Custom SMS sender name
A custom sender name is the name customers see as the sender of your SMS messages, such as your store's name. You need an approved one to send abandoned cart reminders and SMS campaigns, and the communications pages show the sender name in use on their SMS Sender name card. You buy it as a yearly service from the Custom sender name page. Until you have one, order messages go out under Zid's shared sender name, ZeSTORE.
Open the Custom sender name page
The page has no entry in the Settings sidebar. Open it from any of these:
Customize on the SMS Sender name card, in Order notifications, Abandoned cart reminders and review notifications.
Activate on the SMS status card, shown when SMS is not set up yet.
See pricing and info in the message that appears when you create an abandoned cart reminder without a sender name.
Before you buy
The Information on the custom sender name card lists the conditions:
You need a commercial registration and an official stamp in the name of your business.
Activation is reviewed by the Zid team and may take longer because of regulatory checks by the SMS provider (Unifonic).
The sender name fee is separate from your SMS balance; recharging your balance does not cover it.
The sender name is renewed every year.
Buy a custom sender name
Open the Custom sender name page.
Under Pricing, choose the option that covers the countries you send to. Options cover Saudi Arabia only, the UAE only, other GCC countries, or Saudi Arabia together with the GCC, and each shows its price.
Click Proceed to checkout and complete the payment.
After you pay, the Zid team reviews your request.
Send the registration documents
Sender names are registered with the communications regulator through Zid's SMS provider, so Zid needs documents from your business after you pay. Zid emails you the required forms at the email address registered with Zid, then checks your documents against the regulator's requirements and submits the request for you.
Fill in every form completely, don't change the wording of any contract, and write only the information each form asks for.
Private sector businesses in Saudi Arabia
Fill in these five documents:
Beneficiary representative authorization form: follow the notes printed under the form.
Print the authorization on your business letterhead.
Name one authorized person only.
Have the owner of the business sign it.
Set the contract end date to a date in the next year.
Sender name registration and activation contract:
Enter your business details in the customer section.
Record the sender name activation fee and your bank account details.
Sign and stamp the contract.
Proof of contract form:
Fill it in for your type of entity (private company or charity), with the company name and its unified number.
Sign and stamp it. The contract start date is the date you sign the documents, and the end date is one year after it.
Sender name form:
Read the sender name instructions in the form carefully before you choose your name. See Choose a name that can be approved.
Attach your commercial registration.
Authorization letter: it authorizes Zid to deal with Unifonic, the SMS provider, on everything about your sender name and SMS packages. Print it on your business letterhead, sign and stamp it, then have it certified by the Chamber of Commerce. The certification is done online on the Chamber of Commerce portal.
See the private sector forms and how to fill them in.
Charities in Saudi Arabia
Fill in the same forms, and attach:
The charity's license.
The license number.
The sender name form takes the charity's registration certificate in place of a commercial registration. See the charity forms and how to fill them in.
Government bodies in Saudi Arabia
Government bodies fill in their own version of the forms. Print the authorization on the government body's letterhead, name one authorized person, have the head of the body sign it, and set the contract end date to a date in the next year.
Other Gulf countries
For a sender name in another Gulf country, fill in the documents for the package you bought, and attach a copy of the owner's passport and of the registration or license:
| Where you send and what you hold | What to attach | Forms |
|---|---|---|
| The UAE, with a Saudi commercial registration | A copy of the registration owner's passport and of the commercial registration | UAE with a Saudi registration |
| The UAE, with a UAE commercial registration | The other Gulf documents, the registration owner's passport and the registration | UAE with a UAE registration |
| Kuwait, with a Kuwaiti trade license | The other Gulf documents, the license owner's passport and the trade license | Kuwait |
| Oman, with an Omani commercial registration | The other Gulf documents, the registration owner's passport and the registration | Oman |
Choose a name that can be approved
Pick a sender name that clearly relates to your business name and activity as they appear in your commercial registration. If it doesn't, for example when you use a brand name, attach a document that proves the link, such as a trademark registration certificate or another document issued by a government body. A Maroof certificate is not accepted as proof.
Promotional SMS, such as event offers or discount codes, can only be sent from a custom sender name that ends in AD, such as MyStore-AD, under the Communications, Space and Technology Commission's rules. Sending promotional content from your regular sender name can get it suspended.
Renew your sender name
A sender name stays active for one year.
Renewal reminders
Before your sender name expires, the authorized person gets reminders from Jabber, the system approved by the communications regulator. A text message arrives 30 days before the name stops, and another 7 days before.
Jabber also emails the address written in the authorization letter. If the registration lapses, its email says the name is suspended and will be deleted after 90 days without payment.
Renew
Open the Custom sender name page and buy the sender name again under Pricing.
After you pay, you get a link to the regulator's approved documents. Fill them in completely and correctly so the request can go to the SMS provider.
See the renewal letters for the private sector and for charities.
If your sender name expires
Your SMS messages, including customers' verification codes, go out under Zid's shared sender name until you renew.
If the renewal fee isn't paid, the name is deleted from the regulator's system after 90 days.
Follow your sender name status
The status of your sender name appears next to SMS Sender name in the SMS channel of review notifications. It is one of No sender name, Ready, Pending, Approved or Set by back office.
No sender name means you have not bought one yet.
Approved means your sender name is active and ready to use.
Any other status means your sender name is not approved yet. Abandoned cart reminders then show a message that your sender name is under review.
Until your sender name is Approved, you cannot select SMS when you create an abandoned cart reminder, and the Customize button on the SMS Sender name card stays disabled.
Top up your SMS balance
The sender name and the messages you send are paid separately. To add SMS messages, click + on the Sms balance card in any communications page, choose a package in Topup balance, and click Proceed to checkout.
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