If your business relies on customer phone numbers, you want to make sure you only enter phone numbers that are active into your database. That way you don’t waste time and money reaching out to inactive numbers.
Don’t be naive and think that your customers surely wouldn’t provide you with an invalid or disconnected phone number. Some people do this as a way to prevent being contacted by phone. Others provide active numbers that only later get disconnected or reassigned.
And you’d have no way of knowing. That’s why it’s so important for you to check if a phone number is active before adding it to your database and running your marketing campaign. We’ll tell you how.
Before we cover anything else, let’s discuss what makes a number active or inactive.
Active phone numbers are numbers that are reachable. They are in use. For example, if an active number is called, it will ring, be answered, or go to voicemail. Text messages sent to active numbers will be delivered.
Inactive phone numbers cannot be reached. Calls made to inactive numbers are met with dial tones or automated messages stating that the number is not in service. It is not being used. Text messages sent to inactive phone numbers will not be delivered. The sender likely receives an error notification that the message failed.