If SMS Texting Is or Will Be an Integral Part of Your Business’ Communications, You Must Complete Your 10DLC SMS Registration Right Away!
Here’s why…
To combat the rise of spam messages, the U.S. federal government has mandated that all key mobile network operators (MNO’s) enforce regulations on SMS/MMS communications. Participating MNO’s include AT&T, Clearsky Technologies, Interop Technologies, T-Mobile, USCellular and Verizon.
Since September 2023, businesses engaging in text message communication with ten-digit U.S. phone numbers must now ensure their Brand & SMS/MMS Campaigns are registered with an external reputation authority known as The Campaign Registry (TCR).
Fortunately, phone service providers offer a self-service feature within their customer adminitrative portals to streamline this registration process. Nevertheless, it is the business owner’s responsibility to register and monitor the approval process. Be on the look out for notifications within the administrative portal that your registration has been approved or denied. Ensure you quickly address any steps required to correct and re-submit your application.
The Importance of Registration
If your business leverages outbound SMS and MMS messages for marketing purposes or customer communications, registration is critical. Be aware, messages from numbers not linked to a recognized Campaign face a significant risk of being blocked, in addition to incurring elevated usage fees.
Action Steps Required
For your company to maintain uninterrupted outbound SMS services, it’s imperative for your Company Administrator to complete your campaign registration. This procedure is expected to take around 10 minutes and involves supplying detailed information about your organization, how you use messaging, and the types of messages you send.
Before you start the registration process, you should review the list below. It will make registering much smoother, if you have all the details you need in front of you before you begin.
- Your legal business name
- Your Doing Business As (DBA) name
- Tax ID Number
- Type of business entity (e.g., Private Profit, Public Profit, Sole Proprietor, Non-Profit, Government)
- Contact details for the registration supervisor: name, phone number, and email.
You’ll also need to specify:
- Your industry
- Your website URL
- Your business address
And answer inquiries about:
- The primary purpose of your SMS/MMS messages
- How messages are delivered to consumers outside your organization
- Whether you include third-party links or phone numbers in your messages
- Your process for obtaining consumer opt-in
- How you facilitate consumer opt-out requests
You should also provide examples of your regular, automated, and predefined messages for your campaigns. Remember, your information will be evaluated by external parties, not your phone provider.
Campaign Description
In your campaign description, give third-party evaluators a clear understanding of your target audience, the reasons behind your messaging, and the content of your messages. Ensure your description aligns with other provided details, such as those in your Call to Action and Sample Messages. Offering comprehensive insights is crucial, as evaluators are not familiar with your organization or the reasons for your SMS/MMS outreach.
Call-to-Action Consent Types
There are six distinct methods for obtaining recipient consent through a call to action. These range from verbal agreements, online form submissions, initiation through public sources, sign-ups at point-of-sale locations, interactive voice response (IVR) systems, to responses to advertising keywords. Each method requires clear communication of consent terms, including how to opt-out and the availability of help or further information, ensuring recipients are fully informed and agree to receive your messages.
Note: For the section that requires a URL for your Opt-In / Opt-Out policy, you will want to create a document with your script and save to Google Docs or Dropbox to generate a URL.
The technology advisors at My Resource Partners have had extensive discussions about The Campaign Registry with the phone carriers in our portfolio. The carriers do offer published guidelines and best practices for completing the registration process. Keep in mind, we have been informed this process can take a few weeks as your company’s campaign registration must circulate through and be approved by all the mobile network operators before receiving the final approval.
While the carriers’ customer administrative portals do include links to The Campaign Registry system, their customer support teams are unable to help customers draft and publish information about their campaigns or Opt-In / Opt-Out policy.
If texting is critical to your business communications, you should watch daily for any notifications. We advise you to engage your carrier’s customer support team if you have not received an approval/rejection in more than 4 weeks or if you have not received a detailed explanation for a rejection.
Our best advice to you is DON’T DELAY – get your business registered immediately!