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Topic: Troubleshooting steps for SMS non-delivery issues

Issue Background: You’ve tried sending an SMS message through Club OS, but the recipient didn’t receive it. This article is designed to help you walk through troubleshooting steps to diagnose, and hopefully fix, the problem.

Situation 1: Message delivery failed

This happens when you send an SMS and you are immediately notified that the message was not delivered. Under your recipient's lead notes and in your messages window, you will see a few notes displayed

   a) Note 1 : "Your SMS was not delivered to .." with a copy of the original message

   b) Note 2: "Opted out of SMS due to failed SMS message."

Reasons for message delivery failure:

• The phone number is not a mobile phone number.
• This may no longer be a valid mobile number for the recipient.
• The recipient has not set up their SMS messaging with their carrier.  
• The recipient may be over the limit on their texting plan and the carrier is blocking their messages.
• The recipient may have blocked your SMS number.
• There may have been a technical problem with your SMS provider in attempting to send the message.

What happens when an SMS fails:

• When an SMS message fails the member or prospect will automatically be opted-out of SMS to prevent future failures.  This is completed to prevent other SMS messages from being waived due to high error rates and maintain SMS messaging best practices. 

Recommended steps:

• Attempt to contact the person via another method, such as an actual phone call or an email. We also recommend asking the person during this touchpoint if the number they provided is still correct (and expected to be able to receive SMS messages from your number, etc.) and to provide an updated number if not.  Note that if their number had failed previously, they will need to opt-in to SMS messaging again once a new number is added.

Situation 2: No error messages but the recipient does not receive your message.

In this case, your notes might indicate that the message was sent but the recipient hasn’t received the message.

Reasons for message not being delivered:

• The recipient’s mobile device may be delayed in receiving messages.
• The recipient may have accidentally deleted the message.
• The recipient’s mobile provider may have blocked the message due to the total volume of SMS messages your location is sending out. If you send more than 200 messages within 24 hours, some carries consider this spamming and will flag and block your SMS number.

Recommended steps:

• If your location is sending out more than 200 messages a day, contact the Club OS customer success team for steps on rectifying the situation (a new number will need to be set up).
• Try sending the SMS message again and wait longer for the message to be received.  
• If you are still unable to resolve the problem, contact Club OS for support.