Ensuring TRAI SMS Compliance with Cuttly: sms.cutt.ly & Headers Guide

How Cuttly's sms.cutt.ly Domain Helps Ensure Compliance with TRAI’s New SMS Regulations: A Guide to Safe SMS Campaigns Using Headers

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The introduction of new regulations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) significantly changes how businesses should approach SMS marketing. Starting from October 1, 2024, TRAI’s rules aim to enhance consumer protection by preventing unauthorized and potentially harmful messages. If you're running SMS campaigns using links, you must ensure that the URL and HEADER are whitelisted to avoid message delivery failures. This guide will show you how to comply with TRAI’s rules using Cuttly's sms.cutt.ly domain and HEADER functionalities.

Why are TRAI’s New Regulations Important?

The primary goal of TRAI’s new regulations is to protect consumers from fraudulent messages that contain non-compliant links. Telecom operators are now required to block SMS messages that include URLs that have not been whitelisted. This applies to both static and dynamic URLs, meaning every sender must make sure that their headers and URLs are registered with the DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) platform used by telecom providers in India.

Failure to comply with these regulations could result in your SMS campaigns being blocked, severely affecting your business’s ability to engage with customers.

Why Use sms.cutt.ly?

Cuttly's sms.cutt.ly domain provides a generic solution for SMS link shortening that adheres to TRAI’s regulations. With sms.cutt.ly, users can:

Generate compliant, shortened URLs for SMS campaigns.

Use headers that meet the TRAI guidelines.

Example of a compliant URL structure using sms.cutt.ly:

https://sms.cutt.ly/HEADER/{dynamicShortLinkID}

Benefits include:

Compliance with TRAI: The sms.cutt.ly domain, combined with registered headers, ensures that your links meet TRAI’s requirements for whitelisting.

Ease of Use: Unlike custom domains, sms.cutt.ly is available immediately for SMS link shortening, without additional configuration.

Simplified Header Management: You can add and manage sms.cutt.ly with your headers easily in Cuttly, ensuring compliance for each campaign.

Understanding Header IDs and Their Role

To comply with TRAI, every SMS campaign must include a registered HEADER ID, a 6-character code that identifies the sender. This HEADER must be whitelisted on the DLT platform.

For instance: https://sms.cutt.ly/HEADER/abc123

In this example: https://sms.cutt.ly/HEADER/ iis the static portion of the URL that must be whitelisted.
abc123 is the dynamic part, generated uniquely for each instance.

The static part of the URL (e.g., https://sms.cutt.ly/HEADER/) must be submitted for whitelisting. The dynamic portion will vary for each message but does not affect compliance.

Client Responsibility for Compliance

Cuttly provides tools for managing headers using the sms.cutt.ly domain, but the responsibility for registering and whitelisting the HEADER and static URL on the DLT platform lies with the client. Clients must:

Register their HEADER ID with the DLT platform.

Ensure the HEADER are whitelisted with their telecom operator to guarantee smooth message delivery.

The HEADER and domain: sms.cutt.ly are linked, meaning that the HEADER identifies the sender, and the domain must be whitelisted for compliance.

How to Use the sms.cutt.ly Domain in Cuttly

Here's how it works:

Add the sms.cutt.ly Domain with a HEADER: In your Cuttly account, add the sms.cutt.ly domain just like you would with any custom domain. The format should be sms.cutt.ly/HEADER/, where HEADER is your valid SMS header.

Publicly Available Domain: The sms.cutt.ly domain is publicly available, meaning any user can add and use it. However, this requires at least a Team subscription plan to access this feature.

Add Multiple Headers: If you have multiple headers, you can add sms.cutt.ly multiple times, each with a different header. For each instance (e.g., sms.cutt.ly/HEADER1/, sms.cutt.ly/HEADER2/), you'll be able to create shortened links specific to those headers.

Subscription Limits: The same limits on the number of domains apply to sms.cutt.ly as they do for custom domains. Each addition of sms.cutt.ly/HEADER/ counts as a separate domain within your subscription plan.

Shorten Links: Once you've added the domain with the appropriate HEADER, you can start shortening links within the sms.cutt.ly domain, ensuring they comply with TRAI’s regulations for SMS campaigns.

Act Now to Stay Compliant

With the new TRAI regulations taking effect on October 1, 2024, businesses must act quickly to avoid disruptions. Using sms.cutt.ly, combined with compliant HEADER IDs, ensures smooth message delivery and compliance with TRAI’s new SMS rules.

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