Business SMS: Managing Blocked Senders

The Blocked Senders feature allows you to prevent specific phone numbers from appearing in your conversations and contact lists. This can be useful for eliminating spam, unwanted messages, or other communications that are not relevant to your organization.

Once a sender has been blocked, future messages from that phone number will not be visible within Business SMS.

Understanding Blocked Senders

Blocking a sender hides future communications from that phone number while preserving your existing contact and conversation records.

It is important to understand the following:

• Blocking a sender does not delete the contact.
• Blocking a sender does not delete previous message history.
• Future inbound messages from the blocked number will not be stored.
• Blocked messages may still be subject to carrier messaging charges.

Blocking a Contact from a Conversation

1. Open the conversation with the contact you want to block.
2. Click the Block button.
3. Confirm the action if prompted.

The contact will immediately be added to your blocked senders list.

Blocking a Contact from the Address Book

1. Navigate to the Contacts section.
2. Select the contact you wish to block.
3. Open the contact details.
4. Click the Block button.
5. Confirm the action if prompted.

The contact will be added to your blocked senders list.

Blocking a Phone Number Manually

1. Navigate to My Profile.
2. Open the Blocked Senders section.
3. Enter the phone number you wish to block.
4. Click Block.

This method is useful when you want to block a number that is not already stored as a contact.

Viewing Blocked Senders

All blocked contacts and phone numbers can be viewed from the My Profile > Blocked Senders section.

Administrators and users can review blocked numbers periodically to ensure the list remains accurate and up to date.

Unblocking a Sender

If a sender was blocked by mistake, you can remove them from the blocked senders list.

1. Navigate to My Profile.
2. Open the Blocked Senders section.
3. Locate the phone number you wish to unblock.
4. Choose the option to remove or unblock the sender.

Once removed from the blocked senders list, future messages from that sender will again be received normally.

When Should You Block a Sender?

Consider blocking senders in situations such as:

• Spam text messages
• Telemarketing solicitations
• Repeated wrong-number messages
• Harassing or abusive communications
• Automated systems generating unwanted messages

Important Considerations

• Blocked messages are not stored and cannot be recovered.
• Review blocked numbers carefully before adding them.
• Blocking should not be used as a substitute for managing customer opt-out preferences.
• Exercise caution before blocking existing customers, patients, or business contacts.

Best Practices

• Use blocking primarily for spam and unwanted communications.
• Review your blocked senders list periodically.
• Document any business-related reason for blocking a customer or contact.
• Verify the phone number before blocking to avoid accidental communication issues.

Need Help?

If you need assistance managing blocked senders in Business SMS, please contact Nextgen Solutions support.