Index:
- Intro
- Who needs to register?
- Pricing
- What do I need to do?
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10DLC Registration Fields Explained
- Legal Company Name and Brand Name / DBA
- Legal Entity Type
- Tax ID / EIN
- Talkroute Account Number
- Primary Company Address or Corporate Headquarters
- Company Website / Online Presence
- Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
- Contact Details (Phone Number and Email)
- Phone Numbers
- Estimated Monthly Text Volume
- Usage Category Type
- Use Case Description
- Call-to-Action / Message Flow
- Sample Messages
- Keywords and Keyword Messages
- Direct Lending or Loan Arrangement
- Embedded Link / Embedded Phone Number
- Age-Gated Content
- Opt-In Document
- Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
- SMS Disclosures
Disclaimer:
10DLC campaigns are a mandatory industry-wide requirement established by mobile carriers to regulate business messaging and protect consumers from spam and fraudulent messages. These regulations are not unique to Talkroute; they apply to any business that uses 10-digit phone numbers to send text messages to customers. These changes will be enforced as soon as September 30, 2024.
There are no use cases that are exempt from these regulations. This includes marketing and non-marketing messages, appointment reminders, and conversational messaging.
Intro |
Welcome to Talkroute’s guide on our 10DLC campaign registration form. Before we get started, It's important to know the key requirements for 10DLC registration:
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Do I Have to Register? |
Any business or organization that sends or responds to text messages using a 10-digit local phone number with Talkroute need to register a campaign. This includes both current and new customers who use Talkroute’s text messaging services. Effective 9/30/24, local phone numbers cannot be used to send text messages without an active campaign. What if I don't engage with message campaigns and just use texting for conversational messages? Carriers are requiring that all 10DLC A2P (application to person) phone numbers be registered with the campaign registry. All Talkroute phone numbers are considered AP2 , therefore requiring registration. The 10DLC registration requirements are for any kind of business text messages, whether they are marketing text messages or individual conversational messages. Essentially any messages that are sent or replied to using local Talkroute phone numbers will be impacted by this change. By registering your 10DLC campaigns, you not only comply with industry regulations but also enhance the trust and deliverability of your messages, ensuring that your communications reach your customers effectively. |
Pricing |
To comply with the new 10DLC requirements, several fees may apply during the registration process. Some fees are charged per submission attempt so it is important to make sure the information on your registration form is accurate to avoid delays, rejections, and possibly additional submission fees.
For select special use cases, multiple brands, multiple campaigns, or higher-tier campaign types may be required. Our team will notify you if your account falls under any special use cases upon reviewing your registration form. Toll-free phone numbers require a similar verification process, however, there are no additional fees involved. If you wish to swap your local phone number for a toll-free phone number, please let us know. Please see our Pricing Page if you have questions on what fees are included in your plan. |
10DLC Registration Fields Explained |
Legal Company Name and Brand Name / DBAEnter your legal company name. Ensure that your legal company name is consistent with your IRS or corporation registration and properly spelled. Any mismatch can result in a rejection (including spaces, periods, or commas). If you are using a DBA make sure that it matches the brand represented by your Website/Online presence. Legal Entity TypeChoose the type of legal entity your company is registered as. Please note that if your company is registered as another category than the one selected, your registration will result in a rejection. The options available are as follows:
Tax ID / EINEnter the Tax ID/EIN associated with your company that matches with your legal company name. The Tax ID/EIN number is used in conjunction with the company’s legal name, address, and other information during the registration process.
Talkroute Account NumberEnter the Account Number for your Talkroute account that this campaign applies to. You can access your account number by visiting our Manage Your Account Page. Primary Company Address or Corporate HeadquartersEnter the primary address for your company, including the Street Address, City, State/Province, and ZIP/Postal Code. The address you enter should be the same that is used in your legal business registration paperwork. Company Website / Online PresenceA working website link is required. A website that lands on a domain parking site (e.g. GoDaddy and Wix) or empty placeholder (e.g. “Coming Soon” or “Under construction”) will be rejected. Having a website serves as a public-facing proof of your business’s existence and purpose. It’s required by messaging platforms to verify that your business is legitimate and that you are not sending spam or unsolicited messages. A website gives regulators, carriers, and customers a place to understand more about your business practices and ensures you are a real, operating entity.
Terms & Conditions and Privacy PolicyEnter the links where your Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy pages or statements can be found. Not having either of these can result in a rejection. Please see the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy area of this for requirements and disclosures. Contact Details (Phone Number and Email)Enter the name, email, and phone number of the contact person who manages messaging on your account. These details may or may not match what is on your website/online presence. If the company uses social media for an online presence, it’s best that these match the contact details with what is listed on the social media page.
Phone NumbersEnter all local Talkroute phone numbers you want to use for your registration. Do not list any Toll-free numbers or any local phone numbers not associated with your Talkroute account. Multiple local phone numbers can be registered under a single campaign as long as they all share the same or similar use case and pertain to the same business. Estimated Monthly Text VolumeEnter your estimated monthly texting volume for all numbers listed in your campaign form. This number should reflect an average of both incoming and outgoing messages combined. If you plan to expand your texting usage, please use an estimated value for where you will be in about six months. Usage Category TypeChoose a category that best represents your use case, content, and company. Please only select one category. The following are available options:
Use Case DescriptionThe Use Case Description should be used to describe what messaging will be used for with your local phone numbers. While it can include a short description of the brand, the majority of the text should describe the use-case and how you will be using SMS/MMS. There is a minimum of 40 characters for the Campaign Description, so short notes such as “customer service” will not be accepted. Here are some examples:
Note that each one of these describes how the SMS (and/or MMS) messages will be used. It is important that the use case description actually match the sample messages and that the sample messages are as accurate as possible. Call-to-Action / Message FlowThe Call-to-Action / Message Flow is sometimes a bit confusing. Its purpose is to describe how recipients of your text messages consent to receive these messages. In other words, how is opt-in consent obtained. This should match the type of opt-ins that are on your website/online presence. This is simply a description of how opt-in or consent is obtained. Just as there are virtually countless SMS/MMS use-cases, there are many different ways that consent for messaging can be obtained, including through a website, a user-initiated text to the company, verbally, telephone calls and many others. This field also has a 40 character minimum, so please provide a useful description for how consent is obtained. The key point here is to be accurate and descriptive. Please review some examples of Call-to-Action / Message Flow for a number of opt-in variations: Examples of Call-to-Action / Message Flow
With all Call-to-Action Cases described above, the more specific and explicit, the better. It’s best to provide too much information vs. too little. Sample MessagesEnter sample messages that will be sent by the numbers under this campaign form. These should be specific to the campaign and not some generic set of messages that have nothing to do with the campaign. Please make sure there is an opt-out clause at the end of the message such as:
It’s also a very good idea to include the company (brand) name in sample messages. Remember, consumers will receive SMS messages from a phone number that they may not recognize. We highly recommend that you include the company name; otherwise, you may experience a greater amount of reported spam messages or STOP messages if the user’s do not recognize your company. If you have multiple messages in your campaign, please provide an accurate sample of these messages. Here are a few random examples of good sample messages:
If you provide conversational messaging, you might provide examples of the messaging between the brand representatives and consumers. Note. It is also good practice that the first message response from the campaign to a consumer reaching out should be similar to the following (with an opt-out clause):
For conversational messaging an opt-out clause is not always needed. However, consent is required from the other party that the conversation is with – typically clients, vendors, suppliers, etc. and that needs to be adequately described in the Call-to-Action/Message Flow. Keywords and Keyword MessagesEnter the opt-in, opt-out, and help keywords with the corresponding messages. The message examples to be provided are what the consumer receives AFTER they reply to a 10DLC text message with STOP, HELP, or other specified keywords. Your company (brand) name must be on each of your keyword messages and a minimum of 20 characters is required for each message.
Direct Lending or Loan ArrangementSelect “YES” if the company originates loans or financing of any kind, including arranging third-party financing, loans, or mortgages. For example, even auto sellers who provide or arrange financing or loans should check this attribute “YES.” Virtually all banks, savings & loans, and credit unions off loan products, so the attribute should be set to “YES.” IMPORTANT NOTE: If you leave this set to “NO,” and your business can arrange or provide any kind of loans, financing, mortgages, your campaign may be rejected. Embedded Link / Embedded Phone NumberIf any of the messages that you send will include a link (such as your website) or your phone number (or both), select “YES” for these. We recommend always checking YES for both to cover you if you decide at a later date to include an embedded URL or phone number in the text of the message -- regardless of whether it is shown in your sample messages. For embedded links, public URL shorteners will not be approved (bit.ly, tiny.url).
Age-Gated ContentIndicates whether the usage includes any age-gated content as defined by CTIA guidelines. This is for approved texts that can only be sent to consumers over 21 and means that the business must check the consumer’s age before giving them the option to opt-in to receive text messages. This is allowed if proper age-gating procedures are in place. Select "YES" if it applies to your use case. Otherwise, select “NO.”
Terms & ConditionsConfirmation that your phone numbers will not be used for Affiliate Marketing. |
Opt-In Document |
Proof of consumer consent (opt-in) is required for verification. Outgoing messages are only permitted to numbers that have provided you explicit consent. One of the most common rejections received is, in part, due to not providing sufficient information for the opt-in. If you provide multiple methods of opting-in, please provide examples of each. Opt-In Examples
• Contact Form: Screenshots/URL of the website where the subscriber adds their number and agrees to receive messaging. A checkbox is required that users must select to agree to receive messages.
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Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy |
If your company's Call-to-Action or Opt-In method relates to your website, then you will need to include specific disclaimers and information around texting usage. Please see the information that needs to be included below. Privacy Policy Privacy policies are required for 10DLC registration (except for some Sole Proprietor use cases). Your privacy policy should describe how you collect, use and share information from end users. In some cases, you can provide a full privacy statement that indicates in detail that Personally 10DLC Requirements:
Note: If for any reason a privacy policy doesn't exist, the no sharing disclosure above CAN be presented upon opt in within the call-to-action. If you do not already have a privacy policy in place, privacy policy generators may help you with this task. The following websites offer such generators:
Notes for Facebook or Instagram sites: Some small businesses do not have a website but use a business social media presence. In those cases, create a post with both the full SMS disclosure and a Privacy Policy link or actual text of a short Privacy Policy. You can make that social media post “sticky” so that it always appears at the top of the social media presence for this business. Another option is to link it in the “About” section (applies to Facebook).
Your terms & conditions page should describe any applicable terms and conditions related to the messaging program (e.g., how to opt-out, customer care contact information, and link to any applicable privacy policy). 10DLC Requirements:
Note: Where feasible, messaging terms & conditions may be combined with the call-to-action. |
SMS Disclosures |
SMS Disclosures should be complete enough to enable the person viewing them to realize that they are consenting to receive messaging from the business, even if the messaging use-case is conversational. Your SMS disclosure should always have the following elements:
Here are some examples of SMS (or Messaging or Text Messaging) disclosures that you can use on your website:
It is also an option to provide a checkbox with a short consent so that users can explicitly opt-in to receive messages from your brand. Here are a couple of examples.
Here’s an example of a very complete SMS Disclosure:
If you provide a Privacy Policy and/or Terms of Service/Usage/Conditions, etc. and you refer to them in your SMS Disclosure, then you should provide a link to them. |