Glossary

The essentials

Callify number — the toll-free number customers call and text. The one you put on your website, packing slips and receipts.

Forwarding number — the phone that actually rings when someone calls your Callify number. Usually your mobile. Customers never see it.

Destination number — the same thing as your forwarding number. This is the label used in Settings → Phone Number.

Toll-free number — a number starting 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877 or 888. Free for the caller, works across the US and Canada.

Calls

Call screening — Callify tells you a call is from your store and asks you to press a key before connecting it. Stops your personal voicemail from swallowing calls you didn’t take. → Call screening

Call recording — saving the audio of calls you answered, with a written transcript. Both parties hear an announcement first. → Call recording

Transcript — a call or voicemail written out as text, so you can read it instead of listening. Call transcripts are split by speaker, labelled Caller and You.

Business hours — the weekly schedule deciding whether a call rings your phone or goes to voicemail. → Business hours

Holiday schedule — exceptions to that weekly schedule for specific dates. Holidays override your weekly hours. → Holidays

Inbound / Outbound — a call to your Callify number is inbound; one placed from it is outbound.

Call statuses

Completed — you answered and spoke to the caller.

Missed — nobody took it. Either you were closed, or you didn’t accept a screened call, or the phone didn’t answer.

Canceled — the caller hung up before anything was decided.

Failed — the call couldn’t be completed, usually a carrier problem.

Calling — in progress right now.

Voicemail

Greeting — what callers hear before the beep. Either the default synthesised message or one you recorded yourself.

New / Listened — a voicemail is New until you play it. Reading the transcript doesn’t change it.

Text messages

SMS — a text message.

Segment — the unit texts are counted in. A plain message holds 160 characters per segment; one with an emoji or accented character holds only 70. A long message is split into several segments and counts as several. → How usage is counted

Thread / Conversation — all the messages between your number and one outside number, in one place.

Carrier registration (also toll-free verification) — the one-time submission telling mobile carriers who you are, so they’ll deliver your texts. Without it, sending is blocked. → Register your number

Carrier — the mobile network a phone is on: Verizon, Rogers, T-Mobile. Carriers, not Callify, decide whether a text gets delivered.

Opt-in / Consent — a customer’s permission to be texted. Required by carriers and by US law. → Permission and opt-outs

Opt-out / STOP — a customer texting STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, QUIT, END, OPTOUT) removes their permission immediately. They can return by texting START.

A2P — “application-to-person”: messages sent by a business through software rather than typed on a phone. Everything Callify sends is A2P, which is why registration applies.

10DLC — the US registration scheme for business texting on ordinary local numbers. Mentioned in some carrier error messages; toll-free numbers use the toll-free route instead.

Message statuses

Sending — on its way to the carrier.

Sent — the carrier accepted it.

Delivered — it reached the handset.

Not delivered — accepted but undeliverable. Phone off, out of range, or blocking you.

Failed — never sent at all. A reason is shown.

Billing

Plan — your monthly subscription: Starter, Growth or Business. Each includes an allowance of minutes and messages. → Plans and pricing

Included minutes / messages — your monthly allowance. Resets each billing period, doesn’t roll over.

Overage — usage beyond your allowance, charged per minute or per message at your plan’s rate.

Spending cap — the most you can be billed in overage in one period, on top of your plan price. → Your spending cap

Billing period — the 30 days Shopify bills on. Not a calendar month, so your period might run the 14th to the 13th.

Usage charge — an overage line on your Shopify bill. Added through the period as it accrues, so several small lines is normal.

Shopify terms

Embedded app — an app that runs inside your Shopify admin rather than on its own website. Callify is one.

Protected customer data — Shopify’s category for customer names, emails and addresses. Apps need explicit approval to display it, which is why you may see “Customer name hidden.” → Privacy and your data

Development store — a test store created through a Shopify Partner account. Can’t be charged, so Callify can’t set up a number on one.