Platform and texting FAQ

Short answer: Blackleaf is a customer messaging platform for regulated retailers. It combines SMS/MMS campaigns, automations, two-way messaging, audience management, landing pages, reporting, and content tools.

Short answer: Blackleaf is designed primarily for dispensaries and other regulated retailers that need consent-based customer messaging at scale.

Short answer: Blackleaf supports messaging programs in the United States and Canada. Sender types, registration, content rules, and carrier behavior depend on destination and account configuration.

Short answer: Core tools include contacts and lists, one-time and automated campaigns, SMS/MMS, landing pages, a shared inbox, reporting, AI-assisted images, integrations, billing, numbers, and account settings.

Short answer: No. Blackleaf provides platform controls and general guidance, but your organization is responsible for legal advice and lawful operation.

Short answer: Use Blackleaf System Status. If no incident is shown and the problem is account-specific, contact Support.

Short answer: You need an active account, an approved sender, a lawfully consented audience, a recipient list, compliant content, and enough balance or billing capacity.

Short answer: Unverified or newly configured programs may be reviewed before sending. Review can cover business identity, registration, consent flow, sender setup, and content.

Short answer: Open Support in the platform or use the public Support page. Include the campaign, approximate time, example recipient, and visible status-but never a password or API key.

Short answer: Yes. Account administrators can manage users. Limit access to people who need it and give each person their own credentials.

Short answer: Yes. A test helps confirm the rendered body, variables, image, link, sender, and handset experience. A successful test does not guarantee delivery to every recipient.

Short answer: A contact is a customer record that can contain a phone number, name, email, customer ID, subscription state, activity, loyalty, and transaction fields. Available data depends on its source.

Short answer: A list is a selectable audience definition. A contact may qualify for multiple lists, but should not receive duplicate copies merely because those lists overlap.

Short answer: Yes. Imports match a usable phone first; without one they can match email, and a customer ID can also match. A match updates the record instead of intentionally creating another contact.

Short answer: Not when the upload action is “None.” Imports can explicitly set contacts to “Subscribed” or “Unsubscribed,” so never choose “Set as Subscribed” without valid, documented authority to restore consent.

Short answer: Blackleaf uses a valid cleaned phone when available, otherwise a valid email, and can also match a mapped customer ID. Matching depends on correctly mapped identifiers.

Short answer: Blackleaf cleans common formatting and marks numbers that fail basic validation as invalid. They cannot receive a text.

Short answer: No. A phone number in a CSV, POS, order, or customer record is not by itself proof of SMS consent.

Short answer: It imports or updates mapped customer data without intentionally changing subscription state. Use it for ordinary data refreshes.

Short answer: They explicitly change subscription state for imported or matched rows. “Subscribed” requires valid consent; “Unsubscribed” places the contact in the opted-out state.

Short answer: Lists can contain opted-out, invalid, duplicated, recently messaged, or otherwise ineligible contacts. The campaign estimate reflects applicable filtering.

Short answer: Yes. Contacts supports exports including all, active/subscribed, and unsubscribed records. Treat every export as sensitive customer data.

Short answer: No. Unsubscribing records a do-not-message state. Deleting is data management and must not erase or bypass an opt-out.

Short answer: Text only people for whom you have the consent required for the sender, message type, jurisdiction, and campaign. A purchased list, uploaded number, or transaction is not automatically enough.

Short answer: The number is recorded as opted out and should be suppressed from future messages for the applicable program. Do not bypass this with an upload, list, or new campaign.

Short answer: Do not send further marketing messages unless they later complete a valid re-opt-in. Any permitted confirmation must be limited to confirming the opt-out and contain no marketing.

Short answer: They must take a new valid opt-in action for the program. Do not treat an import, purchase, login, or staff edit as re-consent unless it is backed by the required consent record.

Short answer: Marketing programs should provide clear opt-out instructions at the frequency and in the form required by the program, carrier rules, and applicable law.

Short answer: Keep the phone number, date/time, exact disclosure, action, source, program or brand, and later opt-out or re-opt-in events. Set retention requirements with counsel.

Short answer: No. The sender remains responsible for consent, content, timing, disclosures, regulated-product rules, and applicable law.

Short answer: Quiet hours are times when marketing texts should not be sent under applicable rules or policy. Requirements vary by location and can change.

Short answer: A campaign defines an audience, message, sender, destination, timing, and reporting context for a group of messages.

Short answer: A sendable campaign needs a valid recipient list plus the required sender, content, destination, and scheduling data for its type. The composer identifies missing or invalid fields.

Short answer: It sends the configured message to the eligible audience once, immediately or at the scheduled time.

Short answer: It sends when configured customer or system events meet its rules, rather than launching one fixed audience once.

Short answer: The composer can exclude contacts messaged today or in the last 48 hours, 72 hours, or 7 days. The selected exclusion is applied while building the audience.

Short answer: Blackleaf stops eligible queued work and changes campaign status. Messages already handed to a carrier, in transit, or delivered cannot be recalled.

Short answer: Some data can remain editable, but changes cannot rewrite messages already submitted to carriers. Pause when appropriate, verify what remains, and test revisions.

Short answer: It sends the current rendered message to the test recipient and reports server delivery data such as status, sender, recipient, body, image, link, and cost when available. It does not launch the campaign.

Short answer: It validates content against Blackleaf’s current checks. A pass does not guarantee carrier acceptance, delivery, or legal compliance.

Short answer: Counts change when lists, exclusions, subscription state, phone validity, duplicate resolution, or source customer data changes.

Short answer: Draft is not launched; scheduled waits for send time; sending is processing; paused halts eligible queued work; completed finished processing; stopped was ended. Individual messages can have different outcomes.

Short answer: SMS is text-only carrier messaging. Long content and some characters can split one visible text into multiple billable segments.

Short answer: MMS can include an image with text. Device, carrier, destination, media, and sender support can affect delivery.

Short answer: GSM-7 SMS fits up to 160 characters in one segment and generally 153 per joined segment. UCS-2 content fits 70 in one and generally 67 per joined segment.

Short answer: One non-GSM character can change the entire SMS to UCS-2, which has less capacity. Emoji, smart quotes, long dashes, and accented characters are common causes.

Short answer: Yes. Substituted values can produce a different final length and segment count for each recipient. Leave room for realistic values and test.

Short answer: The composer can insert first name, last name, points, lifetime points, loyalty level, date of birth, weekday, and day of month. A value requires usable contact data.

Short answer: Common causes include an invalid or unreachable number, unsupported destination, opt-out, missing registration, carrier filtering, blocked content or links, sender setup, media failure, balance, or network/provider error.

Short answer: No. Delivered means the downstream network reported delivery. SMS/MMS generally does not provide a reliable read receipt.

Short answer: Sent was accepted for downstream processing; in transit awaits a final result; delivered received a positive receipt; failed or undelivered did not complete delivery. Exact detail comes from the returned status.

Short answer: No. Blackleaf validates and submits eligible messages, but carriers and devices make downstream decisions. Good consent, registration, content, and data improve outcomes without guaranteeing them.

Short answer: Yes. Supported links can be shortened or tracked and report clicks. A click is link activity, not proof of a purchase.

Short answer: 10DLC is the U.S. application-to-person channel using 10-digit long-code numbers. It registers the business identity (“brand”) and messaging use case (“campaign”).

Short answer: Carriers require U.S. business traffic over local 10-digit numbers to have a registered sender and use case. Registration makes the sender and purpose traceable.

Short answer: The brand is the verified legal entity responsible for the program. Submitted identity data must match authoritative business records.

Short answer: It is the registered use case associated with a brand, including message purpose, opt-in/out flow, samples, and program details.

Short answer: Common reasons include mismatched legal data, unverifiable web presence, unclear opt-in language, missing policies, inconsistent samples, or a use case mismatch.

Short answer: Timing varies with verification, review, and corrections. Use the status in Blackleaf or ask Support for the current account-specific state.

Short answer: No. Registration identifies the sender and use case. Every recipient still needs the required consent, and opt-outs must be honored.

Short answer: For regulated campaigns, Blackleaf uses the gate to confirm that the visitor is the person the message was intended for before revealing the campaign destination.

Short answer: No. Blackleaf’s gate is an identity check, not an age determination. It asks the visitor to recognize the birthday associated with the intended recipient record before opening the message.

Short answer: Birthday is a practical detail the intended recipient previously supplied and can recognize, so it can help match the visitor to the customer record without asking them to enter additional information.

Short answer: No. Identity confirmation and SMS consent are separate. Passing the gate does not subscribe someone to messages.

Short answer: The campaign uses the age-gate link domain selected in the landing-page toolbar. Available domains depend on account configuration.

Short answer: Do not bypass the approved identity-gated workflow for content that requires it. If you believe a campaign does not need the gate, ask Support before sending.

Short answer: Check the selected domain, destination mode, landing or redirect content, button URL, and save state. Send a test, then check System Status or Support.

Short answer: Landing Page shows the campaign’s hosted image and/or HTML after the age gate. Redirect sends the visitor to the configured destination URL after the gate.

Short answer: It can contain a landing image, custom HTML, and a call-to-action button with a label and URL. Keep content mobile-friendly and compliant.

Short answer: Yes. A landing image can be used without custom HTML. Add a button when the visitor needs a clear next action.

Short answer: It is the destination opened by the call-to-action button. Test the full URL on a phone and make the label accurately describe the action.

Short answer: A view is recorded when tracked content loads; a click is recorded for supported tracked actions. Repeat visits, privacy tools, blocked scripts, and sharing can affect counts.

Short answer: No. Preview shows current content, including draft content where supported. The campaign still needs the normal save and launch actions.

Short answer: An automation sends when a qualifying event or customer condition occurs. Examples include lifecycle, loyalty, birthday, order, win-back, and review workflows.

Short answer: It should not. Opt-out and eligibility checks still apply. An operational trigger is not permission to send marketing content.

Short answer: It is the delay between a qualifying event and the attempted send. Consider data arrival, timing, time zones, and quiet hours.

Short answer: Use a controlled contact and event. Verify trigger, delay, variables, sender, links, opt-out behavior, and delivery before broad activation.

Short answer: The event may not match, a delay may be active, the contact may be ineligible, data may be missing, the automation may be disabled, or validation/delivery may have failed.

Short answer: The Inbox is the shared workspace for inbound and outbound customer conversations on connected messaging numbers.

Short answer: Replies to supported connected numbers can appear in the shared Inbox so authorized team members can respond.

Short answer: Do not send marketing or conversational replies that bypass an opt-out. Use the system handling and escalate a genuinely necessary support response when unclear.

Short answer: Carrier processing, number configuration, provider delays, unsupported sender types, filtering, or an incident can delay it. Check status, then Support.

Short answer: It groups generation history, settings, selected brand, references, and outputs for a creative workflow.

Short answer: Yes. Reusing a project also reuses its context, so verify its selected brand and references before generating.

Short answer: Brand selects the identity and saved assets the project should use. Confirm it when an account serves multiple locations or brands.

Short answer: The workflow can create assets such as MMS, sales-flyer or landing images, and supported social formats. Options depend on current configuration.

Short answer: Use the add/use control. An MMS result can become the campaign MMS image; a landing or sales-flyer result can become the landing image.

Short answer: No. Review spelling, dates, prices, products, logos, rights, regulated content, disclaimers, and mobile rendering before use.

Short answer: Depending on the connector, Blackleaf can receive customer, transaction, loyalty, order, product, and event data. Fields and timing vary by integration.

Short answer: Not always. Timing depends on the connector, source, data type, and processing state. Use the integration’s documented cadence for time-sensitive rules.

Short answer: Blackleaf matches available identifiers, but missing, changed, shared, or inconsistent identifiers can produce separate records. Names alone are not unique.

Short answer: No. Customer/transaction data and SMS consent are separate.

Short answer: Use the public Blackleaf API documentation. Keep credentials secret and never put a key in browser code, a public repository, or an FAQ.

Short answer: Use Blackleaf Pricing for current plans, rates, fees, features, and billing options. This FAQ does not freeze changing prices.

Short answer: The subscription covers plan access. SMS/MMS usage is based on messages or segments under published plan rates; other current fees appear on Pricing.

Short answer: Estimate uses the current audience, type, segments, and rate. Actual cost reflects final recipients, rendered segments, message type, and processing.

Short answer: A long body or UCS-2 character can split one visible text into multiple billable segments per recipient.

Short answer: The current Pricing page states carrier fees are included in published SMS/MMS rates. Check that page for current terms.

Short answer: No. It is a separate sender-program setup item. Current registration and compliance fees are on Pricing.

Short answer: It depends on when and why it failed and what downstream processing occurred. Use actual campaign cost and billing records; ask Support if unclear.

Short answer: Campaign details can show recipients, cost, sent, in transit, delivered, failed, clicks, and views. Performance can include transactions, revenue, purchasing recipients, and opt-outs when data is available.

Short answer: Delivery receipts arrive asynchronously. Messages can move from sent or in transit to delivered, failed, or undelivered later.

Short answer: Some messages may remain queued/in transit or await receipts. Recheck after processing and inspect remaining pending items.

Short answer: A click is a request through a supported tracked link. It is not necessarily a unique person, store visit, or purchase.

Short answer: A view is a tracked load of supported content. Privacy controls, repeats, sharing, and blocked tracking can affect it.

Short answer: Eligible transaction data is associated with campaign recipients under configured reporting logic. It is an analytical association, not proof the message alone caused a purchase.

Short answer: POS/customer data may be delayed, unmatched, unavailable, or outside reporting logic. Confirm integration health and identifiers before treating blank as zero.

Short answer: Only data your organization is authorized to use and Blackleaf needs for the workflow. Avoid unnecessary sensitive information.

Short answer: Treat them as sensitive customer data. Use approved storage, limit access, transmit securely, and delete local copies under your retention policy.

Short answer: No. Never send passwords, full API keys, session tokens, or payment details in support or chat. Support does not need your password.

Short answer: Revoke or rotate it immediately, limit affected access, and contact Support with non-secret incident details.

Short answer: Use the current Privacy Policy and Terms. Send account-specific privacy requests through Support.

Short answer: No list may be selected, or all contacts may be invalid, opted out, duplicated, recently messaged, or excluded. Review audience and exclusion counts.

Short answer: The body, link, image, destination, or regulated content may violate a current check or be incomplete. Use the returned reason, correct it, and validate again.

Short answer: Confirm the test number, sender, content, image, balance, and returned test status. The device may be unreachable or the carrier may filter or delay it.

Short answer: It may be unavailable, unsupported, too large for the route, incorrectly formatted, blocked in validation, or still processing. Reopen it, validate, and test.

Short answer: Custom HTML, fixed widths, large assets, external styles, or browser differences can change rendering. Use responsive content and test the actual age-gate link.

Short answer: Final carrier receipts may be pending or processing delayed. Check status, wait for receipts, and contact Support if it remains unusually long.

Short answer: Provide organization, affected campaign/feature, time and time zone, reproduction steps, visible error/status, and one example destination when useful. Remove unrelated customer data and all secrets.