5-Digit vs. 10-Digit Texting Numbers: What to Expect in Yapi Leap
If you're new to Yapi Leap but you've used Yapi Classic (our desktop application) or the Practice Online Portal (our classic web application), you may be accustomed to texts sending from a 5-digit phone number instead of a regular 10-digit one. The 5-digit number is what's called a short code and Yapi Classic still uses it for some for some features for practices in the United States. Over time, though, we've been transitioning features to use a 10-digit number instead. You'll find that all Leap features use a 10-digit number to text patients - one that you select yourself.
Below is more detailed information about how and when Yapi still uses short code and when it doesn't.
Yapi Classic text using short code vs. Yapi Leap text using a 10-digit phone number
What Is a Short Code?
A short code is a special 5-digit phone number, pre-approved by phone carriers so messages don't get flagged as spam. Short code is commonly used for sending large amounts of texts at once and while most companies use it for marketing, Yapi's dedicated short code number is used to send 1:1 patient texts from the Yapi Classic Dashboard (our desktop application) as well as 1:1 patient texts and payment requests from Yapi's Practice Online Portal (our Classic web application).
Leap doesn't use short code at all; it uses a regular 10-digit phone number of your choice.
The Move to 10-Digit Phone Numbers
In an effort to bring you continued excellent service, we've switched to the use of 10-digit numbers for all outgoing texts in our new Yapi Leap platform. While we've had plenty of success with our 5-digit short code, we're moving to 10-digit numbers to make sure our service continues to be reliable as we grow and to lay the groundwork for more exciting features down the line. Once you've set up a Text Message Number in Leap and it's been verified, your texts from Leap will send from your dedicated 10-digit number.
Which features use 5-digit short code and which use a 10-digit number?
Essentially, all of the features within Yapi Leap (our newest web app) use 10-digit phone numbers and a few features in Yapi Classic (our desktop application and POP, our older web app) still use short code. Here's a helpful list:
Features Using 10-Digit Phone Numbers:
Appointment reminders sent from Yapi Leap or the desktop Dashboard*
Recall (hygiene) reminders
New patient welcome texts
Form requests sent from Yapi Leap
Individual texts sent from Yapi Leap
Mass texts sent from Yapi Leap
Review requests
Features Using 5-Digit Short Code:
Payment requests
Mass texts sent from POP (Practice Online Portal)
Individual texts sent from the desktop Dashboard or from POP
* You should only have Appointment Reminders set up in one platform - the classic Dashboard or Leap - but not both. And we strongly recommend using reminders in Leap, since they're the latest and greatest!
The great thing is that when you use Leap to communicate with a patients, all their texts show up in the same thread for you: you'll see all the messages that were sent to them regardless of what platform they were sent from and which number was used.
Note
Is your texting number set up in Leap? Follow the steps in Setting Up a Text Message Number to check. And if you want to use your office's phone number for texting,
Best Practices for Communicating with Patients
Give New Patients a Heads Up - When booking new patients, let them know what number they can expect texts from. (If you're unsure of the text number your practice has set up in Leap, trying sending a test text to yourself!) Many text templates that come installed with Yapi Leap already include your practice's name, but it always helps to speak with your patients directly about it.
Ask Patients to Save the Number - Once a patient receives a text from you through Yapi, they should save the number to their contacts under your practice name. This way, they only need to think about it once and will know exactly when they're getting a message from you in the future.