A SANCTIONED ENVIRONMENT
“TCR™ works with North American mobile operators and companies that are in the messaging business to register Application-to-Person (A2P) text messaging Campaigns. The registry supports a sanctioned A2P 10 Digit Long Code (10DLC) text messaging Campaign ecosystem and provides visibility into the messaging source and content, allowing mobile carriers to provide a more reliable and simple messaging service for Campaign Service Providers (CSPs) and Brands. Brands can now run their campaigns with confidence, knowing that they are using an officially sanctioned product for their messaging termination, 10DLC.”~The Campaign Registry
10DLC SMS Campaign Registration
The Campaign Registry (TCR) is an information hub organized by the major mobile carriers. These mobile carriers have set industry standards mandating that all businesses desiring to send SMS/MMS messaging from their 10DLC numbers must register a brand for their company and create a campaign to register their use case. This campaign is then assigned at the carrier level to the telephone number(s). Their goal is to identify and block unregistered traffic in an effort to reduce spam and junk to cell phones. Legitimate businesses must register their brand (company information) and create campaigns for their messaging use cases. Messaging traffic sent with an approved campaign assigned is delivered by mobile carriers to the message recipient. Traffic with no campaign assigned is not delivered.
Creating Your Brand and Campaign
Inventive Labs Corp is a registered CSP (Campaign Service Provider) at the TCR and we provide SMS services for all of our products: VoiceElements, VoiceElements for Teams, and Email-Texting. All of our new or existing customers desiring SMS services must create a Brand and Campaign in order send outbound SMS messages on our platform. New customers can let us know their outbound messaging needs, and we’ll determine the type of campaign needed to achieve the messaging throughput needed. We’ll make sure you are comfortable using our customer portal and answer any questions you may have.
How long does this take?
Messaging cannot be enabled for your ported or provisioned numbers until a campaign can be assigned. This does create delays in enabling SMS services for your company or your newly onboarded customers. Build a 7 – 14 day delay for SMS services into your onboarding timeline and make sure you set appropriate expectations on when SMS will be enabled.
Pre-requisites to Submitting Your 10DLC SMS Campaign Registration
Production Account:
Your account must be converted from a Demo account to a Production account. Follow your portal instructions to enter your payment information and select your plan.
Company Requirements:
Your business must have a Federal Employer ID Number (EIN) under which you file your taxes. If you file taxes under your Social Security Number, your business is not eligible for a messaging campaign.
Website Requirements:
Every business who wishes to engage in business messaging must have a business website wherein they publicly state how they protect the mobile information and consent that they gather. They cannot sell any mobile information to third parties or affiliates for marketing purposes. This must be stated clearly in their website Privacy Policy. We recommend that you implement the following on your website:
Privacy Policy: An easy to locate link to your Privacy Policy must be on your website, such as in the footer of every screen (preferred), in a Legal section, or on the Contact Us page.
Required Privacy Policy Language: The following language is recommended for your Privacy Policy to declare how you protect the mobile information and consent that you gather.
“By providing your wireless phone number to [insert your company name], you agree and acknowledge that [insert your company name] may send text messages to your wireless phone number. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency may vary. You may opt-out at any time by replying “Stop”. No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. Notwithstanding any other statement within this privacy policy, originator opt-in data and consent will never be shared with any third parties.”
Contact Forms: If you request a phone number on a contact form, you must get consent to message them on that number. Include a consent statement with a checkbox where the interested party must check the box in order to submit the webform. This gives you ‘express consent’, allowing you to send messages as needed.
□ I consent to receive text messages and voice calls. Frequency may vary. Mobile message and data rates from your cell phone carrier may apply. I understand I can opt-out at any time by texting Stop.
No Website?
The TCR’s requirement for a website has a dual purpose. They are vetting your company to determine if you are a legitimate business and to see if your brand’s Vertical Type (Healthcare, Information Technology, Education, etc.) and Use Case (Customer Care, Marketing, etc.) matches your published website information. They need to see your published policies for how you manage the information you collect and protect the privacy of your customers.
If your business operates without a website, you must provide a URL to your business profile on an online platform like Yelp, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The same pre-requisites apply, as outlined in Website Requirements above. Depending on the platform your business is on, you will either add your Privacy Policy to your profile information, or create a post that you Pin to the top.
You would enter the URL to your platform page in the campaign form’s website field.
Creating your Brand
Legal Company Name & EIN: The most critical piece involved in creating your Brand is making sure your Legal Company Name and EIN match what is on file with the IRS. Your Legal Company Name and EIN can be found on your CP575. This is the document that your business received from the IRS / Department of Treasury upon successfully registering your business and receiving your Federal Tax ID number. Note that this is your Federal Employer Identification Number, not any State ID number or any other corporate registration ID. It is the number with which you file taxes with the IRS.
