Introduction

If you're a developer trying to send SMS messages to a US phone number, you've likely encountered the term "10DLC" in error logs or documentation.

The A2P 10DLC registration is a critical requirement for any application sending SMS messages to US numbers. All major US carriers prevent the use of local 10-digit numbers for business messaging without proper A2P 10DLC registration.

Key Terms:

Please learn the vocabulary now to read this guide easily:

• A2P 10DLC - Sending messages from software to people from a 10-digit phone number, e.g. +14005006789

• A2P 10DLC Registration - The compliance and registration process required to send A2P 10DLC messages

• Brand - Your company or business entity that is registering to send SMS.

• Campaign - The type of messages you will send, e.g., account notifications, verification codes

• Trust Score - Carriers assign you a trust score (0–100) that impacts your SMS throughput, e.g., 3000 SMS per day

• TCR (The Campaign Registry) - The organization that reviews brands/campaigns behind the scene

How can A2P 10DLC impact my company?

Getting this wrong can lead to:

• Release Delays - Registration can take some time

• Delivery failure

• Low SMS throughput

• Risk of account ban - Twilio will ban your account if they notice misuse of a brand/campaign to send something different

• Hefty penalties from carriers

The Quickest Way

You can bypass A2P 10DLC registration and start sending SMS right now using NotificationAPI. Without your involvement, the NotificationAPI software and team work directly with Twilio to register and maintain your A2P 10DLC requirements.

But if you insist on doing it yourself, keep reading…

Registration Process Overview

Before diving into the technical details, let's map out the essential components of A2P 10DLC registration:

1. Create a Customer Profile (Immediate)

   • Simple company and contact information

2. Brand Registration (3-7 business days)

   • Submit your business information

   • Receive brand verification and Trust Score / Throughput

3. Campaign Registration (1-2 business days)

   • Submit your SMS use case details

   • Receive campaign approval

4. Phone Number and Service (Immediately)

   • Register 10-digit US phone numbers

   • Create a "Service" to link the phone numbers and campaigns together

   • Begin sending messages

Important Tips

• Each registration step can be rejected, often requiring additional documents or even legal or software changes to resubmit. Allocate as much as 4 weeks for the whole process.

• Besides causing delays, don't fear the rejections. You can usually fix issues and resubmit.

Twilio Setup

We advise setting up two Twilio sub-accounts (staging and production) in your Twilio account. This allows you to go through your Staging brand/campaign registration and use your trust score and approvals as feedback on what you could do better in production.

The structure:

• Twilio Account contains a customer profile that will be shared with sub-accounts

• Sub-accounts contain phone numbers and brands

• Brands contain campaigns

• Services connect numbers to campaigns

Step 0: Preparation

• Figure out how to find your company in your jurisdiction's company registrar. The info there will help with the next steps.

• Information You Need:

  • Legal business name,

  • Tax ID or EIN numbers (HST number in Canada)

  • Business type (Corporation, LLC, etc.)

  • Incorporation date

  • Business category/vertical

  • Continents you plan to send SMS to in the immediate future

• Cross Examination: All the above information must match with the company registrar or tax agency. For example, your brand registration may be declined if your current company address does not match the tax agency information.

• Professionalism and Brand Presence: Reviewers will assign your business a trust score based on how legitimate it looks (very subjective). The trust score impacts your SMS volume/throughput. If your company does not have a great online presence, you may be rejected or receive a low trust score. Read more about this below in Step 2.1.

Step 1: Customer Profile

This is a simple step that requires some of your information.

1. This step should be done in your main parent account

2. Start the A2P process from various places in your account

3. Create a customer profile by filling the form

4. When asked about "Primary" vs. "Non-Primary," pick "Primary"

Step 2: Brand Registration

This step is to submit your organization/business information to TCR, which reviews and cross-examines your company to make sure it is legitimate.

1. Start the brand registration process.

2. When asked about brand type, "Low-volume standard" is fine for staging. The Low-volume standard is approved easily but has lower thresholds. For Production, if your company is established and has a strong online presence (news, funding announcements, strong LinkedIn), definitely pick the Standard.

3. Fill out the rest of the form. This will submit your information to TCR for review.

Step 2.1: After Brand Review

Understanding Trust Scores

In the previous step, you pick the type of brand you register. This impacts your Trust Score and SMS limits:

• Sole Proprietor

  • ~3000 SMS per day

  • But capped at 1000 to T-Mobile

  • No Trust Score

• Low Volume Standard

  • ~6000 SMS per day

  • Capped at 2000 to T-Mobile

  • No Trust Score

• Standard

  • Depending on the Trust Score

  • With a low trust score result, your brand registration will be automatically converted to a Low Volume Standard with limits of that type.

Factors Affecting Trust Scores

• Business Age

• Public Records

  • Clean public records

  • Business registration status

• Online Presence

  • Website quality

  • Active LinkedIn

  • Crunchbase, funding news, etc.

• Industry Type

  • Higher-risk industries face more scrutiny

Make sure your business information online and in the brand registration, such as operating business name and address, matches as much as possible - e.g. can the reviewer easily find your LinkedIn based on your company name?

Step 3: Campaign Registration

This part is about communicating what you use the notifications for, explaining your opt-in and opt-out process, and providing sample SMS messages.

1. Start the process

2. Select the right campaign use case based on your needs

   • Sole Proprietor Brands have only one generic campaign use case to choose from

   • The Low Volume Brands have many use cases available, but the "Low Volumed Mixed" or "Account Notification" probably best suits you since it allows you to do a variety of things.

   • You can start with a mix campaign type if you are a standard brand. Later, you can separate your usage into different campaigns if necessary. You can also perform more campaign/brand registrations later.

3. As part of the campaign registration, you can also create a service which makes things easier in the next step.

4. Answering "Campaign description"

   • Ensure you describe the context (business/app, end-users)

   • Describe the workflow of how users receive SMS from the very beginning, e.g. how users are signed up to your service, how they provide their phone number, when and why they would receive SMS, how they can opt-out, etc.

   • Describe the expected volume, ensuring it falls within your brand SMS limit.

5. How to answer "How do end-users consent to receive messages?"

   • This step is the most important step. Ensure to include:

   • Describe how users provide "explicit" consent to receive SMS communication. Examples:

     • This could be in your privacy policy wording that users agree to by checking the "I Agree" box during sign-up.

     • A separate checkbox is included in your signup or inside your application to opt in to receive SMS messages.

   • Provide screenshots or copies of the opt-in texts even if your application is not live. The Twilio team carefully reviews this material to ensure you have explicit consent from the user to contact them.

   • Describe how users provide their phone numbers.

   • Describe how users can opt-out. It's also best to include your opt-out process in your privacy policy.

After your campaign is reviewed and verified, you can move to the next and final step.

If your campaign is not verified, there are usually very useful comments accompanied to help you address the gap and resubmit.

Step 4: Phone Numbers and Services

1. If you haven't already, buy a phone number under Twilio's "Phone Numbers" product

2. Go to Messaging / Services and select your newly created service from the previous step.

3. "Add Sender" and connect your phone number to this service

Congrats… you can now send SMS!

Troubleshooting

Even if you are not a current customer, use our chat in the bottom right corner to ask questions. Our staff are experts in A2P 10DLC registration since we do the registration for all of our customers.

Key Takeaways

1. You can skip all this and use NotificationAPI

2. Most companies get one or more rejections. So, start the process as early as possible.

3. Maintain compliance, to avoid registration being revoked.

4. Monitor your SMS usage, to avoid reaching the limit.

5. Be a good internet citizen, and don't spam.