Effective August 31, 2023, all 10DLC phone numbers used to send SMS messages to U.S. phone numbers must be fully registered to an approved campaign under your brand. Messages sent using unregistered phone numbers will be subject to a full block of all unregistered U.S.-bound messages sent after August 31, 2023.
What is the A2P 10DLC?
A2P 10DLC refers to a system in the United States that allows businesses to send Application-to-Person (A2P) type messaging via standard 10-digit long code (10DLC) phone numbers. Effective January 26, 2023, newly registered A2P Campaigns are subject to a manual vetting process. To help ensure your Campaigns are approved in this vetting process, please follow these best practices when submitting new Campaigns.
Who does this apply to?
This change is relevant to customers using long code numbers to send messages to the United States, under the A2P 10DLC framework.
Why is this change happening?
This is an industry-wide change to improve the Campaign Vetting process with the goal of reducing spam, fraud, and unwanted messaging, and protect SMS as a trusted communications channel in the U.S. Every messaging provider who services A2P Campaigns is required to conduct this vetting.
Best Practices
Ensure data accuracy and consistency
Make sure you submit Campaign registrations with accurate and consistent data:
Best Practice | Examples |
Consistency in brand, website and sample messages | If your brand name is Acme, your website is www.acme.com, but your sample messages say “Here’s your one-time passcode for logging into www.contoso.com”, your campaign will be rejected |
Consistency in sample messages and use cases | If you register a marketing campaign, but sample messages say “Here’s your one-time passcode: 123456”, your campaign will be rejected |
Consistency in email domain and company name | If you register a brand as Grayscale Inc, but you provide an email address with the gmail domain names, your campaign will be rejected. Note that this check only applies to large, well-known corporations that should have dedicated email domains |
Make sure you submit real, working websites | If you indicate that your customers opt-in to your messages via the website, but provide a website address that does not function, your campaign will be rejected |
Make sure the brand you register is the actual brand that you’re sending messages for | If you register a brand with your own company’s information (e.g. a company that provides tech for dental offices), but end up sending messages for your customers (e.g., individual dentist practices), your campaign will be rejected |
Make sure you create as few duplicative brands and campaigns as possible | Excessive brands with the same EIN and excessive campaigns with the same campaign attributes may be seen as high-risk and may result in campaign rejection |
If you wish to send templated messages, please make sure to indicate the templated fields in sample messages with brackets, to help reviewers better identify which parts are templated | For example, please write “Dental check due for [Mary Doe], Visit [www.contoso.com] to schedule an appointment or call [123-456-7890]” |
Ensure your use case involves consumer consent before sending messages
Make sure you collect consumer consent appropriately. Please refer to the CTIA guidelines to see detailed instructions and best practices on handling consumer consent.
Best Practice | Examples |
Make sure consumer opt-in is collected appropriately | If you indicate you collect opt-in via text messages, but your sample messages say “Hi, is this the owner of 123 Oak street? I’d like to discuss how I can help you sell your property”, it is clear that you have not collected appropriate consent before sending messages and your campaign will be rejected. |
Make sure opt-in language is available on your website if you indicated in the “message flow” field that a consumer opts into your campaign on your company website | If your brand Acme uses its website, www.acme.com, to collect phone numbers but your website does not contain opt-in language such as “By providing your phone number, you agree to receive text messages from ACME. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies.”, your campaign will be rejected. |
We recommend having opt-out language in at least one of your sample messages | For example, please consider adding language such as “Please reply STOP to opt out” in one of your sample messages
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Please do not consider the best practices listed above as a “catch-all” and guarantee an approval as long as you follow them all; instead, consider them as a baseline that illustrates the general direction of compliant, high-quality messaging that the ecosystem is moving towards.
Campaign registration recommendations
Campaign registrations should meet each of the following descriptions for each field.
Field / Description | Successful Example(s) | Failed Example(s) |
Brand Website The provided website should be reflective of the registered brand and accessible.
If registered brand has a website, please provide website. | "Blank" Grayscale has a website but not provided, campaign is rejected. | |
Opt-in / Call-to-action This field should describe how and when a consumer opt-in to the campaign, therefore giving consent to the sender to receive their messages.The call-to-action must be explicitly clear and inform end users of the campaign. If multiple opt-in methods can be used for the same, please list them all.
| “Customers provide opt-in specifically when enrolling into our website, or in person by requesting SMS capabilities within the store. Opt-in during website is a self-service process and occurs at acme.com/signup” "End users opt-in by visiting [www.examplewebsite.com] to apply for a position with [Company Name]. Applications include the following question: OPT-IN FOR TEXT MESSAGES Hosted link to the image of the question on an application: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Nv2nSulYavR1OY2zqgIFF3Jq33oLN-2H/view Link to Privacy Policy: [Example: https://grayscaleapp.com/about/privacy-policy/] Link to Terms of Service: [Example: https://grayscaleapp.com/about/terms-of-use/]" | "Candidates opt-in by submitting their phone number when applying for a job."
Where and how the customer provides opt-in is unclear, campaign will be rejected. |
Sample Messages Sample messages should reflect actual messages to be sent under campaign and indicate templated fields with brackets.
Ensure that at least one sample message includes your business name.
| "Hey {{profile.first_name}}! This is {{recruiter.first_name}} with [company name]. We've reviewed your application for {{position}} and would like to schedule a phone interview!
Look forward to hearing from you!
- {{recruiter.first_name}} Reply STOP to opt-out" "Hi {{ profile.first_name }}, Thank you for applying to careers at [company name]! We've received your application and will be in touch shortly after reviewing it. We appreciate your interest in working with us! If you have questions, feel free to text back on this number to reach us quickly! Reply STOP to unsubscribe." | "We got your application and would like to schedule a phone interview."
Opt-out is not provided and business name is missing, campaign will be rejected. |
If you've been asked to resubmit your campaign registration, click here.
Please note:
All submissions are subject to a manual vetting process and can take up to 3 weeks.
Accounts are considered to be unregistered until there is an approved and verified result – this means your team will not be able to send any messages within that time frame.
For more information on A2P 10DLC Registration, check out these articles:
Have questions? Send us an email at sms-registration@grayscaleapp.com