Using Hiya Connect Branded Call features requires that your content adhere to our technical requirements and content-related guidelines. These rules and restrictions ensure that your brand is properly represented and that call recipients are protected from misleading or inappropriate content.
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Formatting and technical requirements
Caller display name
- Must accurately identify the enterprise business or managed brand
- Abbreviations, acronyms, and truncations must directly correspond to the business name
- Cannot contain the name or branding for a third party company without either a Letter of Authorization from that business or Hiya notifying the business that their branding is being used. To arrange a Letter of Authorization, contact Hiya Support.
- Must not comprise an individual's name unless the business name is also included (e.g., "James Johnson" is not acceptable, but "James Johnson - Hiya" is acceptable)
- In cases where the business name is an individual's name, this must be clarified in the display name (e.g., "Alice Gray" and "Bob Green" are not acceptable, but "Alice Gray, Realtor", "Alice Gray Realty", and "Bob Green, CPA" are acceptable)
- May contain up to 32 characters, including spaces, punctuation, and special characters.
- Must not be a strictly numeric phone number
- Must not contain personally identifiable information (PII) of third parties
- Cannot solely contain or make excessive use of special characters such as commas, periods, exclamation points, etc. (e.g. "...." "Important!!!!!!" or "&*^^$%$#&*")
- Cannot contain web links
- Cannot contain advertisements or slogans
Caller image
- Can be a maximum size of 5 MB
- Can be in PNG, JPG, or GIF (non-animated) format
- Must have a minimum resolution of 600 x 600 pixels
- Must have 1:1 aspect ratio (square)
- Must have non-transparent background
- Must be a company logo, not a photo
Caller images are uploaded and managed in the image library.
Call reason
- Can be up to 50 characters
- Call reasons must provide the call recipient with context regarding the purpose of the call or additional information about the caller:
- Additional display details can include information such as department (e.g. Customer Service, Sales) or a representative name
- Cannot contain advertisements or slogans
- Rejection example: The best plumber in North America
- Cannot request or instruct caller to pick up the phone, answer call, or call back
- Rejection example: "We need to talk to you", "Pick up the phone to....", etc.
- Cannot contain personally identifiable information (PII) of third parties
- Cannot contain web links
- Cannot be in all capital letters
Managed brand
- Every Branded Call phone number must be linked to a managed brand
- Managed brands can only be assigned once Hiya and the brand representative have approved them
- A phone number is not fully processed until its brand has been verified and approved, and cannot be used for call branding while the brand is pending or disapproved
See Managed Brands for how brands are set up and approved, and Adding Branded Call phone numbers for how to assign one to a number.
Branded Call content guidelines
These content guidelines set out what is acceptable on Branded Call. They exist so that businesses can represent themselves accurately to call recipients, and so that the trust people place in a branded call is not undermined by misrepresentation, abusive messaging, or fraud.
Hiya retains the right to take action against content or enterprises that we believe, in our reasonable discretion, violate any properties of these content guidelines or our terms of service. In short, we will remove any content and/or suspend or terminate accounts that we believe violate our content guidelines.
As the nature of call content evolves and the features offered by Branded Call grow, we will update these content guidelines to adapt to new behaviors and risks. We will always keep the trust and safety of enterprises and consumers at the center of this policy.
Misrepresentation
Branded Call does not allow users to present themselves as another enterprise, person, or entity. We also prohibit enterprises from misrepresenting their enterprise to call recipients. Enterprises should use Branded Call to convey the caller's business name, caller image, and call reason accurately to the consumer to allow them to understand better whether or not to answer the call, not tricking them into picking up the phone.
Do:
- Clearly and accurately identify your business
Do not:
- Submit content for caller displays that your business does not have the right to use
- Pose as another business, person, or entity
- Misrepresent your business with the intent of misleading consumers
Fraud and scams
We prohibit using Branded Call to gain trust to illicitly extract resources from consumers. The spirit of this topic is that Hiya encourages Branded Call to be used as a legitimate business tool to connect enterprises with their customers or prospective customers. It should not be used by fraudsters or scammers to create an advantage over unwitting victims.
Do not:
- Use Branded Call with the intent to defraud, deceive, or scam call recipients for financial or other gain
Advertisements
We discourage users from using caller displays or call reasons as direct advertisements or promotions. The spirit of this topic is that these fields are meant to encourage call recipients to pick up their phone by giving them more information about the call, not to force advertisements onto their call screens.
Do:
- Use call reasons to encourage picking up the call, i.e. "Calling about a potential promotion related to your subscription!"
Do Not:
- Use call reasons as an unavoidable advertisement: i.e. "Get 25% off your next renewal by answering this call now!"
Safety
We believe in protecting consumers from being subjected to abusive, violent, hateful, or objectionable content. As a result, we prohibit any content on Branded Call that reflects any of the following themes: Abuse or Harassment, Violence, Hate Speech, or Objectionable Content. The spirit of this topic is to promote positive and productive brand messaging across the Branded Call service.
Do not:
- Submit content with profanity or illicit verbiage or imagery
- Use Branded Call services to promote violence or self-harm
- Use Branded Call as a service to amplify bullying or harassment or submit content with the intent of maliciously targeting an individual or group
Criminal behavior
The use of Branded Call for organizing illegal, criminal, or terrorist activities is strictly prohibited. The spirit of this topic is to ensure that Branded Call is not supporting actors who are trying to contact call recipients for nefarious, dangerous, or illegal purposes.
Do not:
- Use Branded Call to promote the sale or purchase of illegal drugs, contraband, counterfeit goods or illegal weapons
- Use Branded Call to organize activities for a criminal or terrorist organization