ProLine's Carrier Trust Product Registration is a simplified and combined registration process for five different "Carrier Trust Products." Carrier Trust Products are a general term for the features/tools created by phone carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, etc) to stop text message and call spam while helping legitimate companies ensure the continued deliverability of their messages and calls to their intended recipients.
The five trust products included in ProLine's Carrier Trust Product Registration are:
Brand Profile Registration
Register your company's full legal details and EIN or CCN number with phone carriers so they can assign your company as the official user of your phone numbers. Phone carriers want to know exactly who is using a number if they are going to allow a number to contact other phone numbers on their network.
A2P Brand Profile Registration
A2P stands for "Application to Person." All digital phone numbers are considered "application" numbers, while phone numbers assigned to physical devices are considered "person" numbers. A2P Brand Profile Registration is secondary company brand registration specifically for "Application to Person" text messaging. It uses the same basic information as the Brand Profile Registration.
CNAM Registration
CNAM is short for "Caller Name" and is the official name for branded caller ID. Once your chosen branded caller ID is registered, it will appear by default on most phones when calling a phone that doesn't have your phone number saved as a contact yet.
SHAKEN/STIR Attestation
A proper SHAKEN/STIR registration will usually remove the "spam likely" label that some numbers are flagged with. Numbers can still be flagged as spam if previously used for a spammy purpose, but in most cases, "nuisance labels" like "spam likely" are just a result of a lack of SHAKEN/STIR registered attestation.
A2P 10 DLC Messaging Campaign Registration
Your 10 DLC Messaging Campaign is a registration with phone carriers to declare exactly how your company uses the text messaging functionality of your phone numbers and how contacts opt-in and opt-out of receiving text messages from you. This is the most challenging trust product to get approved, but your text messages to most phones will be blocked if you don't have it, so it is unavoidable.
Why Carrier Trust Product Registration Is Important
As of May 2023, Phone carriers have cracked down heavily on text messaging and calling in an attempt to eliminate as much text message and call spam as possible. Under the new standards, all digital (A2P/Application to Person) phone numbers are considered guilty until proven innocent and must complete the above trust product registrations or face severe call and text message restrictions, blocking, and additional fees.
Here at ProLine, we've done our best to streamline this process for you by combining all five of the above trust products into a single streamlined registration form. We are committed to making sure every company that uses ProLine is able to get their Carrier Trust Products fully approved, so don't hesitate to reach out to our support if you need help.
How to Properly Complete Carrier Trust Product Registration
1. Open Carrier Trust Product Registration
Navigate to the phone tab of your company settings, or click here. Then, click "Register Now"
2. Fill Out The Business Information Section
Be extremely careful to enter the correct information in this section. If your EIN (United States) or CCN (Canada) is incorrect, or if the provided legal business name does not exactly match what is associated with your EIN or CCN, or if you select the incorrect business type, your registration will fail. Take your time and get the info right to avoid wasted time and hassle later.
3. Fill Out The Physical Address Section
This should exactly match whatever address you are using for your Google My Business and have published on your website. If your business does not have a public physical address, then use the address associated with your EIN (this may or may not work, but it is worth a try). Phone carriers only want reputable businesses using phone numbers, and most reputable businesses have physical locations. This address cannot be a PO box.
4. Fill Out The Company Representative Section
This is the person who will be contacted if there are ever any legal issues regarding the use of your phone numbers. It is extremely unlikely this would ever happen (as long as you are using your phone number responsibly and not spamming people). However, the phone carriers still want a specific person to contact should this occur. This should usually be the owner or someone else who is a long-term part of the business.
5. Fill Out The Branded Caller ID Section
This is the branded caller ID text that will be used for your CNAM registration. This text is limited to 15 characters and must be uniquely associated with your company.
Example: If your company's name is North River Roofing Company, you can't use the full name since this would be too long (more than 15 characters). You also can't use "Roofing" or "Roofing Co" as this is too generic and will be rejected. You will have to use "N. River Roof", "NR Roofing", "North River RC", "North River", or some other appropriate abbreviation.
6. Fill Out The Messaging Use Case Section
This is the section that you need to be the most careful about filling out, as this will be used for your A2P 10DLC Campaign Registration to avoid text message blocking.
Note: Phone Carriers are deeply concerned about avoiding unwanted messages to people on their networks and proper opt-in processes so that people only get messages from you if they actually want to get them from you. Keep this in mind when writing your answers to this section.
