Why Your Notifications Are Killing Trust—And What Growth Marketers Can Do About It

Would you click on any of these?

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All flagged by your phone as “Likely Scam.” All dropped into the same SMS soup.

But here’s the thing: they’re not all scams.

One is a mental health service I actually use.One is a concert I signed up to get alerts for. And the middle one, okay, that one’s a little sketchy.

So why do they show up on the same "chatroom"? And what does that mean for brands that rely on SMS for user engagement, conversion, or trust?

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How Legit Brands Get Labeled "Likely Scam"

In Singapore (and many other countries), telcos partner with regulators to filter SMS messages. In SG, this means:

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Common Flags That Trip Up Real Brands:

• Unregistered Sender ID
• Shared SMS vendors used by both legit companies and scammers
• URL Shorteners like bit.ly, fanlink.to
• Vague, urgent-sounding copy without branding

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Who's the Likely Culprit?

Many SaaS companies and marketing teams use low-cost SMS gateways or shared aggregators.

Type: Shared Aggregators (e.g., Twilio resellers, Msg91)
Can mix traffic from fintech, events, and crypto scams

Type: Branded Gateways (e.g., Vonage, Sinch, Infobip)
More expensive, but allow for registration + clean traffic

In our case:

• BetterHelp session reminders
• Fred Again ticket drops (via an events company)
• A sketchy loan offer

...likely all used the same low-tier SMS aggregator. No sender registry entry. So iOS and Singtel lump them together.

Why This Is a UX Problem

Because it happens before your user even sees your product.
The trust is broken before the click.

Most teams think of UX as in-app:

• Is onboarding smooth?
• Do users convert?
• Are funnel drop-offs controlled?

But out-of-product experience matters just as much:

• What does your SMS preview look like?
• Is your sender ID verified?
• Does your notification match the user moment?

This is invisible UX debt. The moments your team doesn’t own—but should.

Brands Who Do Get It

• Shopify: Brand-named links and clear headers
• Duolingo: Pushes that are playful and on-brand
• Airbnb: Localized, branded SMS with recognizability

These teams design for the full journey, not just the app.

How to Fix This

Every growth marketer should do this before the next SMS campaign:

- Register Sender ID: Builds trust instantly, avoids random number sender

- Use Branded URLs: Avoids scam flagging; more recognizable (e.g. betterhelp.com)

- Prime Users In-App: Tell them what sender to expect—creates continuity

- Copy Like a Human: Avoid spammy CTAs, match tone to brand

- Use WhatsApp Business API: More trust in APAC; verified presence

Examples: Before vs After

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The Bigger Picture: Own Every Touchpoint

You may not think SMS is part of your product. But your user does.

When the first impression is a scam warning, you’re not just losing clicks. You’re bleeding trust.

And once you lose trust, no CTA or retargeting will win it back.

Growth marketers obsess over onboarding, CTRs, A/B tests.

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But it’s time to expand our UX mindset:

Own the notification channels as much as possible.
Brand your SMS.
Test out-of-product UX like it’s your funnel.

Because to your user, it is.

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