Every number on your list is charged when you send to it, whether or not anyone receives anything. A list with 8% dead numbers does not cost you 8% of your delivery rate — it costs you 8% of every send, permanently, until you clean it.
Format numbers consistently
The safest format is international: country code, no plus, no spaces, no leading zero. For Ghana that means 233 followed by the nine-digit number.
| Written as | Store as |
|---|---|
| 024 123 4567 | 233241234567 |
| +233 24 123 4567 | 233241234567 |
| 0241234567 | 233241234567 |
The trap is the leading zero. In local format 0241234567 is correct, but the 0 is a domestic dialling prefix — it is not part of the number. Keep it when you add the country code and you have an invalid number that fails on every send.
Collect permission with the number
Someone giving you their number to process an order has not agreed to receive your promotions. If you intend to send marketing, ask at the point of collection and record that you asked. Beyond the legal position, the practical one is simple: people who did not ask to hear from you report your messages, and that damages delivery for everything you send afterwards.
- Say what you will send and roughly how often, at the moment you collect the number.
- Keep separate lists for transactional messages and marketing. Order updates go to everyone; offers go only to people who opted in.
- Record where and when each number came from. When a complaint arrives, that record is the answer.
Honour opt-outs immediately
Include a way out in marketing messages — "Reply STOP" or "Txt STOP to opt out" costs you characters and saves you complaints. When someone asks to stop, remove them before your next send, not at the end of the month.
Maintain the list
- Remove numbers that fail as invalid or not-in-service. They will not start working.
- De-duplicate before you send. The same person in two groups gets two messages and costs you twice.
- Watch numbers that never deliver across several sends — that is a disconnected line, not bad luck.
- Re-engage or retire contacts you have not messaged in a year. Numbers get reassigned.
Never buy a list
Purchased lists are stale, unconsented and full of numbers that will not deliver. You pay to send to them, you pay again in complaints, and the sender ID your real customers recognise takes the damage.