The new application-to-person (A2P) 10DLC requirements are designed to remove spam and support legitimate texting campaigns. It is a work in progress, however, with each carrier operating under a different set of rules, fees, and procedures that are changing regularly. Fortunately, Commio is committed to staying ahead of the latest updates to help you navigate the changes.
What is Required to Register a Brand?
Before sending 10DLC texting campaigns, the first step is to register your brand(s)—but what exactly is a “brand”? As defined by The Campaign Registry (TCR), the brand is the company, business, or product who the text recipient perceives as the sender. This entity must be registered before campaigns can be submitted under that name.
A brand registration can be completed by its owner or by an authorized reseller; a reseller can represent multiple brands. Resellers should first register themselves as such so that their sending capabilities aren’t limited to one of their brands. Here are several important things to know about registering brands:
- U.S. companies: The brand registration should reflect the legal name of the brand listed on its official Employer Identification Number (EIN), as well as the same corporate address and other details. The goal of brand registration is to ensure texts are coming from who they say they’re from, so incomplete or unmatching information can result in significantly lower texting allowances—and ultimately none.
- U.S. brands without EINs: Carriers are working to accommodate brand registration for “sole proprietorships” and “special case scenarios, Special cases will be reviewed by each mobile operator independently; campaigns will display the “Review” status on the portal until they are either “Accepted” or “Rejected:
- 501c3 charities
- Emergency services
- Political organizations
- Conversations (peer-to-peer)
- Social—i.e., famous figures sending to their communities, such as celebrities and politicians
- Non-U.S. brands: BACS Payment Schemes Limited (BACS) numbers are also accepted for registration.
Brands can be registered on the central TCR site (campaignregistry.com), or directly in our portal where you send your campaigns. Our Support team is available to help you through the registration process.
How Does Brand Information Affect Sending?
Once a brand is registered, it’s shared with the various industry entities involved in assessing the brand and sending the campaigns. Originally, the plan was to give brands a “trust score” that would determine how many messages they could send per minute or day. However, businesses pushed back on this plan primarily due to the lack of transparency.
Instead of scores, the system now marks each brand as “verified” or “unverified.” Verified brands are currently those that align with their EIN data. Brands will be assigned a message classification group based on whether you are: a. Verified or not, and b. Part of the Russell 3000 (i.e., larger companies). Large, verified organizations will be given a larger limit. As mentioned above, there are also a variety of special case scenarios that will have somewhat lower limits.
Each message classification has different sending allowances, each carrier is handling them differently, and the allotments keep changing, so it’s important to stay current on your allotment before submitting campaigns. An organization that feels it should receive a higher number can also ask to be “vetted” which means that, for a fee, they will do a deep review of the brand. (This can be a positive or a negative, depending on your company’s texting history.)
Peace of Mind in a Changing Time
The new application-to-person (A2P) 10DLC requirements will ultimately remove the spam that keeps your legitimate texts from being read, allowing your messages shine more brightly and increasing your conversions. Until the details are finalized, though, Commio is here to help you complete successful A2P 10DLC campaigns and provide peace of mind.
See also: 10DLC History, Advantages | The Players | Campaign Registry | Registration How-To | T-Mobile Fees
