“I think I was suspended for sending too many texts in a row. I use this number for work and it requires me to talk to a lot of people.”
Let’s face it, dealing with the phone is a huge pain for most small business owners. We are constantly bombarded with robocalls, spam text messages and emails. Your customers are inherently distrustful of any communication that comes across on their phones. However, when reached in the right way this communication can be a powerful outreach opportunity. Read rates on text messages can be as high as 98% (source)!
Google Voice provides a very compelling platform for aspiring SMS marketers, but I’m here to tell you: DON’T DO IT! Why? Well, the Google Voice support forums are full of horror stories of people having their accounts suspended for sending communications that are not SPAM but they still managed to set off the Google SPAM detectors. As I covered previously, once your account is suspended it is difficult (and frustrating) to get it back.
I will explain how you can quickly get yourself into trouble with Google Voice when using it for business use. If you are adamant about sticking with Google Voice I will provide a few tips on how to be more successful.
Disclaimer
Before we get to that, a Public Service announcement is in order. This guide is not intended to be a how-to on sending SPAM or avoiding the Google Voice SPAM detectors. This guide is intended for helping enable communication with customers who want or will benefit from your text messages. Google Voice is a powerful tool that has enabled some really neat, and new forms of communicating.
Example of how easy it is to get your Google Voice account suspended
One jarring example that I found during my research for this article was from a teacher who was using Google Voice to send messages to low-income families about meal and food options available through the school. The teacher had a contact list of 75 families and would send out a text message letting them know when donations or free meals were available. The messages that were sent were short, but repetitive and were likely sent in rapid succession to many different phone numbers at once.
This activity is by no means SPAM and all users had likely opted in with the teacher to receive the text notifications. Unfortunately, the Google SPAM bots don’t differentiate between legitimate, non-SPAM messages. They watch for specific usage behaviors and flag your account for suspension. Ultimately, because Google Voice is not a business service, they don’t have to worry about making the distinction.
What is particularly heartbreaking about this specific example is that this user’s account was disabled right before the Christmas holiday as they were trying to get messages to families about meals and food that would be available during the School’s holiday break.
Not a Business Solution
Another important point to make is that Google provides very limited support for Google Voice. If you do find yourself with a suspended account, it can take days or weeks to get it back, if you get it back at all. Do you want your critical business operations to depend on a service like that?
“Google Voice is intended for personal use only, not for business use.” – Google Voice Community Product Expert
It is worth repeating that Google Voice was not built as a business communication tool. If your business requires you to always be available to your customers then I would strongly recommended that you consider a different service. As mentioned above, there are many horror stories of users having their accounts suspended and numbers lost for long periods of time or indefinitely because their account was flagged as “abusive.” If you do insist on using this service for your business, understand that if you get suspended there is no guarantee you will get your account back. If your account is permanently suspended you cannot port your number to a different service, it’s gone forever.
Improving your experience with Google Voice
Now that you understand the risks be sure to read my guide where I get more in-depth on how to prevent your account from being suspended. At a high-level here are a few things you can do to ensure your success with the service.
- You are more likely to be flagged for abuse if you send the same messages to many people in a short period of time
- Including URLs in your messages will trigger the SPAM detection system much quicker than if you don’t include one.
- Encourage your recipients to respond to your messages. Google Voice is intended for personal use and the SPAM detection system expects text messages to take place in a conversational way.
Next steps
This article is part of a series on how to leverage communications tools to empower your business. Please continue to check back as we release the next version in the coming days.