Conversational vs. marketing texting, and why the label matters.
Carriers classify your texting use case at registration. Picking the right one affects how reliably your messages get delivered.
When a number is registered with carriers, it's assigned a use case — broadly, conversational (one-to-one, customer-initiated, or transactional replies, like appointment reminders or a work-order update) versus marketing/broadcast (one-to-many promotional messages sent to a list).
Carriers generally treat these differently: marketing/broadcast traffic gets more scrutiny, stricter consent expectations, and lower default throughput (message-per-second sending limits), because it's the traffic most associated with spam. Conversational traffic, by contrast, typically sees better deliverability treatment.
The reason this matters practically: registering a number under the wrong use case — for example, sending broadcast-style blasts on a number registered as conversational — is a common way legitimate messages start getting filtered. Most TextBox customers' traffic (reminders, work orders, one-to-one replies) is naturally conversational, and registration should reflect that for the best delivery rates.
Not sure where your number stands?
We handle 10DLC, toll-free verification, and opt-out compliance for every TextBox number.