10DLC explained: why your business texts need a registered brand and campaign
10DLC stands for "10-digit long code": a regular local phone number used for business (application-to-person) texting in the United States. Since 2021 the major carriers require every business sending from a local number to register who they are and what they send. Unregistered traffic is throttled, filtered, or blocked outright.
The two registrations
- Brand — your legal entity: legal name, EIN, address, website, an authorized contact. A one-time fee (see pricing). Approval usually takes a day or two; mismatches between the EIN and the legal name are the most common rejection.
- Campaign — a use case under the brand: what you send, how people opt in, sample messages, opt-out and help wording. A one-time vetting fee plus a small monthly fee. Approval takes one to seven days.
A number is attached to a campaign. One campaign can cover several numbers; a brand can have several campaigns (say, "appointment reminders" and "promotions").
What reviewers look for
- Sample messages that include your business name and opt-out language.
- A clear, specific opt-in description: "customers tick a consent box on our booking form at example.com/book" beats "customers agree to texts".
- Consistency: the website, the brand name and the samples should obviously belong together.
- No prohibited content (SHAFT, cannabis, high-risk financial, lead generation).
Throughput
Registered campaigns get carrier-assigned daily message caps based on the brand's trust score. Most small businesses land in a tier that comfortably covers a few thousand messages per day. Sending far more than your registered use case suggests draws attention, so describe your real volume.
Or skip it with toll-free
Toll-free numbers do not use 10DLC. They go through a free verification (business details, use case, sample, opt-in evidence) that takes one to three weeks. If you cannot provide an EIN, or you want no brand fees, toll-free is the route. See our comparison of toll-free and local numbers.
How Texttive handles it
You fill in the brand and campaign forms in the portal; we review them for the common rejection reasons, file them with the carrier ecosystem, charge the pass-through fees to your wallet, and unlock sending on the attached numbers the moment approval comes back. Until then the compliance gate blocks sends from that number so nothing goes out unregistered.