Texting

Getting Started

Before you're able to text using Levitate, you must work with your Success Specialist to register for 10DLC compliance. Read more about this process here.

Once you've submitted your registration to Levitate and been approved by our upstream carrier, you're able to start texting!

Levitate can provide you with a unique phone number that you can use to text. Calling is not supported through Levitate.

To request a number, go to Texting in the main navigation menu. You can request a number based on area or zip code.

Note: Toll-free numbers (such as 1-800, 888, 877, and 866 numbers) and short codes (5- to 6-digit numbers) are not supported for texting in Levitate. You cannot host, port, or order either type for texting — texting numbers must be standard 10-digit local numbers.

Once a number is assigned, it will be displayed in the top left-hand corner.

Start texting by clicking on the blue button next to your phone number. You can type in a contact's name or manually enter a phone number for texting.

Users texting through Levitate can send and receive images. Individual image attachments cannot exceed 1.7 MB, and the total for all attachments in a single message cannot exceed 3.5 MB. We recommend keeping PDFs under 1 MB for optimal performance.

Due to 10DLC anti-spam and compliance requirements, businesses and organizations are limited by default to 1,000 texts per day per account, which can be raised up to a maximum of 2,000 per day. Carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile limit daily volume to reduce spam, ensure deliverability, and protect consumers from unsolicited messages. Sole proprietor registrations are additionally capped at 15 messages per minute.

Just like with email campaigns, text campaigns can be sent over a number of days if the daily send limit is hit.

Managing Text Notifications

You can manage text notifications by going to Settings (under your name in the upper right-hand corner) and scrolling down to the notification section.

Text Number Management

Shared Numbers for Texting in Levitate

Levitate's Texting ability is a great way to quickly communicate with clients. The Shared Numbers for Texting feature allows all Levitate Users of a company to text from one number, accessing the same text threads.

Details

• Levitate Admins request a phone number and choose to share the number with employees
• Levitate Users request a phone number and choose to use an individual number or the shared number
• Levitate Users will always text from either the individual or shared number
• When checking on text messages sent from a shared number, it'll be indicated which user sent the message from the shared number.
• All Levitate Users leveraging the shared number will have access to all text threads associated with the shared number
• There can be multiple shared numbers on one account; however, users cannot be assigned to more than one texting number in Levitate
• Levitate Users can simultaneously communicate in the same text thread
• Companies that utilize the texting feature prior to the release of Shared Texting can reach out to Levitate Support to switch from their existing individual numbers to the shared number

Admins: Creating a Shared Number

When Levitate Admins request their number for texting, they have the option to "Make this number shared so other employees can also use it.

Users: Selecting the Shared Number

When Levitate Users request their number for texting, they will choose the Shared Number rather than an individual number

Text Archiving for Financial Users

Archiving client communication can be a regulatory requirement for various industries, such as the Financial Industry. Levitate facilitates regulatory compliance with Text Archiving, a default feature for Levitate Accounts in the Financial Industry. Text Archiving can be enabled by request for accounts in other industries.

How Does Levitate Facilitate Text Archiving?

When a user texts a client through Levitate, the enabled Text Archiving Feature triggers an email of the text thread to the user's Sent Box. This means that the text conversation lives on the company's email server, adhering to their corporate email archiving protocol. Levitate consistently sends the most recent version of the thread as the conversation continues.

In addition, a copy of the text conversation is accessible on the Contact's Timeline History of their Levitate Profile.

Using Auto-Reply with Levitate texting

There are two types of auto-reply for texts received in Levitate.

General Auto-Reply

This type of auto-reply can be turned on if you're out of office for an extended period of time, but has to be turned off to stop sending a reply. It's best for when you go out on vacation, medical leave, or need all of your text messages coming through at any time to get an auto-reply message.

Auto-Reply for outside of business hours

In Levitate, your Success Specialist can help you set business hours that dictate when your emails and text messages send out from you— but now, you can also use those business hours to decide when an auto-reply will go out. If you'd like to have a message for contacts that send you a text outside of your business hours that are set on Levitate, we can do that! It doesn't need to be turned off and on, just write a message and toggle it on once.

For example, if someone texts your Levitate number at 8PM, but your business hours end at 6PM, they will get an auto-reply from you!

Here's what an auto-reply can look like:

And here's what the setup looks like:

You'll go to Texting and click 'Manage Automatic Responses' in the upper right corner. From there, you'll get this pop-up to fill out

Just so there are no double auto-replies going out, you can only have one of these enabled at a time.

If you choose 'Enable Auto Reply' that will send every text you receive an automatic reply, regardless of the time of day or day of the week.

