10DLC: Key Steps for Seamless Business Texting

What is 10DLC and why does it matter for your business? 10DLC, or 10-digit long code, lets businesses send SMS and MMS messages using their existing phone numbers. The registration process involves brand & campaign registration through The Campaign Registry (TCR), which verifies businesses to reduce spam and improve deliverability.

It seems like there is some new business regulation every month these days, so it’s understandable that things can get confusing. This guide covers everything you need to know about 10DLC, from its benefits to the registration process, ensuring your business messaging is seamless and most importantly, compliant.

Understanding 10DLC Texting Regulations

10DLC, or 10-digit long code, is a revolutionary system in the United States that allows businesses to communicate with their customers via SMS or MMS using existing phone numbers. This system facilitates bulk messaging while maintaining the integrity and trust of business communications through text message.

10DLC regulations were established by mobile carriers to prevent impersonation and unwanted messages, thus enhancing the trustworthiness of business communications. Compliance with FCC and carrier regulations is necessary for a secure and efficient messaging experience where users can receive text messages, including application to person a2p.

The Role of The Campaign Registry (TCR)

The Campaign Registry (TCR) plays a pivotal role in the 10DLC ecosystem. As the central hub for A2P 10DLC messaging campaign registrations, TCR manages brand registrations and verifies business details to ensure compliance. It acts as a gatekeeper, ensuring that only legitimate businesses can use it, thereby reducing spam and enhancing trust.

Working with TCR allows businesses to register their local long code numbers with a verified 10DLC brand and campaign, which ensures reliable message delivery.

Difference Between Short Codes and 10DLC

Short codes and 10DLC serve similar purposes but differ significantly in cost and functionality. Short codes are expensive to set up and maintain, often costing businesses up to $1,000 per month. In contrast, it offers a more cost-effective solution, enabling businesses to use their existing numbers, which enhances ownership and trust.

Moreover, while short codes are limited in functionality and cannot handle phone calls, 10DLC allows for higher throughput at a lower cost, making it a more versatile option for businesses.

Benefits of 10DLC for Businesses

Adopting 10DLC offers businesses numerous benefits such as increased message deliverability, cost-effective solutions, and enhanced compliance and trust. This modern framework ensures reliable and efficient delivery of business-to-consumer messages, reducing spam and fraudulent activity.

Businesses that frequently send automated messages, such as alerts or promotions, will find it particularly beneficial for improving messaging efficiency. The following sections explore these benefits in more detail.

Increased Message Deliverability

10DLC significantly enhances message deliverability by eliminating common delivery hurdles and allowing for higher messaging throughput than traditional long-code numbers. This means businesses can send text messages, SMS & MMS messages more reliably, maintaining consistent communication with their customers.

Reducing the chances of messages being filtered and improving carrier trust scores, it ensures reliable and efficient message delivery, which boosts customer engagement and satisfaction.

Cost-Effective Messaging Solution

One of the most compelling benefits of 10DLC is its cost-effectiveness. Compared to short codes, it offers a more affordable messaging solution, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes. With lower monthly expenses and the ability to use existing phone numbers, businesses can maintain high message throughput without incurring the high costs associated with short codes.

This affordability enables businesses to allocate resources more efficiently, enhancing their overall company communication strategy.

Enhanced Compliance and Trust

Compliance and trust are critical in business messaging, and 10DLC excels in both. Requiring businesses to register their brand and campaigns, it safeguards against spam and enhances the security of communications. Mobile carriers recognize 10DLC numbers, reducing the risk of message blockage and penalties.

This verified and compliant a2p messaging system significantly enhances customer trust, as messages are less likely to be flagged as spam, leading to better deliverability and higher engagement, all while being delivered reliably with more messages.

Registration Process for 10DLC Messaging

Registering for 10DLC involves several key steps to ensure compliance and successful messaging:

• The Campaign Registry serves as the central authority for managing brand registrations and ensuring adherence to messaging standards.
• Businesses first register their brand.
• Then, businesses create and register campaigns that reflect their messaging use cases.

This process includes gathering necessary information, submitting applications, and awaiting approval, with fees often required at various stages to complete the vetting process. The following sections outline these steps in detail.

Brand Registration

The initial step in the 10DLC registration process is brand registration. Businesses need to gather key information, such as their business name, address, business number, and purpose of messaging, to ensure compliance and approval. Essential documents like the Employer Identification Number (EIN) and privacy policy should be prepared beforehand. Do note that if you are a sole proprietor, you won’t need to provide a EIN. 

Additionally, businesses must document the method of consent acquisition and maintain records for at least six years to remain compliant.

If you’re a Talkroute customer and are unsure about any part of the registration process, don’t worry-just complete the 10DLC Registration Form as thoroughly as possible. Our team will review your submission and reach out if anything needs to be corrected or if we’re missing information. Our agents are here to help you.

Campaign Registration

After completing brand registration, businesses must proceed with campaign registration. This involves providing a detailed campaign use case for texting consumers, including descriptions of how opt-in consent is obtained from recipients. It is crucial to provide accurate information, as false or misleading details can lead to rejections or delays in campaign approval.

Registering multiple phone numbers under one campaign is possible, allowing for flexibility in phone number messaging strategies.

Timeline for Approval

The approval timeline in the 10DLC registration process is relatively quick. Brand registration usually occurs almost instantly, but it can sometimes take around two to three business days. Campaign registration approvals typically take between 2-5 days after submission.

Overall, businesses can expect the entire registration process to be completed within 1-5 business days, enabling them to start messaging efficiently and compliantly.

Proving Opt-Ins for 10DLC

Proving subscriber opt-ins is crucial for maintaining compliance with 10DLC regulations and avoiding potential legal issues. Ensuring that your contacts have opted in to receive texts enhances message deliverability and maintains a positive reputation for each person, while also providing a clear subscriber opt out option.

