What is Branded Calling?
Branded Calling is a Voice Trust Product that enables our customers to provide a Display Name, Call Reason, and Logo to on most terminating handset (no app required) when outbound calls are made from Twilio numbers.
How do I Onboard to Branded Calling ?
Please review Branded Calling Onboarding in Twilio Console .
Which Branded Calling Capabilities are we currently supporting ?
Today, we are only supporting Display Name. We have not announced estimated timing for Call Reason and Logo.
What are the prerequisites for Branded Calling?
Customers must have an approved Customer Profile and Voice Integrity Trust Product set up (both free) before completing the Branded Calling Trust Product. Display Names must be associated with the legal business name (or DBA) in the Customer Profile.
If a customer would like to use different Display Names, they must use different numbers and a separate Branded Calling Trust Product bundle per Display Name. Multiple Branded Calling Trust Product bundles can be associated with a single Voice Integrity Trust Product bundle.
Where is Branded Calling supported?
United States
What is the Carrier/Handset Coverage?
There is no handset dependency for Branded Calling. The Display Name is rendered by the terminating operator on most mobile handsets.
As for carriers, Twilio is Fully integrated with T-Mobile and Verizon and we are working on integration with AT&T .
Display Name character Limit
Verizon - Max 15 chars
T-Mobile - Max 32 chars
Display Name Requirements
The Display Name should match the official legal name or brand name or DBA name linked to the business profile (either Primary or Secondary). It is also acceptable to use as the Display Name the legal name/DBA name of the business together with a name of the department or similar e.g. : Twilio Support / Twilio Inventory etc.
In addition to matching the legal name, the display name must:
(1)The Display name must follow the Twilio AUP
(2)The Caller Display Name shall not be fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading to a Consumer and shall not endorse violence, contain profanity, or contain hate speech.
(3)The Display Name shall not contain SHAFT content even if this is part of the legal name. Examples of SHAFT content are:
Sex
Hate
Alcohol
Firearms
Tobacco
(4)The Display Name shall never contain the following:
FBI
Social Security Administration
Government
Police
Medicare
Can I update the Display Name once the Branded Calling has been set up and approved?
Please see Update Branded Calling short name long name for a Pre-approved Bundle
How is Branded Calling different from CNAM?
Twilio recommends branding on both Branded Calling and CNAM to improve answer rates. CNAM is generally available on landlines, while Branded Calling is available for recipients of mobile calls.
Want to know more?
CNAM stands for Caller ID Name. CNAM is a legacy feature in the United States public telephone network developed in the 1990’s that identifies an incoming caller by a personal or business name associated with the originating phone number (or Caller ID). Branded Calling addresses two decades long challenges with the CNAM system.
Data inconsistencies: CNAM involves the terminating carrier looking up the name associated with the originating phone number at the time it receives the call to display it on the terminating handset. However, the terminating operator acquires the name data from any of 8 decentralized CNAM databases for a fee, creating a perverse incentive to minimize costs and resulting in data integrity issues (e.g. frequent problems with stale, inconsistent data).
Consumer reach: CNAM is often bundled in landline service but it is typically offered as a premium service in mobile offerings. Since mobile phones natively display contact list names at the time of receiving a call, consumers find limited value in purchasing CNAM. For this reason, CNAM penetration among mobile users is believed to be less than 20%. Branded Calling currently reaches around 53% of US mobile users (VZW + T-Mobile), and will reach 99% of US mobile users once AT&T distribution is secured in 2024.
Branded Calling resolves the shortcomings of CNAM by transmitting display name from the originating operator to the terminating operator in real time ensuring accurate branding. It puts the originator in control of their branding. Branded Calling also reaches all mobile handsets where most consumers receive their calls.
What costs are associated with Branded Calling?
$0.12/call is list price
How soon does Branded Calling start working once customer onboards?
After submission of the Branded Calls bundle, Twilio will review and approve the customer for Branded Calls typically within 24-48 hours . The next step is for carriers to register the number for branding on their systems which can be immediate but allow up to 7 days if carrier partners have additional processing that needs to be done .
Is Branded Calls HIPAA Eligible ?
No, Branded Calling is not a HIPAA Eligible Service. The Branded Calling product only has access to the Customer business information for Display Name verification. The information only pertains to the customer, not End Users so normal use of the product should not contain PHI. The End User component (End User phone number) would be addressed under Programmable Voice. As always, our Customers should determine whether their specific use of Twilio products would trigger any additional legal requirements and compliance obligations.
Support Documentation :
Announcing Public Beta Availability of Twilio's Branded Calling