If you choose 'Enable Auto Reply after business hours,' you will only send an automatic reply if you receive a text outside of your set business hours.

In the instance of a Shared Number for texting, only the Owner of the number can set up Auto-Reply for the number.

Managing SMS Consent

Note: The features in this section are only available on accounts with texting enabled.

Filtering Contacts by SMS Status

The Contacts People page includes two SMS status checkboxes in the Status Filters panel to help you quickly identify which contacts can receive text messages:

• Can receive text — shows contacts who have a valid mobile number and have not opted out of texts.
• Opted out of text — shows contacts who have previously replied STOP or were otherwise marked as opted out of SMS messages.

These same filters are available in the text campaign audience selector, where they can help you build a targeted recipient list. The live recipient count in a text campaign automatically excludes contacts who have opted out or who do not have an SMS-capable number, so the count you see reflects only contacts who will actually receive the message.

Bulk Unsubscribe and Resubscribe

You can update SMS opt-in status for a large group of contacts at once directly from the Contacts People page, without needing to open each contact profile individually.

To bulk-update SMS consent:

1. Go to the Contacts People page and use filters or search to find the contacts you want to update.
2. Select the contacts using the checkboxes on the left side of the list. You can select all contacts matching your current filter by using the select-all option at the top of the list.
3. Open the bulk action menu and choose either Unsubscribe from texts or Resubscribe to texts.
4. Confirm the action. The SMS opt-out status for all selected contacts will be updated immediately.

Note: Re-opting contacts back in to texts is only appropriate when those contacts have explicitly requested to receive messages again. Do not resubscribe contacts on their behalf without their consent.

Adding Links to Text Messages

You can include URLs in your text message campaigns. Here's how it works.

In Text Messages:

• URLs appear as plain text (e.g., "https://yourwebsite.com")
• Recipients see the full URL in the message
• The URL is automatically clickable on most mobile devices
• You CANNOT create hyperlinked text like "click here" in SMS

Example:

Why SMS is Different from Email:

• SMS/text messaging doesn't support HTML formatting
• All text appears plain (no bold, colors, or hyperlinks)
• URLs must be shown in full for recipients to click

Tips for SMS Links:

• Use URL shorteners (like bit.ly) for long links
• Place URLs on their own line for better visibility
• Add context before the URL (e.g., "Learn more:")
• Test links before sending to ensure they work

FAQs

Q: Can we have multiple texting phone numbers for different teams — for example, one number for office staff and a separate number for field technicians?

A: Yes. Levitate accounts can have more than one shared texting number, which makes it possible to give different teams their own dedicated number. Each user can be assigned to one texting number at a time, so office staff would use one shared number while field technicians use another. To request an additional number for your account, contact your Success Specialist — they can provision the number and help you assign the right users to each one.

Q: Are there additional fees for having multiple texting phone numbers?

A: No. There are no additional fees for having multiple texting phone numbers on your Levitate account. If you have other pricing questions, your Success Specialist can review your current plan with you.

Q: A contact has multiple phone numbers on their profile — is there any preference when starting a text?

A: If a number has been identified as a mobile number, we will attempt to text it first. Otherwise, if the numbers are all just listed as 'phone number', we will attempt to text based on what's listed on the contact profile first.

Moving a Conversation Between Contacts

When two contacts share the same phone number, an incoming text gets attached to just one of those contact profiles. If it landed on the wrong one — for example, on a household or business pair where the message was meant for the other person — you can move the conversation over to the correct contact.

Open the conversation, click the Reassign option, then choose which contact the conversation should be attached to instead.

Note: This only works between contacts that share the same phone number. Anything involving phone number configuration — sharing a number across Levitate users, changing which user owns a number, removing a user from a number, or moving a conversation between Levitate users — is handled by your Success Specialist or the Levitate Support team. Reach out to them and they can make the change for you.

Unmarking a Conversation as Spam

If a text conversation was flagged as spam but shouldn't be, you can remove the spam flag directly from the texting screen. When a conversation is marked as spam, a banner appears at the top — click Not Spam to restore normal messaging for that contact.

Text Campaigns

Click here to learn more about Text Campaigns!

Texting & Automation

Click here to learn more about Texting & Automations!

Do's and Do Not's of Texting

Texting is another channel for you to communicate with your clients. As with emails, there are some good practices we recommend, and situations to avoid.

DO introduce yourself in the first text.

DO keep it personal and conversational — we included emoji's!

DO keep it short.

DO reply promptly.

DON'T mass blast — just as with emails, you must comply with the CAN-SPAM act. Similar to email addresses, your phone number can also be flagged for spam and be rejected by carriers. Levitate is not providing the mass blast capability for this initial release of the texting feature.

