10DLC Registration in 2023: What You Need to Know

SMS marketing has been a boon for both small businesses and large enterprises, and the reason is clear. Text messages tout open rates far higher than email (sometimes as high as 98%), with an equally impressive click-through rate (CTR). This makes them a top-notch solution for strengthening customer engagement, boosting customer retention and driving sales. 

Sending text messages as a business was once an unregulated field, but now it comes with unique regulations and important updates. In 2023, this now includes 10DLC registration. 

10DLC is shorthand for a 10-digit long code. Despite the length of its numbers, it functions as a local phone number organizations and companies can use for communication with individuals, whether it’s to promote a sale, offer customer support or tell a subscriber about an upcoming event. 

Table of Contents

• A brief history of SMS marketing
• The regulatory landscape
• What 10DLC registration means for you
• About the 10DLC verification process

A Brief History of SMS Marketing 

10DLC has become the go-to alternative to shared short codes marketing for A2P (or application to person) messaging, which started getting phased out in 2021. It’s now seen as an industry standard.

So, what is 10DLC registration, and why might it be crucial to your business? 

Take a brief glimpse at the history of SMS marketing:

• It started with the “batch and blast” days of sending texts—and generic texts at that. With the unregulated nature of SMS marketing and the lack of information on how to approach consumers, these texts were largely ineffective. 
• As text message marketing companies educated the space, these “spam texts” evolved into more personalized messages, providing consumers value. As a result, more consumers opted into SMS marketing.
• The space evolved, and with it changed the law. Unsolicited texts prompted Congress to put the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) into action, which was initially enacted in 1991 to protect consumers from unsolicited communication (calls, faxes, and now, texts). 

The enactment of TCPA means that all forms of direct marketing communication, including text messages, must adhere to government regulations set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). 

The Regulatory Landscape

The TCPA redefined how marketers were legally able to contact people. A few of the most important regulations include:

• Obtaining express consent to receiving text messages
• Identifying your brand or organization in your content
• Providing key disclosures
• Simplifying individuals’ ability to opt out of SMS marketing (such as replying STOP to texts)
• Sending messages only during business hours

These regulations were enacted, and are practiced to this day, to protect consumer privacy and keep them from receiving unwanted, intrusive messages. 

Ultimately, businesses and organizations can benefit tremendously from SMS, now more so than ever. But only if they adhere to federal regulations and SMS best practices. 10DLC registration is one of them.

To be clear: Shifting to 10DLC is not federally required, at least not yet. 

However, the FCC established STIR/SHAKEN (or Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN)) standards. This safeguards US residents from receiving calls and SMS messages from unsolicited organizations. In turn, carriers ranging from T-Mobile to AT&T have created their own rules, including 10DLC registration and compliance.

What This Means For Your Marketing Strategy

Regulations of any kind can cause disorder for even the most well-organized (and well-equipped) business. But the regulations created by the FCC, as well as new regulations being issued by phone carriers, improve SMS for both organizations and their customers by:

• Building trust by respecting your customers’ private lives (such as ensuring that automated messages aren’t set outside of opening hours, with your consumers’ time zone in mind)
• Boosting engagement rates
• Giving consumers the final say about if, and when, they receive texts
• Improving customer support
• Ensuring that texts remain a quality, unpolluted channel of communication

In other words, SMS regulation is a positive: It decreases spam, mitigates fraud and makes businesses that comply with the rules stand out as trustworthy.

About the Verification Process for 10DLC Registration

If you’re new to SMS marketing (or using SMS for other purposes), it’s important to note that a registration process is involved. This is a large shift from the past when organizations were more or less able to start sending messages almost immediately.

The process may be more time-consuming now, but once you complete registration, you can help ensure message delivery and better develop or preserve your reputation. 

Without 10DLC registration, some carriers will not deliver your messages because they will technically consider them “unverified.” In other cases, not registering may also increase your costs — some heavy hitters, like AT&T, have implemented pay-per-message fees for unregistered 10DLC messaging. 

The nature of your organization and the intent of your SMS messaging may dictate the registration processes. That said, you will typically have to provide:

• Your business number or tax ID number (EIN), which confirms that you are a business entity 
• Your country
• Your organization’s website
• Your designation; e.g., a sole proprietor or nonprofit
• Your industry

This will also require a 10DLC “Campaign Registry,” so that carriers understand the content of what is being sent (and so that bulk text messages are more secure).

All of these steps, as well as the approval process, may place some small businesses at a disadvantage, or delay their marketing efforts. Ultimately, though, 10-digit long codes will be more swift and cost-effective. 10DLC may also increase deliverability and develop greater trust with your audience—one of the keys to customer retention.

Elevate Your SMS Marketing with Textedly 

Mobile marketing is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. This is due in part to the fact that consumers want more direct communication with the brands they do business with and the organizations they support. Switching from short codes to 10DLC may seem like a hindrance, but it stands to benefit both consumers and businesses.

Take your SMS campaign to the next level with Textedly. As an industry leader in the world of SMS and MMS, we offer the solutions you need to make an impact on your audience, all on a simple-to-use and economical platform. We also offer exceptional customer support for whatever concerns or questions arise for you, about 10DLC registration and more.

Launch your success by giving Textedly’s free trial a spin today.

Sources:

Tech Jury. 35+ Must-Know SMS Marketing Statistics in 2023. https://techjury.net/blog/sms-marketing-statistics/#gref

JD Supra. An Overview of The Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/what-is-the-tcpa-5195949/

Nation Builder. 10DLC Frequently asked questions FAQ.

https://support.nationbuilder.com/en/articles/6637140-10dlc-frequently-asked-questions-faq

FCC. Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication. https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication