What You Need to Know About A2P 10DLC

Text messaging (SMS) has become one of the most effective channels for businesses to engage their customers.

‍‍

‍

Need some reasons?

• SalesMsg says that the average open rate is 98% 
• 90% of people open within the first three minutes (looking at you, people who can’t see a red notification and leave it alone)
• The average response rate is 45%. 
  

Even better, if you engage with a user over SMS, 74% of people will have a better impression of your business.

It’s been easy for companies to send messages through 10-digit numbers (10DLC) intended for peer-to-peer (P2P) messaging. Like… as easy as creating an account.

That’s great for legitimate businesses, but we don’t want SMS turning into those robocalls.

Robotexts are mostly avoidable with the new 10DLC changes. 

If you run a responsible company, you have nothing to fear. Actually, it will be a good thing!

Stick around to find out just what you need to know to make the new system work for you.

How 10DLCs Work

A lot goes on behind the scenes before any push notifications pop up. Here’s how it happens:

A business wants to send an abandoned cart notification.

They log into a marketing automation platform like Iterable.

Iterable segments the users and defines what the message is going to say. 

Once the automation platform has sorted out their users, it sends the message over to a cloud communications platform like Twilio.

That platform will check for approval and send the message to the user’s carrier.

If the carrier approves, your message is a notification on the user’s screen.

What’s Changing

It all started because US carriers want to know who’s sending what and how much they’re sending. 

They’re making it harder for someone to try anything, if you know what we mean.

Added bonus for the carriers? They get more money.

New Guidelines

• End shared short codes by June 1, 2021
• Require registration on sites like Twilio
• Assign a trust score based on your sending throughput 
• New fees (womp womp) for business registration, use case, and messaging 
  

They hope that this will validate senders and give people a reason to trust the channel. Of course, validating it will weed out the bad actors ruining the fun for everyone else.

Important: If you have a short code, double-check that it isn’t shared with another company before this goes into effect.

New Fees

You can expect to pay a one-time registration fee, recurring campaign charge per quarter, standard costs per message, and carrier surcharge fees.Your pricing might vary, depending on the platform you use.

Nobody wants to pay extra fees, but the good news is that this extra money you shell out should amount to:

• Better security
• The ability to monitor senders 
• More reliable text channels
• Carrier-approved channels
• Better brand awareness
• Lower cost per month
  

If you’ve read any of our posts about personalization and customer experience, you know that each of these things is important to building trust and securing that new customer.

How To Take Action

You can still choose to use a short code or toll-free number instead of a 10DLC.

But if 10DLC is for you, then getting started with is simple. To start sending messages and taking names, you’ll need to do a few things.

Before you start the sign-up process, make sure you have this information: 

• Company name
• Country you’re registered in
• Tax/EIN number
• Type of Company
• Campaign name 
• Campaign description
• Company website
• Contact information
• DUNS number
• Sample campaign messages
  

It just tells the carriers who you are and what kind of information you’re sending.

Cloud Communications Platforms

You might be a subscriber to a cloud communications platform. If you’re a Twilio or SalesMsg subscriber, follow these simple steps to get registered.

The Campaign Registry is a “central hub” to register your business for a 10DLC. 

Your Campaign Service Provider (CSP), the platform you use to communicate with customers, will send your information to TCR. Once approved, your CSP will get a campaign ID. You can also do this through an API.

Your ID is sent to a Direct Connect Aggregator (a fancy way to say “the in between guy that sends your info to the carrier). The DCA uploads it and makes it official.

Once you’re in the system, you’re ready to go.

So, how do you register through a CSP?

If you’re a Twilio customer:

• Apply for Twilio Trust Hub
  

This is where you register your business identity and get vetted.

• Submit for access to A2P 10DLC
  

Twilio will review your application, and if you’re the real deal, assign you a number.

• Register your campaigns
  

You’ll register each campaign, or use case, with Twilio.

If you’re a SalesMsg customer:

Register with this Typeform.

In the long run, A2P 10DLC will make the SMS channel more credible, give you a better throughput, and create a more organic connection with your customers.