Twilio Enables Businesses to Send Verified, Branded SMS so Consumers Can Trust the Authenticity of the Content They Receive

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dec. 12, 2019 — Twilio (NYSE: TWLO), the leading cloud communications platform, today announced the addition of Verified SMS to the Twilio platform, making it possible for the customers that rely on Twilio to send authenticated and branded SMS. With Twilio, the complexity of authentication across channels is abstracted away, helping to future-proof businesses for a new era of communication where trust is a prerequisite for customer engagement. The newest effort in Twilio’s quest to restore trust to digital communications, Verified SMS by Google allows businesses to leverage a branded profile for SMS and send validated messages to customers using Google’s Messages application on their Android handsets. This allows businesses to extend their brand to every interaction and empowers end-users to act with confidence.

Today’s communications environment is fraught with bad actors looking to take advantage of communications channels, from illegal robocalls to message spoofing. At the same time, consumers’ preference for SMS continues to grow, with the majority of consumers stating SMS is their preferred channel for high-value, urgent communications. However, consumers need a high level of confidence in the identity of the sender in order to interact with incoming communication. As communications between brands and consumers continue to move from in-person to digital over SMS and rich messaging channels, trust becomes a critical part of any customer engagement strategy.

“At Twilio, we believe trust is core to communications,” said Simon Khalaf, senior vice president and general manager of messaging at Twilio. “Businesses have a huge opportunity to increase customer engagement by building authentication into the messages they send. Verified SMS by Google is the latest of many tools Twilio provides to help businesses strengthen customer trust with every interaction.” 

Twilio simplifies the process of building trust with customers by navigating the complex ecosystem of wireless carriers and operators, regulatory requirements and technology infrastructure for businesses. Now supported by Twilio, Verified SMS by Google provides businesses: 

• Branded messages: a business’ official logo appears alongside contact information with each message to let customers know who is contacting them. Businesses register a profile once and their brand, company description and logo are visible with every verified SMS. Branded messages instill immediate confidence in sender identity and keep brands top of mind for customers. 
• Per-message verification: each authenticated message received features the brand logo, sender name and description to help customers make informed decisions on how to engage. Authenticating individual messages allows the recipient to trust the message is coming from whom it appears to be coming from and equips recipients with the information they need to click on and open messages.
• Protected brand integrity: Each message is verified using a shared key between the brand and the end user’s device. This prevents bad actors from spoofing the brand’s number and ultimately protects the integrity of the sender’s brand. 

In collaboration with Twilio, businesses including 1-800-Flowers.com, SoFi, Expensify, MINDBODY, Cover and Stackin’ are among the first in the world to use Verified SMS to build trust, maintain the integrity of their brands, and strengthen digital relationships with their customers. 

“SoFi is a new kind of finance company and that means communicating with our members over their preferred channels while delivering faster service and open conversations,” said Chad LaFontaine, vice president of engineering at SoFi. “Trust is critical in the conversations we have about finances, and Verified SMS in Messages means our members can trust our brand is the source of the messages they receive and act with confidence.”

“Our customers rely on us during some of the most meaningful moments in their lives and it’s important that they have high confidence in our brand,” said Amit Shah, chief marketing officer at 1-800-Flowers.com. “Twilio abstracted away the complexity of verification on the back end, and now that our messages are branded, customers can be sure that the messages they receive are trustworthy.” 

How it works 

With Twilio, Verified SMS by Google is a simple addition to existing communications workflows that allows businesses to reach millions of consumers. Leveraging Verified SMS in the Messages app for Android, Twilio collaborates with Google to register businesses, verify their identity, and implement the backend technology to support Verified SMS through the Twilio Programmable Messaging API. 

Trusted Communications at Twilio

Twilio is committed to restoring trust in the communications that consumers have come to rely on every day. As the leading cloud communications platform, Twilio has implemented a number of safeguards into its technology to help ensure that it is only being used to send communications consumers want to receive. In addition, the company is an active participant in a variety of industry efforts to develop standards aimed at stopping the noise consumers don’t want to receive while also protecting the critical communications they do want. Features like per-message verification, branded messages and calls, and advanced opt-out push forward these efforts and help foster an ecosystem of increased trust and engagement.  

About Twilio

Millions of developers around the world have used Twilio to unlock the magic of communications to improve any human experience. Twilio has democratized communications channels like voice, text, chat, video, and email by virtualizing the world’s communications infrastructure through APIs that are simple enough for any developer to use, yet robust enough to power the world’s most demanding applications. By making communications a part of every software developer’s toolkit, Twilio is enabling innovators across every industry — from emerging leaders to the world’s largest organizations — to reinvent how companies engage with their customers.