10DLC Registration Guide: How to Register for Business Texting

If your business sends text messages to clients or leads using a standard 10-digit phone number, you are required to register through the 10DLC (10-Digit Long Code) system. This is not optional. US carriers including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon now mandate that all business-to-consumer (A2P) SMS traffic be registered through The Campaign Registry (TCR). Unregistered messages are subject to filtering, blocking, and significantly higher per-message carrier fees.

This guide walks you through every step of the 10DLC registration process, including what information you need, how to write compliant sample messages, what your website must include, and how to avoid common rejection reasons.

What Is 10DLC and Why Does It Matter

10DLC stands for 10-Digit Long Code. It is the industry standard for Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging in the United States. Before 10DLC, businesses could send SMS from any standard phone number without verification. Carriers introduced 10DLC to reduce spam, verify sender identity, and protect consumers.

For surplus funds recovery businesses, real estate professionals, and any company that contacts property owners via text, 10DLC registration is a requirement. Without it, your messages may never reach your recipients, and your phone number could be flagged or blocked entirely.

The 10DLC Registration Process: Three Steps

Registration happens in three stages. Each must be completed before moving to the next.

Step 1: Brand Registration. This verifies your business identity. You are telling the carriers who you are. TCR checks your business information against public records to confirm legitimacy.

Step 2: Campaign Registration. This describes what you are sending and how you manage consent. You are telling the carriers what types of messages your recipients will receive and how they opted in.

Step 3: Carrier Approval. Carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon) review your campaign and either approve or reject it. Your messaging provider submits this on your behalf.

Brand Registration: What You Need

For businesses with an EIN (most LLCs, corporations, and partnerships), you will need the following:

• Legal company name - must match your IRS EIN confirmation letter (CP 575) exactly
• EIN (Employer Identification Number) - must be an exact match with IRS records
• Business address - street, city, state, and zip code
• Business phone number
• Business email - must be a company domain email, not Gmail, Yahoo, or other free providers
• Company website URL
• Business type - LLC, Corporation, Partnership, Sole Proprietorship, etc.
• Industry/vertical - Real Estate, Financial Services, etc.

Important: Newly issued EINs can take 30 to 90 days to propagate across carrier validation systems. If your brand registration is rejected due to a tax ID mismatch and your EIN was recently issued, wait a few weeks and resubmit.

Sole proprietors without an EIN can still register, but the process requires your personal name, phone number, email, and physical address. Sole proprietor brands have lower messaging throughput limits.

Campaign Registration: What You Need

Once your brand is approved, you register your messaging campaign. This tells carriers exactly what messages your recipients will receive and how they consented. You will need:

• Campaign description (40 to 4,096 characters) - Must explain who is sending, who the recipients are, and why messages are being sent. Single-word descriptions like “Marketing” will be rejected.
• Use case type - Marketing, Customer Care, Mixed, etc.
• At least 2 sample messages - Real examples of messages you will send. Must include your business name and comply with formatting rules.
• Opt-in description (40 to 2,049 characters) - Exactly how end users consent to receive messages. Must describe the specific mechanism (checkbox on website, verbal confirmation, keyword opt-in).
• Website URL with compliant privacy policy and terms of service

Sample SMS Messages

Your sample messages must reflect what you will actually send. They must include your business name and use brackets for personalized fields. Below are examples for reference only. Do not copy these directly. Write your own messages based on your actual business and use case:

Key rules for sample messages: Always include your business name. Use [brackets] for personalized fields. Include opt-out language (STOP). Do not use free URL shorteners like Bit.ly or TinyURL. If you need short links, use a branded domain.

