Phone Scrub

What is Phone Scrubbing?

Phone Scrubbing is a method of validating phone numbers using Ushur's Validate Phone Number API. This process removes invalid and landline phone numbers from your campaign to prevent sending SMS messages to these numbers. You should use this process when sending two or more messages to a phone number, as the cost of phone scrubbing API and sending a single SMS is approximately the same.

Key Cost Considerations:

The Phone Scrub service validates phone number types using the Line Type Intelligence API and has the following pricing structure:

1. Phone number validation via Line Type Intelligence API: $0.008 per API request

2. SMS message transmission: $0.0079 per message

3. MMS message transmission: $0.03 to $0.07 per message

Phone scrubbing is recommended when sending two or more SMS messages or any MMS, as the validation cost is the same as sending one SMS.

Implementation

There are multiple methods for implementing phone scrubbing through your API. It can be performed as a one-off task, where the validated data is exported back to the customer, or integrated inline as part of your workflow.

Phone Scrub as a Service with Caching

Users can deploy a workflow by triggering a webhook connector that validates phone numbers. The validated results are stored in the Application Context (app-context). These results can be utilized to filter your records before sending or utilize as a data lookup table for inline lookup as part of your workflow.. We have a template called Phone Scrub as a Service with Caching, which performs the above actions using two approaches mentioned below:

One-Off Lookup

• The workflow collects the phone type through the webhook API, stores the data in the app-context, and exports the results in the Application Context for data preprocessing.

• This approach is suitable when you only need to validate phone numbers as a batch process without further automation.

Inline Lookup

Alternatively, you can call the Phone Scrub as Service workflow from your main workflow to perform phone validation in real-time.

• The system uses an outbound-inbound webhook connector to validate phone numbers.

• Results are stored in the app-context for future use.

• If the validated number is classified as invalid or a landline, the workflow can be terminated or adjusted based on the result.

Inline Validation

Inline validation can be implemented in two ways: either by using outbound-inbound webhook connectors to perform the validation or by integrating the phone number validation logic directly within the workflow itself.

• The API is called optimistically, allowing the campaign to proceed even if an API response is not immediately received.

• If a valid response indicates that the number is either a landline or invalid, the workflow will terminate or adjust based on the response.

• All results are stored in metadata tables to support dashboards and reporting, providing insights into campaign performance and execution.

Considerations

1. Inline Usage

• When using inline validation, either as part of the workflow or through an outbound-inbound webhook integration, it's crucial to consider the size and volume of the campaign.

• For very large campaigns, it's recommended to validate phone numbers before the launch to ensure the data is validated, and ready to be sent by the scheduled launch time.

2. Caching

• When caching phone number validation results, it is crucial to invalidate the cache within a maximum of 45 days, with an optimal range of 10 to 20 days. This is because phone numbers can be reassigned between mobile and landline.

• In the case of someone disconnecting their phone, carriers are required to hold the number for at least 45 days. However, phone number transfers between devices can occur instantly without any delay.