If Legal Company Name and EIN do not match, the brand submission will fail. There is a brand submission fee assessed by TCR each time the brand is submitted. We pass these fees through to you. To avoid these additional costs, we encourage you to be deliberate in confirming this information prior to submission. If your brand submission fails but you have confirmed that the Legal Company Name and EIN are correct, you have the option to submit the brand for a more comprehensive brand verification at an additional fee of $40. E
FAQs from The Campaign Registry
Why do I need to provide the EIN of the Brands that I register?
When you add a Brand to your CSP profile, we require you to enter its EIN (Sole Proprietors are excluded). This allows TCR to verify the identity of the Brand, which is a requirement for any campaign to be registered on 10DLC. It is crucial that the EIN matches the legal company name of the Brand you are registering for it to be correctly verified.
How can I be sure to enter the correct EIN/ Tax ID to have my Brand “Verified”
Tax ID number is used in conjunction with the company’s name, address, and other information to ensure we perform a background investigation on the correct company. The following guidance will provide the best recognition opportunity for your company.
United States If you are a US company or a foreign company with a US IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN), please enter that nine-digit number in the EIN field and ensure that your legal company name is consistent with your IRS registration and is properly spelled. The address you enter should also be the same as that used in registering with the IRS.
~Campaign Registry, FAQ
Sole Proprietor Brands
Any business owner who files taxes under their Social Security Number is considered a Sole Proprietor. While The Campaign Registry still allows for Sole Proprietor Brands to be created, none of our carriers will accept a Sole Proprietor brand. We hope this will change in the future; however for now the company wishing to register their brand must have a federal Employer ID Number (EIN).
Tips for Creating Your Messaging Campaign
Upon successful brand verification, you can move forward and create your campaign. Your campaign will undergo a review by the messaging aggregator. If your campaign is rejected, a reason is provided which we can work with you to correct. Campaigns can be resubmitted, however the campaign submission fee is assessed by TCR each time the campaign is submitted and we pass these fees on to you. To avoid these additional costs, become familiar with appropriate messaging requirements, complete the pre-requisites listed above, establish proper procedures to obtain consent, and clearly communicate this in your campaign language.
Once the brand/campaign has been created, you can assign this campaign to your company’s outbound SMS number(s). This Standard Campaign can be assigned to up to 49 phone numbers.
TCR Deadlines
Campaign Registry published the following deadlines for 2022.
Starting November 3rd: All new sole proprietor brands must go through validation. Brands that do not pass “Brand data validation” will be rejected. Those that do not pass “OTP validation of mobile phone” will be set to “unverified” status and will not be able to register campaigns.
November 3rd : all existing SP Brands will be set to “unverified”. Existing campaigns will work. New campaigns for existing “unverified” brands cannot be registered.
Starting in November: TCR will run a validation process on previously registered SP entities.
End of December: Deadline for CSPs to validate existing Sole Props via the Sole prop 2.0 process – Any unverified SP entities and their campaigns will be deactivated.~Campaign Registry
At the end of December, TCR states, “any unverified SP entities and their campaigns will be deactivated.” SMS communication will not be delivered by the receiving carriers until the phone number is assigned to a verified campaign. All corporate entities must have Regular campaigns assigned to their messaging phone numbers by the end of 2022 in order to continue sending SMS communication without interruption.
We Value Your Privacy
We understand anyone’s hesitancy to share their corporate information. However, we must obtain this information in order to provide SMS services for your 10DLC numbers. Inventive Labs Corporation (Voice Elements Corporation) carefully protects the privacy of all of our customers and their end users. We do not sell any information. The information we obtain for TCR brand and campaign creation is solely used for that purpose. We take special care of our customer information and work hard to protect your information. See Voice Elements Privacy Policy.
Toll Free Verification
There is an entirely separate process to verify your Toll Free numbers (TFNs) that send outbound SMS messages. Even TFNs sending outbound messages in very low volumes can experience blocking if the message contains links. Please see Toll Free Messaging Verification to learn how to submit your TFNs for verification.
Questions or Concerns?
If you have concerns about the type of Brand/Campaign that you have registered with TCR, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We can make sure your brand, campaign, and use case fit your messaging needs.
For detailed information about how to register your Brand & Campaign in our customer portal, please Contact Us.
If you are in need of excellent SMS services, schedule an appointment to talk with our tech team. Let’s explore your communication needs and how we can help!
Messaging Industry Resources
CTIA Messaging Principles and Best Practices
https://api.ctia.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/170119-ctia-messaging-principles-and-best-practices.pdf
MMA Best Practices
https://www.mmaglobal.com/files/bestpractices.pdf
M3AAWG Best Practices
https://www.m3aawg.org/sites/default/files/m3aawg-mobile-messaging-best-practices-service-providers-2015-08_0.pdf
Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) Omnibus Declaratory Ruling (FCC 15-72)
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-72A1.pdf
FTC Truth in Advertising
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising