Shape Phone Validation lets you verify phone numbers in bulk directly from your CRM, helping your team identify invalid numbers before spending time trying to contact them.
Whether you are preparing an outbound calling campaign, importing contacts from another system, working aged leads, or cleaning up an older database, Phone Validation gives you more information about the quality of the phone data stored in Shape.
You can validate a few selected records, an entire list or audience, or incorporate Phone Validation Status into automated workflows using Shape Triggers.
The results are stored directly on each record, giving your team a clearer picture of the contacts they can actually reach.
What Is Phone Number Validation?
Phone number validation checks a phone number to determine whether it appears to be a valid number.
Phone data can become outdated quickly. People change phone numbers, disconnect old lines, enter incorrect information on forms, or provide a different type of number than your team expected.
Shape Phone Validation checks selected phone numbers and stores the result directly on the corresponding CRM record.
Phone numbers can return the following statuses:
- Valid: The phone number appears to be valid.
- Not Valid: The phone number does not appear to be valid.
- Unknown: The phone number has not been validated or a validation result is not currently available.
When available, Shape also displays additional information about the phone number, including its phone type, line type, and carrier.
Why Should You Validate Phone Numbers?
A CRM may contain thousands of phone numbers, but that does not mean every number represents someone your team can actually reach.
Invalid numbers can waste call attempts, lower apparent contact rates, create unnecessary work for sales teams, and keep automated workflows focused on records that cannot be reached by phone.
Phone Validation helps you understand the quality of your contact data before your team spends time calling it.
Spend More Time Calling Valid Phone Numbers
Repeatedly dialing invalid or disconnected numbers takes time away from conversations with actual prospects and customers.
Validating phone numbers can help your team identify bad data before making unnecessary call attempts.
This can be especially useful for high-volume sales and call center teams where even a small percentage of invalid phone numbers can translate into hundreds or thousands of wasted calls.
Improve Speed-to-Lead and Follow-Up
Fast follow-up is most useful when the contact information itself is accurate.
If a new lead contains an invalid phone number, repeated manual or automated call attempts will not improve your chances of reaching that person.
Phone Validation helps identify records that may need a different contact strategy, such as email outreach or obtaining updated contact information.
Clean Old or Imported Phone Data
Bulk phone validation can be especially valuable when working with:
- Older lead databases
- Aged leads
- Past customers
- Imported CRM contacts
- Purchased or transferred books of business
- Records migrated from another system
- Large outbound calling lists
- Contacts that have not been worked recently
Phone numbers can change significantly over time, so older databases may contain more invalid information than recently collected lead data.
Get More Information About Phone Numbers
Phone Validation provides more than a simple validation status.
When available, Shape can also display information such as:
- Phone type
- Line type
- Carrier
This gives your team additional context about the number attached to the record and can help support more informed contact strategies.
Get More Accurate Calling and Contact Metrics
Invalid phone numbers can distort performance reporting.
For example, if a calling list contains a large percentage of invalid numbers, the team’s contact rate may appear unusually low even when the real issue is the quality of the underlying data.
Phone Validation helps teams distinguish between a contact strategy problem and a contact data problem.
How to Validate Phone Numbers in Shape
Phone Validation is available through Bulk Actions on Shape list pages.
You can validate individual records, a group of selected records, or a larger list or audience.
Open a List Page
Navigate to the Shape list containing the records you want to validate.
For example, you might validate:
- All Leads
- A filtered lead audience
- Past customers
- Referral partners
- Aged leads
- Newly imported records
- An outbound calling list
If you only want to validate a particular segment, apply your Shape filters before selecting the records.
Select the Phone Numbers to Validate
Use the checkboxes on the list page to select the records you want to validate.
For larger audiences, use the available list selection options to select the records on the current page or the larger list.
This makes it possible to validate anything from a handful of phone numbers to a large CRM database without exporting your records to a separate phone verification service.
Select Phone Validation
Once your records are selected, click Bulk Actions and choose Phone Validation.
Before anything is processed, Shape displays a confirmation screen showing:
- The number of phone numbers being validated
- The current validation rate
- The estimated total charge
- The payment method that will be used
Nothing is processed until you confirm.
Confirm the Validation
Confirm the action to begin validating the selected phone numbers.
Shape will process the selected records and automatically save the resulting Phone Validation Status to each record.
If there is no payment method available for the account, Shape will prompt you to update your billing information before continuing.
Validation usage is also recorded within Billing & Transactions.
How to View Phone Validation Results
Once a phone number has been validated, the result becomes part of the contact record and can be viewed throughout Shape.
View Phone Validation on List Pages
Shape displays a visual Phone Validation Status indicator next to the phone number on supported list pages.
This allows users to quickly identify whether a phone number is:
- Valid
- Not Valid
- Unknown
Users can review phone data across a larger audience without opening every record individually.
View Phone Validation on a Record
Within the individual record, Shape displays the current Phone Validation Status near the phone information.
