Requesting sender IDs for SMS messaging with Amazon Pinpoint

Important

Amazon Pinpoint has updated their user guide documentation. This page may no longer have the most up-to-date information. To get the latest information regarding how to create, configure, and manage your Amazon Pinpoint SMS and voice resources, see the new Amazon Pinpoint SMS user guide.

In SMS messaging, a sender ID is a name that appears as the message sender on recipients' devices. Sender IDs are a useful way to identify yourself to the recipients of your messages.

Support for sender IDs varies by country. For example, carriers in the United States don't support sender IDs at all, but carriers in India require senders to use sender IDs. For a complete list of countries that support sender IDs, see Supported countries and regions (SMS channel).

Important

Some countries require you to register sender IDs before you use them to send messages. Depending on the country, this registration process might take several weeks. The countries that require pre-registered sender IDs are indicated in the table on the Supported Countries page.

If you're sending messages to recipients in a country where sender IDs are supported, and that country doesn't require you to register your sender ID, you don't have to perform any additional steps. You can start sending messages that include sender ID values immediately.

You only need to complete the procedures on this page if you plan to send messages to a country where registration of sender IDs is required.

Note

If you plan to send messages to recipients in a country where sender IDs are allowed but not required, you don't need to open a case in the Support Center. You can start sending messages that use sender IDs immediately.

Considerations for a Sender ID

When you are creating a Sender ID you should consider the following:

• Choose a Sender ID that matches your company branding and SMS service or use case

• Numeric-only Sender IDs are not supported

• Amazon Pinpoint Sender ID supported characters (some countries may override these):

  • No special characters except for dashes (-)

  • No spaces

  • Valid characters: a-z, A-Z, 0-9

  • Minimum of 3 characters

  • Maximum of 11 characters

• If the country you're sending to requires registration you must submit a registration for each AWS Region you plan on sending from

Step 1: Open an Amazon Pinpoint SMS case

If you plan to send messages to recipients a country where sender IDs are required, you can request a sender ID by creating a new case in the AWS Support Center.

Important

• If you need to register a sender ID in India, complete the procedures in Special requirements for India before you open a case in Support Center.

• If you need to register a sender ID in Singapore, complete the procedures in Special requirements for Singapore.

To request a sender ID

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/.

2. On the Support menu, choose Support Center.

3. On the Your support cases pane, choose Create case.

4. Choose the Looking for service limit increases? link, then complete the following:

   • For Limit type, choose Pinpoint SMS.

   • (Optional) For Provide a link to the site or app which will be sending SMS messages, provide information about the website, application, or service that will send SMS messages.

   • (Optional) For What type of messages do you plan to send, choose the type of message that you plan to send using your long code:

     • One Time Password – Messages that provide passwords that your customers use to authenticate with your website or application.

     • Promotional – Noncritical messages that promote your business or service, such as special offers or announcements.

     • Transactional – Important informational messages that support customer transactions, such as order confirmations or account alerts. Transactional messages must not contain promotional or marketing content.

   • (Optional) For Which AWS Region will you be sending messages from, choose the region that you'll be sending messages from.

   • (Optional) For Which countries do you plan to send messages to, enter the country or region that you want to purchase short codes in.

   • (Optional) In the How do your customers opt to receive messages from you, provide details about your opt-in process.

   • (Optional) In the Please provide the message template that you plan to use to send messages to your customers field, include the template that you will be using.

5. Under Requests, complete the following sections:

   • For the Region, choose the Region from which you'll be sending messages.

     Note

     The Region is required in the Requests section. Even if you provided this information in the Case details section you must also include it here.

   • For Resource Type, choose Sender ID Registration.

   • For Limit, choose the type of messages that you plan to send.

   • For New limit value, enter the number of sender IDs that you're requesting. Typically, this value is 1.

6. Under Case description, for Use case description, provide the following information:

   • The sender ID that you want to register.

   • The template that you plan to use for your SMS messages.

   • The number of messages that you plan to send to each recipient per month.

   • Information about how your customers opt in to receiving messages from you.

   • The name of your company or organization.

   • The address that's associated with your company or organization.

   • The country where your company or organization is based.

   • A phone number for your company or organization.

   • The URL of the website for your company or organization.

7. (Optional) If you want to submit any further requests, choose Add another request. For the required information, see the other sections within Requesting support for SMS messaging with Amazon Pinpoint.

8. Under Contact options, for Preferred contact language, choose whether you want to receive communications for this case in English or Japanese.

9. When you finish, choose Submit.

After we receive your request, we provide an initial response within 24 hours. We might contact you to request additional information.

If we're able to provide you with a Sender ID, we send you an estimate of the amount of time that's required to provision it. In many countries, we can provide you with a Sender ID within 2–4 weeks. However, in some countries, it can take several weeks to obtain a Sender ID.

In order to prevent our systems from being used to send unsolicited or malicious content, we have to consider each request carefully. We might not be able to grant your request if your use case doesn't align with our policies.

Step 2: Update your SMS settings in the Amazon Pinpoint console

When we complete the process of obtaining your sender ID, we respond to your case. When you receive this notification, complete the steps in this section to configure Amazon Pinpoint to use your sender ID.

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon Pinpoint console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/pinpoint/.

2. On the All projects page, choose a project that uses the SMS channel.

3. In the navigation pane, under Settings, choose SMS and voice.

4. Next to SMS settings, choose Edit.

5. Under Account-level settings, for Default sender ID, type your sender ID.

6. Choose Save changes.