Several methods can be used to prove opt-ins, from adding opt-in language to websites to implementing double opt-ins. The following sections cover best practices and additional methods for validating opt-ins.

Best Practices for Opt-In Language

Crafting effective opt-in language is crucial for compliance and reducing spam risks. Each campaign needs a description of how opt-in consent is obtained from recipients. Opt-in agreements should clearly state the type and purpose of the messages the recipient will receive.

Utilizing spam scanners can also help identify potential issues in message composition that could lead to spam classification. Implementing these best practices enhances compliance and improves the chances of successful business messaging.

Additional Methods to Validate Opt-Ins

Besides effective opt-in language, businesses can use various strategies to validate opt-ins and avoid penalties associated with unregistered messaging. Double opt-ins, where a follow-up message asks for a positive response to confirm consent, can significantly enhance validation.

This ensures that carriers recognize the legitimacy of your messages, reducing the risk of being classified as spam and improving overall message deliverability.

Avoiding Spam Classification

Avoiding spam classification is essential for effective business messaging. Key strategies include:

• Clearly identifying your brand in messages to increase recognition and decrease the likelihood of being flagged as spam.
• Regularly monitoring engagement metrics to help identify spam filtering issues early.
• Adjusting business strategies accordingly based on monitoring results.

The registration process for 10DLC fosters a trustworthy environment, further reducing the chances of registered messages being marked as spam.

Common Red Flags to Avoid

To prevent messages from being marked as spam, businesses must avoid common red flags. Spam scanners can preemptively identify problematic elements in messages, such as excessive punctuation or identical messages sent to large numbers of recipients. By using these tools, businesses can avoid common mistakes that may trigger spam filters and ensure effective business messaging.

Implementing these things ensures compliance with regulations & improves overall message deliverability for your business texts.

Utilizing Spam Scanners

Utilizing spam scanners is crucial for businesses to identify and correct potential spam issues before sending messages. Common triggers for spam classification include sending identical messages to large numbers of recipients and using shortened URLs from untrusted sources.

Preemptively checking messages with spam scanners improves delivery rates and ensures compliance with messaging regulations.

Who Should or Has to Use 10DLC?

10DLC campaigns are a mandatory, industry-wide requirement established by mobile carriers to regulate business messaging and protect consumers from spam and fraud.

From high-volume senders to cost-conscious enterprises and compliance-focused organizations, 10DLC offers benefits that cater to various requirements. Enhancing customer relationships through verified and secure messaging, it provides a flexible and efficient solution for modern business communications.

High-Volume Senders

High-volume senders can greatly benefit from 10DLC due to its ability to handle large-scale messaging without high costs. Enterprises requiring a high capacity for message delivery can use 10DLC to meet their needs effectively, sending messages to more recipients simultaneously. This significantly boosts return on investment and ensures reliable and efficient message delivery.

Compliance-Focused Organizations

Compliance-focused organizations will find 10DLC particularly beneficial. Non-compliance with messaging regulations can result in significant penalties, but numbers are pre-approved by mobile network operators, ensuring compliance. Adopting 10DLC minimizes the risk of message blockage & enhances customer trust through verified messaging.

Getting Started with 10DLC

Starting with 10DLC involves selecting a Campaign Service Provider (CSP) that can manage the entire registration and messaging process efficiently. The registration process includes gathering key information about your business and completing required submissions, ensuring compliance and setting the stage for effective business messaging.

Understanding these steps helps streamline the process and gets messaging campaigns up and running smoothly to send messages.

Choosing a Campaign Service Provider

Selecting the right Campaign Service Provider (CSP) is crucial for a seamless 10DLC registration process. A reliable CSP should efficiently facilitate both brand and campaign registrations while ensuring compliance with industry standards.

Look for a provider with a user-friendly interface, transparent pricing structures, and efficient customer support to assist with 10DLC management. Whether using a platform like AWS or working directly with the Campaign Registry, the right CSP can make a significant difference in your business messaging strategy. Talkroute can help assist you with all this.

Initiating the Registration Process

Initiating the 10DLC registration process involves several key steps. First, gather necessary information, including your legal business name, tax ID, and contact details. Next, submit a campaign registration that includes descriptions of your use cases and sample messages.

The approval timelines for brand and campaign registrations usually range from 1 to 5 business days, allowing messaging to begin efficiently and compliantly within a short time frame.

Summary of 10DLC Business Texting

10DLC offers businesses a cost-effective, reliable, and compliant way to communicate with their customers. By understanding the registration process, providing opt-ins, avoiding spam classification, businesses can leverage it to enhance their messaging strategy. Embrace 10DLC today and take your business messaging to the next level.

FAQ’s

What are the new 10DLC regulations?

The new 10DLC regulations require all businesses to register their brand and campaigns before utilizing a 10-digit long code for business texting in the U.S. This initiative was implemented to ensure compliance and improve the messaging ecosystem.

Who needs to register for 10DLC?

Any business that sends SMS messages using a 10-digit phone number must register for 10DLC to remain compliant and ensure message delivery.

What does 10DLC mean?

10DLC refers to 10-digit long code numbers that are specifically approved by mobile network operators for Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging, allowing for the registration of these numbers with verified brands and campaigns to facilitate the sending of moderately large volumes of text messages.

What does 10DLC stand for?

10DLC stands for 10-Digit Long Code, which refers to a type of phone number used for application-to-person messaging.

What is the purpose of 10DLC?

The purpose of 10DLC is to regulate business text messaging, thereby safeguarding consumers from spam and fraud. This ensures a safer and more reliable communication channel for both businesses and their customers.