Campaign Description Example

Your campaign description must clearly explain who sends, who receives, and why. Here is an example for reference. Write your own based on your actual business:

Website Requirements for 10DLC Approval

Your website is reviewed during campaign registration. Carriers check that your site is legitimate, matches the business you registered, and includes proper compliance pages. Your website must have three things:

1. A contact form with an SMS consent checkbox
2. A privacy policy that covers SMS data collection
3. Terms and conditions (or Terms of Service) with SMS disclosures

Contact Form: SMS Consent Checkbox Requirements

Your contact form must include a checkbox for SMS consent. This checkbox has strict requirements:

• The checkbox must not be pre-checked. The user must actively check it.
• SMS consent must be a separate checkbox. It cannot be bundled with email consent or general terms acceptance.
• The checkbox must be optional. The form must be submittable even if the user does not check it. SMS consent cannot be a condition of form submission.
• The checkbox label must include required disclosures: message frequency, data rates, opt-out instructions, and links to your Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Example checkbox label text:

Contact Form Example

Your website contact form should look something like this. The SMS consent checkbox is unchecked by default and is not required to submit the form. Replace “[Your Company Name]” with your actual business name and link to your own Terms and Privacy pages.

Privacy Policy: What It Must Include for SMS

Your privacy policy must address how you handle phone numbers and SMS data. At minimum, it must include these elements:

• How you collect contact data, including phone numbers
• How you store, use, and protect personal information
• An explicit statement that mobile information and phone numbers will not be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes
• An explicit statement that personal information will not be shared without consent or unless legally required
• Reference to your SMS messaging program and data practices

Example privacy policy SMS section:

Terms and Conditions: What They Must Include for SMS

Your Terms of Service (or Terms and Conditions) page must include an SMS-specific section. Here is what carriers and TCR reviewers look for:

• Your program name or business name
• Types of messages consumers can expect to receive
• Message frequency (e.g., “Message frequency varies” or a specific number)
• “Message and data rates may apply”
• Opt-out instructions: “Reply STOP to unsubscribe”
• Help instructions: “Reply HELP for assistance”
• Link to your Privacy Policy
• Statement that carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages
• Contact information (phone number or email for support)

Example Terms of Service SMS section:

Common Rejection Reasons and How to Avoid Them

Campaigns are rejected more often than most businesses expect. Here are the most common reasons and what to do about each one:

• Vague campaign description. “Marketing” or “We send texts to clients” is not enough. Describe who sends, who receives, and why.
• Sample messages missing business name. Every sample must include your company name.
• Weak opt-in description. “Users sign up on our website” is too vague. Describe the exact mechanism: “Users fill out the contact form at yoursite.com/contact and check a checkbox labeled...”
• Using free URL shorteners. Bit.ly, TinyURL, and similar services are flagged. Use a branded domain or full URLs.
• Free email address on brand registration. Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook email addresses get flagged. Use your business domain.
• EIN mismatch. Your legal name and EIN must match your IRS records exactly. Check your CP 575 letter.
• Missing or non-compliant privacy policy. Your website must have a privacy policy that includes the “no sharing mobile info with third parties” language at the time of submission.
• Pre-checked consent checkbox. The SMS consent checkbox must not be checked by default.
• Missing opt-out language in sample messages. Every message must include “Reply STOP to unsubscribe” or similar language.

10DLC Registration Fees

Registration involves pass-through fees charged by The Campaign Registry (TCR) and carriers. These are not markup fees from your messaging provider.

• Sole Proprietor Brand Registration: $4.50 (one-time)
• Low-Volume Standard Brand Registration: $4.50 (one-time)
• Standard Brand Registration: $46.00 (one-time, includes secondary vetting)
• Campaign Registration: $15.00 one-time vetting fee. Monthly recurring fees vary by use case type.

Per-message carrier surcharges also apply separately from registration fees.

Timeline: How Long Does 10DLC Registration Take

Brand approval: Usually within minutes to a few hours. Automated TCR check against IRS records. Can take 1 to 3 business days if manual review is needed.

Campaign approval: Typically 2 to 7 business days. During high-volume periods, it can take 10 to 15 days.

End to end: Under one week in ideal conditions. Allow 2 to 3 weeks if corrections are needed or during busy periods.

Opt-In Description Example

When registering your campaign, you need to describe exactly how users consent. Here is an example for reference. Write your own based on your actual opt-in process:

Summary

10DLC registration is a one-time setup that protects your messaging reputation and ensures your texts actually reach your clients. The process requires accurate business information, compliant sample messages, a website with proper privacy and terms pages, and a contact form with an unchecked SMS consent checkbox. Prepare these items before you start and you will avoid the most common rejection reasons. Once approved, your business can send SMS at full volume with carrier trust.