Two ways SMS DND gets switched on
HighLevel turns on SMS DND when a contact sends an opt-out keyword. It also turns it on by itself after provider errors 30003, 30004, 30005 or 30006, with no action from the contact at all.
The record doesn't always make that difference clear. HighLevel's help reads a DND credited to the contact as coming from the person contacted. In our own work we've seen the activity line read 'DnD enabled by customer' right after a 30005 failure, with no inbound reply anywhere in the conversation. HighLevel has changed these labels before, so check what your screen shows.
'By customer' on the activity line is not proof that the customer opted out.
What 30005 actually means
Twilio labels 30005 as an unknown destination handset. A number that no longer exists is one possible cause. Others are a phone that's off, a weak signal, a line type that can't take texts, and an issue at the mobile carrier.
So 30005 makes a dead number possible, not certain. Before you write the contact off, check which of those it is.
Failed number or real opt-out? How to tell
Start from the DND event and read backwards.
- Open the contact's conversation and find the SMS DND event.
- Read the message immediately before it. If that message failed with a carrier code such as 30005, the DND can have come from the failure rather than the contact.
- Look for an inbound message from the contact. An opt-out keyword arrives as something they sent; a failure-triggered DND has no reply in front of it.
- Check the SMS DND reason on the contact record before you treat it as an opt-out.
- For 30005, check the number's format and whether that line can receive texts.
Rather have it set up for you?
We go through the contacts on SMS DND, separate failed numbers from real opt-outs and fix the records, starting with a 30-minute 1:1 with Rob.
Turning texting back on, and when not to
DND can block selected channels rather than all of them, so SMS can be off while another channel stays open. Look at which channels the record has blocked before deciding the contact is unreachable.
Temporary SMS DND can be changed in the contact record. Do that only once you've confirmed the number is right and the DND came from a failure, not from the person.
Permanent SMS DND is different. It needs the contact to opt in again, or HighLevel Support to review evidence of their opt-in. Until one of those happens, respect it. This isn't legal advice.
Mistakes that bring it back
Each of these either drops a reachable contact or texts one who said no:
- Reading the 'by customer' label as a confirmed opt-out and dropping a contact whose number only failed.
- Treating every 30005 as a dead number, when the phone may have been off or the carrier at fault.
- Clearing DND on a contact who did opt out.
- Leaving a badly formatted number on the record, so the next text fails the same way.