As part of their efforts to protect consumers from spam and malicious content, mobile carriers continuously monitor and filter SMS traffic across all messaging platforms. While carriers do not publish official schedules or thresholds for their filtering, there are typically seasonal fluctuations in blocking activity that affect legitimate business messaging.
Historically, two annual periods show higher filtering rates across the industry. One of these occurs in the fall, leading into the Black Friday and holiday season. During this time, overall message traffic increases across multiple sectors, and carriers often strengthen their spam detection systems in response to higher volumes of fraudulent activity.
This may result in legitimate business messages being incorrectly flagged (false positives), particularly when the content includes financial or payment-related terms that resemble patterns used in fraudulent campaigns.
Why Messages May Be Blocked
Carriers evaluate several factors beyond recipient opt-in when determining deliverability, including:
Message content and keyword patterns
Frequency and volume of sending
Adherence to industry and carrier-specific best practices
Because these filters are automated, some legitimate messages may be temporarily affected while carrier systems recalibrate.
How Hearsay/Yext Responds
When message blocking occurs, Hearsay/Yext monitors the issue closely and escalates verified cases to carrier partners for review. When multiple reports indicate a common pattern, carriers typically adjust their filters, which helps improve deliverability across affected numbers.
What Agents Can Do
Ensure message content aligns with the industry guidelines.
Avoid sending repetitive or high-frequency messages in a short period of time.
Report any delivery issues to the support team (support@hearsaysystems.com) so they can be investigated and escalated if necessary.
Ultimately, carriers make the final determination on which messages are delivered to their subscribers. Filtering rules and enforcement levels may change without notice. Yext continues to work with carrier partners to minimize false positives and ensure compliance with evolving messaging standards.