When your message arrives, the sender ID is the first and often only thing the recipient uses to decide whether to open it. A recognisable name gets read. An unfamiliar number gets ignored, and increasingly gets reported.
The constraints
- Up to 11 characters. This is a GSM limit, not a platform preference — there is no way around it.
- Letters, digits and spaces. No punctuation, no symbols.
- It cannot be a phone number, and it cannot impersonate another organisation.
- It must genuinely represent you. Networks review sender IDs and reject names the requester has no claim to.
Capitalisation is part of the name
A sender ID is stored and sent exactly as you register it. BrightCo, BRIGHTCO and brightco are three different sender IDs, and the one that arrives is the one you registered. Decide on the casing you want customers to see before you request it, because changing it later means a new request.
Choosing well
- Use the name customers already know you by, not your registered legal name. If your sign says Kofi Motors, that is your sender ID — not Kofi Motors Ghana Limited.
- Eleven characters goes quickly. Drop Ltd, Co and Ghana before you start abbreviating the actual name.
- Avoid vowel-dropping to fit. BRGHTCO is not recognisable; Bright is.
- One business, one sender ID, used consistently. Recipients learn it over time, and that recognition is the whole point.
- If you send genuinely different kinds of message — appointment reminders and marketing, say — a second sender ID is reasonable. Do not go beyond that.
While you wait
Requests are reviewed before they go live. You can send in the meantime: messages go out on the platform default sender ID until yours is approved. Your dashboard shows the current status of every sender ID you have requested.