In many countries a text can arrive “from” a name instead of a number: 3 to 11 letters and digits, at least one letter, like ACMECORP. It looks professional and needs no phone number at all.
The two hard limits #
- Not in the US or Canada. Their carriers reject alphanumeric senders outright; use a registered number, toll-free number or short code there instead.
- Nobody can reply. Not even STOP. That makes a sender name fine for one-way notices (order updates, alerts) and a poor fit for marketing, which needs a working opt-out route. If you market with a sender name anyway, include another opt-out channel in the message and honour it by hand.
Some countries also require the name to be pre-registered with the local regulator before it delivers; Twilio’s page lists which: alphanumeric sender ID support by country.
Using one in TextBay #
Open the Twilio page, tick Enter a number or sender name manually and type the name. TextBay recognizes it as a sender name and reminds you of the limits right under the box. Because replies are impossible, the inbox has nothing to watch for it, and STOP-based opt-outs do not apply: see Handle opt-outs.