead of the business name.
This is causing higher unsubscribe rates, as customers don’t immediately recognize who the message is from. For example, one of our clients sends non-promotional follow-up texts one day after a vehicle service—simple confirmations and reminders. Despite these being valuable service-based messages, we've received warnings about higher SMS unsubscribe rates.
From our perspective, the lack of a recognizable Sender ID is a major factor in this. We previously understood that UK Alphanumeric Sender IDs aren’t supported in GHL, but we need confirmation on whether this feature is planned or if there’s a viable workaround. If no solution is on the roadmap, we may need to explore alternative SMS providers for the UK market.
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Rob Thomas
It's clear that we want/need to improve unsubscribe rates down from 4% to below 2% (as GHL have flagged) and yet it's also clear the root cause is the fact that an unknown mobile/cell number is shown as the sender rather than a known Alphanumeric Sender ID which GHL also says they don't yet support. Unfortunately competitor Text/SMS platforms do already (such as TextLocal here in the UK) and so this is a VERY important feature that we need implemented a.s.a.p. if we are not going to lose GHL business. So I'd be grateful that this be implemented a.s.a.p. not as a 'nice to have' feature but one that is vital for growth of GHL through our agency and many others with similar challenges I'm sure.