DON'T text clients at night — keep it during business hours.

DON'T text a client if they prefer another communication channel. Create a key fact to remind yourself their communication preference.

Troubleshooting: Texts Not Sending or Not Delivered

If a contact is not receiving texts you have sent — or a message fails to send at all — there are several common reasons why. Work through the checks below before contacting support.

1. Confirm your 10DLC registration is approved

You cannot send any texts until your account's 10DLC campaign is registered and approved. Registrations are most often declined because of missing information in website privacy policies or opt-in statements.

• Go to Settings > Texting > Registration. The status should show Approved or Active.
• If it shows Pending or Not Started, complete the registration.
• If it was declined, contact your Success Manager or Support to learn what needs to change for approval.

2. Verify the phone number is a valid mobile number

Text messages (SMS/MMS) can only be delivered to mobile phone numbers. Texts sent to landline numbers or VoIP lines that do not support SMS will fail silently or return an error.

• Open the contact's profile in Levitate and confirm the number on file is a mobile number. The contact must have at least one active number assigned.
• If the number is a landline or office line, add the correct mobile number to the contact profile and resend.
• If you are unsure whether a number is mobile, try sending a test message to a number you control first to rule out account-level issues.

3. Check whether the contact has opted out of texts

When a contact replies STOP to any message sent from Levitate, they are automatically opted out of future texts. Levitate will block further messages to that contact to comply with carrier requirements.

• Open the contact's profile and look for a text opt-out indicator. If the contact has opted out, you will see the opt-out date and reason on their profile.
• If the contact wants to receive texts again, they can reply START to a previous message from your Levitate number, or you can update their opt-out status directly on their contact profile.
• To update opt-out status for many contacts at once, use the Resubscribe to texts bulk action on the Contacts People page. See the Bulk Unsubscribe and Resubscribe section above for details.

4. Check whether the daily send limit has been reached

Levitate caps daily texting volume per carrier compliance rules (see Getting Started for the specific limits). Once the limit is reached for the day, additional texts are queued or blocked until the limit resets at midnight ET.

• Check the Texting Reporting section to see how many messages have been sent today.
• If the limit has been reached, messages will resume sending after midnight ET when the limit resets.
• If your business regularly needs a higher limit, contact Levitate Support to discuss an increase.

5. Understand carrier filtering and blocking

Mobile carriers (such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile) use automated filtering to block messages that appear to be spam or that violate their content policies. A message can be filtered by a carrier even if it sends successfully from Levitate's side — the carrier blocks it before it reaches the recipient's device. When this happens, Levitate displays a red error message indicating the cause.

Common reasons a carrier may filter a message:

• Message content contains URLs without clear context (e.g., bare shortened links with no explanation).
• Message content uses language patterns associated with spam or phishing.
• A high volume of similar messages was sent in a short period.

To reduce the chance of filtering, review your message content and avoid:

• ALL-CAPS text
• Excessive punctuation (e.g., "!!!")
• "Click here" or similar without context
• Bare or shortened URLs with no explanation

"Carrier has flagged this message as spam": Note how many contacts this error occurs on. If it happens on more than 20 in a row, the number has likely been blacklisted — contact Support. If it is only a handful, review and tweak the content you are sending.

"High Volume Rejection": Contact Support. They can help by throttling the account's send rate between minutes/seconds or splitting up the size of the message group.

6. "Invalid Application ID" — the number is no longer active

This error means the number does not exist in our provider's system, usually because the original phone provider reclaimed it. Contact your original phone provider, notify them that they reclaimed the number, and ask them to release it again for hosting. Then contact Levitate Support for help submitting a new LOA form to re-host the number inside Levitate.

7. When to contact support

Contact Levitate Support if:

• Your 10DLC registration is approved but you still cannot send.
• Messages appear to send without error but contacts confirm they never received them.
• The contact's number is a confirmed mobile number, they have not opted out, and the daily limit has not been reached.
• The issue is affecting a large number of contacts or is recurring across multiple sends.
• You see a specific error code or technical message you are unsure how to resolve.

When contacting support, include the contact's name (or phone number), the approximate date and time of the failed send, and any error messages displayed in Levitate. This helps the support team investigate faster.

Error message reference

• "Registration declined" → 10DLC registration failed; see check 1.
• "Daily limit exceeded" → wait for the midnight ET reset, or request an increase.
• "Invalid destination" → check the contact's phone number.
• "Carrier blocked" / "flagged as spam" → message flagged as spam; revise content.
• "High Volume Rejection" → contact Support to throttle or split the send.
• "No available number" → request phone number provisioning.