What Is 10DLC Registration and Why It Matters for Your Text Campaigns

10DLC Registration: The Requirement Every Text Campaign Needs to Know

10DLC registration is the required process that lets your business send text messages from a standard 10-digit phone number. If you have been texting customers, donors or voters without it, there is a high chance that carriers (the phone companies, such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon) are filtering or blocking your messages without telling you.

Since the major carriers began enforcing these rules, unregistered A2P (application-to-person) traffic (texts sent from software, not a personal phone) is filtered heavily. Those messages do not arrive, and you receive no bounce notice or error message.

What Is 10DLC, Exactly?

10DLC stands for "10-Digit Long Code." It refers to the standard 10-digit phone numbers (like 312-555-1234) that businesses use to send text messages. Before 10DLC registration existed, anyone could set up a phone number and start sending mass texts. Carriers had no way to tell legitimate business messages apart from spam.

The 10DLC system, managed by The Campaign Registry (TCR), builds trust in four parts:

• Brand registration: Your business identity is verified with TCR
• Campaign registration: Each use case (marketing, notifications, political and so on) is registered separately
• Trust scoring: Your brand receives a trust score that sets your sending limits and affects how many messages are delivered
• Carrier review: Carriers review and approve your campaigns before you can send

10DLC vs. Short Codes vs. Toll-Free

• 10DLC (10-digit): Standard local business numbers. On CampaignCNX+ a number is $5 a month and registration is $75 one time. They allow two-way messaging and have sending limits that suit most businesses. Most small and midsize organizations should use them.
• Short codes (5 or 6 digits): Premium numbers such as 55555. Through Twilio they send 100 messages per second by default, cost $1,000 to $1,500 a month plus a setup fee, and take about 4 to 12 weeks for the carriers to approve, so they suit large senders. CampaignCNX+ does not offer them. Our post on what a short code is explains the costs in full.
• Toll-free (800, 888 and similar): Also $5 a month on CampaignCNX+. Better for notifications than marketing. Requires a separate carrier review called toll-free verification, which takes about three business days.

Why 10DLC Registration Matters for Your Campaigns

Message Delivery

Registered 10DLC campaigns see delivery rates of 95 to 99%. Unregistered messages do much worse, and some carriers report less than 50% delivery for them. If half your texts are not arriving, you are paying for messages no one receives.

Sending Limits (Throughput)

Throughput is how many messages you may send per second (MPS). Registered campaigns get higher limits based on their trust score:

• Low trust score: 2 to 5 MPS (still 120 to 300 messages per minute)
• Medium trust score: 10 to 15 MPS
• High trust score: 25 to 75 MPS

Unregistered messages are slowed to a fraction of a message per second, which makes time-sensitive campaigns, such as flash sales or get-out-the-vote (GOTV) texts, practically impossible.

This article is part of our guide to TCPA compliant texting.

Carrier Trust

Registration tells carriers your messages are legitimate. This matters because carrier spam filters keep getting stricter. Registered senders get the benefit of the doubt, while unregistered senders get flagged.

Compliance

10DLC registration is now a prerequisite for TCPA-compliant texting (the TCPA is the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act). Platforms that allow unregistered sending expose themselves and their users to regulatory risk.

How to Register for 10DLC

Step 1: Brand Registration

Submit your business information to TCR through your messaging platform (such as CampaignCNX+). You will need:

• Legal business name and DBA (if applicable)
• EIN (Employer Identification Number, your federal tax ID) or equivalent tax ID
• Business address, website and contact information
• Industry classification

TCR verifies your identity and assigns a trust score based on your business profile, web presence and history.

Step 2: Campaign Registration

Register each use case (type of messaging) separately:

• Use case category: Marketing, notifications, polling, political, charity and others
• Sample messages: Provide 2 or 3 example texts you will send
• Opt-in description: How subscribers join and agree to receive texts
• Opt-out description: How subscribers can leave
• Expected volume: Estimated number of messages per month

Step 3: Carrier Approval

After TCR approval, your campaign is submitted to each carrier for review. This typically takes 1 to 5 business days. Once approved, you can start sending through that carrier's network.

Step 4: Start Sending

Once registration is complete, your messages are delivered through approved routes, with sending limits based on your trust score.

10DLC Registration Costs

On CampaignCNX+, 10DLC registration is $75 one time, and we file the brand and campaign registration with The Campaign Registry for you. Your number is $5 a month.

The fee is small next to the cost of undelivered messages. If you spend $200 a month on SMS (text messages) and half never arrive, you are wasting $100 a month, far more than registration costs.

Special Considerations for Political Campaigns

Political messaging has its own 10DLC requirements:

• Separate campaign type: Political messaging must be registered under the "Political" use case
• Committee information: Include your committee's FEC ID (from the Federal Election Commission) and treasurer information
• Higher scrutiny: Political campaigns go through additional review because election messages are sensitive
• Season-based volume: If your volume will rise near Election Day, register early so your sending limits are adequate when you need them most

CampaignCNX+ handles the entire 10DLC registration process for political campaigns, including TCR registration, carrier approval and sending-rate optimization. The platform was built for campaign messaging and for the specific requirements political senders face.

Common 10DLC Registration Mistakes

• Waiting too long: Registration takes 1 to 2 weeks, so start the process well before you need to send.
• Mismatched use cases: If you register as "notifications" but send marketing content, your campaign will be flagged or suspended.
• Incomplete business information: A missing EIN, a wrong address or no website will lower your trust score.
• Skipping secondary vetting: The $40 secondary vetting fee can double or triple your sending limit, which makes it worth paying.
• Using one campaign for multiple purposes: Register separate campaigns for marketing, transactional (order and account updates) and political messaging.

Get Registered and Start Reaching Your Audience

10DLC registration is a basic cost of SMS marketing. Without it, many of your messages never arrive. With it, you get carrier-approved delivery, higher sending limits and the foundation for a compliant, effective SMS program.

CampaignCNX+ manages the entire A2P 10DLC registration process, from brand registration through carrier approval. Start with 100 free SMS, and we will handle your 10DLC setup so you can focus on writing your messages. Your number is $5 a month, 10DLC registration is a one-time $75 fee, and carrier review usually takes a few days to a couple of weeks.

Read more about how CampaignCNX+ handles sending at scale once you are registered.