What is 10DLC?
10 Digit Long Code (10DLC) is a new industry standard that governs application-to-person (A2P) texting using traditional 10-digit phone numbers.
By complying with 10DLC, your business can leverage higher messaging throughput levels over 10-digit phone numbers, making them more suitable for running large SMS campaigns.
10DLC also benefits the recipients of your text message campaigns - by reviewing, vetting, and sanctioning message senders, 10DLC aims to reduce the volume of unwanted spam text messages received by every mobile subscriber in the US.
If you're a business using 10-digit long code numbers to send application-to-person messages to customers in the US, you're required to register for 10DLC.
You can register by following the steps in our 10DLC registration guide.
Who is involved in 10DLC?
The key players involved in 10DLC are Brands, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Third-Party Vetting Partners, and the Campaign Registry.
What are 10DLC Brands?
10DLC Brands are identities that are associated with your business.
Your Brand is associated with your business's Employer Identification Number (EIN), which is a federal tax identification number administered by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). To be compliant with 10DLC, your business must create a brand - this brand associates your business with the messages you send.
What are 10DLC Mobile Network Operators (MNOs)?
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are telecoms entities that provide service for mobile phone subscribers, including text messaging. Several large MNOs are participating in 10DLC, including AT&T, T-Mobile (and their subsidiary, Sprint), Verizon, and UScellular.
MNOs each determine throughput limits in messages-per-second (MPS) for your 10DLC text messaging campaigns based on various factors, including your brand and the type of messages being sent by your business.
What are 10DLC Third-Party Vetting Partners?
Third-Party Vetting Partners are organizations approved by the Campaign Registry to vet 10DLC Brands. These organizations are:
Aegis Mobile
WMC Global
CampaignVerify
CampaignVerify is the designated third-party vetting partner for political texting campaigns.
Businesses can submit their brands for vetting by these third-party vetting partners, resulting in a vetting score that can potentially improve MNOs' trust in that brand, and result in MNOs allowing that brand to send 10DLC-compliant messages with higher throughput. For more information on third-party vetting, see Article: 10DLC Messaging throughput, Trust Scores, and Vetting.
What is the Campaign Registry?
The Campaign Registry is a central hub for 10DLC brands and campaigns.
Interfacing directly with the mobile network operators, the Campaign Registry maintains a database of approved 10DLC campaigns, allowing mobile network operators to see all messages sent as part of any given 10DLC campaign, as well as the associated brand.
While DHM Digital can help your business comply, it's your business's responsibility to ensure that any application-to-person (A2P) text messages that are sent over 10-digit long-code numbers by your business (or your customers, if you're an Independent Service Vendor) are compliant with 10DLC.
Any fees or fines imposed on your business by MNOs for 10DLC non-compliance are the responsibility of your business.
How to create a 10DLC brand
If your business is sending application-to-person (A2P) text messages using 10-digit long code (10DLC) numbers in the US, you're required to register for 10DLC in order to avoid fees and penalties from mobile network operators.
Pre-requisites:
Creating a 10DLC brand
Information you'll need to provide in order to register your 10DLC brand
You should ensure that all of the information supplied as part of 10DLC brand registration is correct, complete, and free of typos, as these issues can limit your throughput or cause delays when verifying your brand.
Business Information
Item
Description
Legal Company Name
The official, legal name of your business. This should match the name under which your EIN is issued.
DBA or Brand Name
Doing Business As (DBA) or any trade names. This field is required, even if your brand name is the same as your Legal Company name.
What type of legal form is the organization?
The type of legal entity your brand represents. Choose from:
Charity / Non-Profit Organization
Government
Private Company
Publicly Traded Company
Sole Proprietor
Vertical (The industry vertical which best matches your business)
Country of Registration
The country in which your business is registered.
Website
A URL directing to your business' website.
EIN Issuing Country
The country that issued your business' EIN or identification number.
EIN
Your business' Employer Identification Number. EINs are issued by the Internal Revenue Service in the US. If your business does not have an EIN, use this field for an alternative business identification number supplied by your relevant issuing country.
Stock Symbol (required only for Publicly Traded Companies)
Your business' stock symbol.
Stock Exchange (required only for Publicly Traded Companies)
The stock exchange on which your business is listed.
Sole Proprietors
First Name and Last Name (required only for Sole Proprietors)
Your first and last name, if registering as a Sole Proprietor.
Reseller
Please indicate if you resell products and services provided by DHM Digital
Resellers are also known as Independent Service Vendors (ISVs).
Business Address, City, State / Region, and Postal Code / Zip Code
The official, legal address of your business. This should match the name under which your EIN is issued.
Brand Contact Details
Email Address
The email address of an authorized representative for your business.
Phone Number
The phone number of an authorized representative for your business.
A Note about Canadian Brands
Here is some additional advice when registering a Canadian brand:
In place of the EIN, provide your Provincial or Federal Corporation/Registry ID Numbers (Private Profit, Public Profit brand types). These are the identification numbers created when a business is initially formed and registered in their home province or with Corporations Canada as a federal corporation (these are not the same as the Canada federal business number, which is created for taxation purposes).
Please avoid using your Canadian Federal Business Number (BN) or Canadian Revenue Agency Tax Account Numbers in the EIN section. However, if this is the only identifier you have available, you can still create the brand with this information, just have your official registration documents prepared as the brand will need to be manually vetted.
When using your Provincial identification number, we have seen that sometimes provinces make changes over time which cause the original business registration to be misaligned with the currently posted information on the business. Have your official registration documents handy for your business in case a manual vet of your brand needs to take place.
Billing Details
There is a one-time, non-refundable cost of $4 for registering a brand. This is a pass-through fee applied by the Campaign Registry.
Reminder: The Campaign Registry is an independent organization that manages 10DLC brands and campaigns, working with mobile network operators.
Next steps after registering your brand for 10DLC
After you register your brand, it will automatically go through an identity verification process. During this process, the Campaign Registry validates the information provided to confirm the validity of the brand. Your brand's identity status will be immediately available in the Mission Control Portal.
If you have submitted your brand as a Sole Proprietor, your brand will not be subject to the Campaign Registry's verification process and its identity status will show as "Self Declared".
What if my brand is not verified?
The most likely cause of a brand not being verified is an error in the information provided. If your brand is not verified, be sure to review all of the brand information for correctness. If there is an error in the brand's EIN, please reach out to our team for assistance.
Please submit the information relevant to your own application and send to support@smsbotsify.com
We will confirm receipt and update you with the progress of the application
10DLC Campaign Approval Best Practices
All new US 10DLC Campaign registrations (Standard, Low volume standard, and the upcoming Sole Proprietor 2.0) will be subject to a manual vetting process and be charged a one time $15 campaign verification fee at the time of external vetting.
If a campaign is denied by external vetting, additional charges may occur with re-submission.
Campaign registration application fee
$15 per Campaign (manual vetting fee)
Monthly cost
$2–10/month per Campaign, depending on Use Case and daily sending volume below
300 = $2
500 = $4
1000 = $6
1500 = $8
2000 = $10
Campaign fees are billed for three months initially, then subsequently on a monthly recurring basis.