When available, additional validation information can include:
- Phone type
- Line type
- Carrier
This gives users working directly with a lead or contact more information about the phone number before attempting contact.
What Happens When a Phone Number Is Not Valid?
When Phone Validation determines that a phone number is Not Valid, Shape automatically opts that phone number out of calling.
This automatic opt-out applies to calling only.
By automatically suppressing invalid numbers from calls, Shape helps prevent users and calling workflows from continuing to place unnecessary call attempts to a number that has been identified as invalid.
If updated contact information is obtained later, the record and its communication preferences can be reviewed and updated accordingly.
How to Filter by Phone Validation Status
Phone Validation Status is available as a filter within Shape.
This allows you to build CRM audiences based on phone number quality.
For example, you could filter for Phone Validation Status = Valid to identify contacts with valid phone numbers for an outbound calling campaign.
You could also filter for Phone Validation Status = Not Valid to identify records where updated contact information may be needed.
Other useful phone validation segments can include:
- Valid numbers from a specific lead source
- Invalid numbers assigned to a particular user or team
- Records with an Unknown validation status
- Valid past customers
- Valid aged leads
- Invalid phone numbers with deliverable email addresses
Combining Phone Validation Status with other Shape CRM filters can help teams build more targeted calling audiences and data-cleanup workflows.
Using Phone Validation With Shape Triggers
Phone Validation Status can also be used within Shape Triggers, allowing organizations to automate workflows based on phone number quality.
For example:
Request an Updated Phone Number
If: Phone Validation Status = Not Valid
Then: Create a task for the assigned user to obtain an updated phone number.
Switch to Another Contact Method
If: Phone Validation Status = Not Valid
Then: Move the record into an email-focused follow-up workflow when appropriate.
Create a Data Cleanup Workflow
If: Phone Validation Status = Not Valid
Then: Notify the assigned user or data management team that the record needs updated contact information.
Continue Valid Numbers Through Calling Workflows
If: Phone Validation Status = Valid
Then: Allow the record to continue through the appropriate outbound calling or lead follow-up workflow.
These automations can be especially useful for organizations managing large databases where manually reviewing every phone number would be impractical.
Who Can Perform Bulk Phone Validation?
Bulk Phone Validation is controlled through Shape Role Permissions.
Administrators can manage access under Settings › Role Permissions › Feature Authorization › Bulk Phone Validation.
Administrator, Director, and Manager roles are generally configured with this permission by default. Other roles can be granted access when appropriate.
This allows organizations to control which users can initiate bulk phone validation and its associated usage charges.
When Should You Validate Phone Numbers?
There is no single phone validation schedule that works for every organization. In general, validation is most useful before your team relies heavily on a group of phone numbers for outbound calling or automated follow-up.
Consider validating phone numbers when:
- Importing a large database from another CRM
- Preparing an aged lead campaign
- Building a large outbound calling list
- Taking over a transferred book of business
- Re-engaging older leads
- Working past customers
- Cleaning a database with a high number of unsuccessful call attempts
- Launching a new automated calling workflow
- Investigating unusually low contact rates
For organizations with large or frequently changing databases, Phone Validation Status can also become part of an ongoing data-quality strategy using filters and Triggers.
Frequently Asked Questions About Phone Validation
Can I validate phone numbers in bulk?+
Yes. Select the records you want to validate from a Shape list page and choose Phone Validation from Bulk Actions. You can also use the available list selection options for larger audiences.
What information does Phone Validation provide?+
Phone Validation returns a validation status of Valid, Not Valid, or Unknown. When available, Shape can also display information such as the phone type, line type, and carrier.
What happens if a phone number is invalid?+
When a phone number returns a Not Valid status, Shape automatically opts that number out of calling. This automatic opt-out applies specifically to calling.
Can I filter for valid or invalid phone numbers?+
Yes. Phone Validation Status is available as a filter, allowing you to create audiences based on validation results.
Can Phone Validation be used with automations?+
Yes. Phone Validation Status can be incorporated into Shape Triggers to automate workflows based on the validation result.
How much does Phone Validation cost?+
Phone Validation is usage-based. Shape displays the current validation rate, number of records selected, and estimated total charge on the confirmation screen before you approve the validation.
Why should I validate phone numbers before a calling campaign?+
Validating phone numbers before a large outbound campaign can help identify invalid numbers before your team spends time attempting to call them. It can also give you a more accurate picture of your reachable calling audience and the quality of your CRM data.
Better Phone Data Means Better Conversations
Your team cannot convert a lead they cannot reach.
Shape Phone Validation gives you a simple way to verify phone numbers and clean your CRM data without exporting records, using a separate phone validation service, or manually reviewing thousands of numbers.
Select your audience, run Phone Validation, and Shape stores the results directly on each record.
From there, your team can filter calling audiences, automate follow-up, identify records that need updated contact information, and reduce time spent attempting to call invalid numbers.
The result is cleaner CRM data, more efficient calling, and a clearer picture of the audience your team can actually reach.