Businesses must rely on short message service (SMS) messages to share useful information with consumers. Important details like one-time passwords, account alerts or appointment confirmations are now commonly sent via SMS messages to customers and employees.
However, because these messages are often sent from random or unknown numbers, it can be difficult to trust the source. Some messages may even come from bad actors pretending to be from businesses consumers trust and ask for private information or link to dangerous websites.
Syniverse is now offering businesses Google’s new mobile messaging verification feature for application-to-person (A2P) SMS messages, known as Verified SMS, to combat these exact types of threats.
As part of Syniverse’s Mobile Messaging product, Verified SMS by Google is a way businesses can confirm their true identity with customers. The feature works by verifying, on a per-message basis, that content is sent by a specific business. When a message is verified, recipients see the business name and logo as well as a verification badge in the message thread. This innovative, yet necessary evolution of traditional SMS, is designed to cut down on phishing attempts, while still empowering consumers to make informed decisions about various business communications they opt in to receiving. Verified SMS by Google is currently available in the UK, U.S., Canada, France, Spain, Philippines, India, Brazil and Mexico, with more countries to come.
For enterprises, the solution is two-fold. First, businesses can embrace Verified SMS to deepen relationships with their core customers, who have come to trust the brands they interact with, which builds loyalty. Second, these same relationships set the foundation for businesses to yield new revenue streams, with targeted messages designed to boost engagement and conversions from their messaging campaigns.
To paint a more holistic picture of Verified SMS by Google and how enterprise customers can win with this secure offering, Kola Layokun, director of cloud messaging product management for Syniverse, offers these insights about what major players in the industry can expect from the solution.
Q1. What is Verified SMS?
A1. Verified SMS is a new feature of the Messages by Google app, available on Android mobile phones only, that adds rich branding in the form of a business logo and name, and sender and message authentication to A2P SMS.
Q2. Why should businesses care about Verified SMS offered by Syniverse?
A2. Consumers today simply don’t trust many of the messages they receive. The market, in fact, has dictated the need for a type of solution such as Verified SMS as businesses continue to rely on A2P messaging to better connect with their customers through alerts and notifications. With such a high volume of messages being sent, across a number of various networks around the globe, businesses need to invest in solutions that emphasize security first — for the sake of the brand reputation they build with their customers, and for their customers’ own individual privacy concerns. To that point, messages sent through different types of sender addresses from one brand that consumers may not recognize can lead to a lack of trust and brand churn. Thus, the opportunity to employ a more secure solution is strong.
Q3. What benefits will a business receive by using Verified SMS?
A3. Verified SMS by Google allows businesses to add their name and logo, provide at-a-glance branding, and a business description displayed in the header alongside a logo and avatar with each verified message. This provides users with peace of mind that the message was actually sent from your business. Bottom line, we see trusted relationships increase overall with added layers of security like Verified SMS.
Q4. Why work with Syniverse?
A4. For decades, Syniverse has delivered the innovative software and services that transform mobile experiences and power the planet. Our secure global network reaches almost every person and device on Earth. Our communications platform is industry-recognized as the best of its kind. And we are committed to using only high-quality routes with zero network outages backed by 24/7/365 customer support in-region.
Q5. Where can businesses learn more about the Syniverse Verified SMS?
A5. Contact a Syniverse Sales Rep to learn more, or learn more about our mobile identity authentication solutions here.
Kola Layokun serves as Director of Product Management at Syniverse and has more than 20 years of experience in developing enterprise-focused communication platforms in the mobile industry. As a certified scaled agile practitioner, Kola has extensive experience as a product owner and manager in dynamic and fast-paced software development environments. Prior to Syniverse, Kola held numerous product management director roles at Telscape, Alltel and Cingular Wireless.
Contact us