Description
This should be a thorough but concise description of how you will be using your phone numbers to message prospects or customers.
What are you using the numbers for? What is their purpose? What kinds of messages will you be sending? Must be at least 40 characters.
DO NOT copy the examples below. If multiple companies use the exact same wording, their registrations will be rejected by the Phone Carriers, and ProLine may be fined. Please use the examples below only as a guideline for what you write.
Good Example (Write Something Like This)
We use our phone numbers for text messaging about our roofing services with leads and current customers who have opted-in to text messaging from us. Our messaging with leads consists of responding to inquiries, setting appointments, and confirming appointments. Our text messaging with current customers includes sending regular updates on the progress of roofing projects, scheduling projects, and requesting reviews.
Bad Example (Don't do this)
We text with people about roofing. (Vague and too short)
Bad Example (Don't do this)
We text people to ask them if they want roofing work from us and to get them to buy from us. (Vague and Implies spammy messaging practices)
Message Opt-In Flow
Thoroughly describe the primary ways that a contact opts in to receive text messages from you. For most companies, this would be via submitting a form on their website to inquire about their services and taking lead information over the phone from inbound calls.
Remember, the Phone Carriers are extremely concerned about proper opt-in from everyone you text with, so keep this in mind and be as clear and concise as possible about communicating how your contact opt-in to text messages from you.
If using your website form as the primary opt-in, provide a direct link to the page that contains the form. The form must also have an opt-in disclaimer (more info below).
We do not recommend mentioning any other opt-in sources other than your website and inbound calls. You are free to mention others if you like, but the same requirements will be required for every opt-in source, and you will need to provide proof of this.
*IMPORTANT* Your website form must have a disclaimer on it that says something to the effect of "By submitting this form, you authorize [Your Company Name] to text, call, and email you regarding your inquiry." We know this is an annoying requirement, but the phone carriers have made it mandatory for approval. You will not be able to use digital phone numbers from ProLine or any other digital phone provider without this. *IMPORTANT*
If you need help from the ProLine team to add this disclaimer to your website form, we can do this for you for $250. Please contact support and provide us with an admin login to your website, and we will add the correct disclaimer for you. You will be billed to the same card associated with your ProLine account.
Good Example (Write Something Like This)
People opt-in to receive text messages from us via a form on our website and by verbally opting in when speaking with our receptionist over the phone. We keep records of all website form opt-ins and opt-ins over the phone. The website form can be viewed on this page (https://yourwebsitedotcom/contact-us). We have also placed a disclaimer on the website form that reads, "By submitting this form, you are authorizing [Your Company Name] to communicate with you by text message and email."
Bad Example (Don't do this)
We text anyone that gives us their phone number. (Implies spammy messaging practices)
Bad Example (Don't do this)
If they fill out a form on our website or call us. (Way too vague)
Example Messages
Give two examples of typical messages that a contact might receive from you via your phone numbers. Each example must be more than 40 characters long. One of the examples must include an opt-out line such as "Respond with STOP to unsubscribe from future messages."
We recommend including "[Contact Name]" wherever you might mention a person's name. This makes it clear that your messages are personal rather than generic, which looks better to the phone carriers and can help with your approval.
Good Example (Write Something Like This)
Hi [Contact Name], this is AJ with PowrRoofs. Thanks for your interest in our roofing services. When would be a good time this week for a free inspection? Respond with "stop" at any time to unsubscribe from future messages.
Good Example (Write Something Like This)
Hi [Contact Name], thanks for being an awesome customer and trusting us with your home's roof. Would you be willing to provide us with feedback on our work? This would be greatly appreciated and helps us improve our service.
Bad Example (Don't do this)
Hey there how can I help (Too short, missing punctuation)
Bad Example (Don't do this)
we are doing roof tomorrow make sure no cars in the driveway. will be kinda loud (Misspellings, unprofessional tone, missing punctuation).
7. Submit Registration & Correct Any Errors
Once you have completed all sections of the Carrier Trust Product Registration form, click "Submit" at the bottom of the registration page and then click "Submit" on the pop-up to confirm. Some errors can cause your registration to fail immediately, but most failures will occur later over time. If your registration fails, you will be notified by email, and the Carrier Trust Product Registration prompt will display errors when you open ProLine.
If failures occur, the relevant sections of the Carrier Trust Product Registration form will become editable again. Make necessary adjustments to the information you've supplied, and submit the form again to re-attempt approval. Don't hesitate to contact support if you have any issues or if the reasons for the failure are unclear.