A2P 10DLC

A2P 10DLC is a new messaging standard introduced by major US carriers that requires all companies sending A2P(Application to person) SMS traffic to be registered. This is the case regardless of whether you are sending a bulk sales campaign or you just use SMS for occasional transactional messages. This only applies to companies messaging in the US and US territories using 10-digit long code phone numbers (like your Close phone numbers).

It allows businesses to send Application-to-Person (A2P) type messages. Carriers in the US consider all Close traffic to be A2P. Registering your business provides better delivery quality and lower filtering currently imposed by carriers on unregistered traffic.

Why are carriers enforcing registration?

Protecting mobile subscribers from unsolicited messaging such as spam, fraud, or abuse is the main reason registration is mandatory.

Unwanted messaging is a huge issue in the messaging industry; unwanted messages can result in complaints, fines, or outright disconnection by carriers. Mobile users who receive a lot of spam or other unwanted messages may decide to start opting out of or ignoring all messages from businesses, even legitimate ones who follow all rules and best practices.

US carriers (ATT/TMO/VZW - TMO being the most strict) are making it more difficult to send A2P-type SMS due to high rates of SMS fraud in the US, which is why such a vigorous process is in place.

How do I get registered?

You can register from your Close account by clicking "Register" here.

Registration Fees

Campaign registration carries the following one-time fees (a brand and a campaign is registered together):

• $4.5 for Low-Volume Standard Brands (organizations sending less than 6000 messages a day)
• $46 for Standard Brands (organizations sending more than 6000 messages a day).
• $4 - Sole Proprietor Brands without EIN
• $15 - One time Campaign verification fee for all of the 3 above.
• $12.50- Retrying verification after a failed attempt (Authentication Plus)

A Campaign registration has a 2 for Sole Proprietor Brands without EIN, $10 for organizations that send more than 6000 message segments per month) recurring monthly fee after being approved.

This is passed down from our telephony partner Twilio - see more here.

What information will you require from me to be registered?

1. Your business registation details including:
Once this stage is approved, your numbers will be registered for Trusted calling protocols STIR/SHAKEN and https://www.twilio.com/docs/voice/spam-monitoring-with-voiceintegrity, both of which help decrease the chances of your phone numbers getting a spam label from phone carriers. It is also the first stage of the A2P registration.

• Business legal name
• Business address
• Business type (Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation, Co-operative, Limited Liability Corporation, Non-profit Corporation)
• Business industry (pick one from here)
• Business registration number and registration type (ex: EIN Tax ID)
• Business regions of operations (what countries and/or continents)
• Website URL
• Contact data for an authorized company representative

2. SMS Traffic Use-case and Opt-in Processes
This includes how much SMS traffic you anticipate having, along with how your customers consent to receiving SMS messages from you. An opt-in process is required.

Ensure A2P Trusted SMS Approval

After you have submitted your information, Close team will submit it to our telephony partner Twilio for approval. Your registration is approved by a 3rd party board, namely the Campaign Registry. For your data to be approved, certain things have to be in order - see best practices here.

Campaigns can be rejected. If this happens, you will need to resubmit your information and you will be charged another fee for each resubmission. To ensure your campaigns are approved the first submission, you will need to:

1. Ensure Data Accuracy & Consistency
Double-check that:

• Your company name (legal name or DBA) is correct and consistent
• Your website URLs, privacy policy, and terms links are valid, publicly accessible and are on the same domain
• Your campaign description matches how you actually use SMS
  Inaccurate or mismatched information is one of the most common causes of rejection.

2. Clearly Describe Your SMS Use Case
Your campaign description should clearly explain:

• Who you are
• Who you message
• Why you message them
• What types of messages you send (transactional, conversational, promotional, etc.)
  Be descriptive and specific.

Example:

Vague descriptions like “We send reminders” are often rejected.

3. Consumer Consent Is Mandatory (No Exceptions)
You must have a clear opt-in process before sending any SMS—even transactional messages. Please note that there are certain use cases (direct lending and loan arrangement; trading) where only transactional (reminder, follow-up) SMS messages are allowed, sending promotional SMS is forbidden, and you cannot collect consent from promotional messages.

Sending unsolicited SMS can result in:

• Campaign rejection
• Account suspension

If you don’t have an opt-in process yet, create one before registering.

Creating an opt-in process

Before sending SMS in Close, you must first obtain consent from your leads. Please note that an opt-in process is mandatory and nonnegotiable.

Sending unsolicited SMS may put your account at risk of being suspended. If you don't have an opt-in process, create one before starting your registration process.

Acceptable opt-in processes

Your opt-in process must clearly show that recipients know they are agreeing to receive SMS.

Your opt-in process may vary depending on your lead generation methods. You can go with either of the below:

Option 1: Web Forms or Sign-Up Forms

If leads enter their phone number on a form:

• Include clear SMS disclosure text
• Include an unchecked checkbox for SMS consent
• You should collect opt-ins for transactional and promotional SMS separately

Example usecase description:
End users opt in by submitting their phone number on https://example.com/signup
and checking a box agreeing to receive text messages from Close.

Compliant opt-in language:
Transactional SMS

Promotional SMS:

SMS opt-in with Close Forms

The benefit of using Close forms for your SMS opt-in is that, in one process, you can also maintain your SMS opt-in records in Close CRM. Close forms can automatically create contacts and update custom fields on those contacts to mark if they have opted in to SMS or not.

Create contact type Custom Fields to mark SMS consent.
Create one Custom Field for promotional SMS and one Custom Field for transactional messages. Add Yes or No choices.

Go to the Forms editor in Close and add the following:

Drag and drop the contact phone into the form because all SMS forms have to collect phone numbers.

Then drag and drop a paragraph into the form, and copy the following statement to your paragraph.

Make sure to add your company name and to link your Terms of Service and Privacy Policy with the hyperlink option.

Now you will add the SMS checkboxes, which also automatically update your custom fields. In the Custom Fields section, choose your transactional SMS opt-in checkbox and then drag and drop it under your paragraph.

Make sure to change the label to (add the relevant message type):

If you are sending promotional SMS messages as well, you have to add a separate checkbox for your promotional SMS opt-in. Use the same method: choose your promotional SMS opt-in custom field and then drag and drop it below your paragraph.
Change the label to (add the relevant message type):

Add any other necessary fields to your form, and then embed it on your website. The final result should look something like the animation below. The form is collecting your customer data and automatically updating your SMS consent Custom Fields.
Later, you can use these custom fields to filter out contacts from workflows, so you don't accidentally message people who don't want to get SMS from you.

Option 2: Booking Links (Calendly, SavvyCal, etc.)

Booking tools are acceptable only if:

• SMS consent is explicitly stated
• A checkbox is used and not pre-selected
• You should collect opt-ins for transactional and promotional SMS separately
• SMS opt-in language should be the same as for webforms above
• Terms of Service and Privacy Policy are linked
• If the booking tool does not have the opt-in language, you need to add it with a checkbox

Example:

Option 3: Verbal Opt-in

If SMS opt-in is collected verbally (for example, during a phone call), provide the script for the conversation. Please note that verbal opt-in can only be used for transactional SMS. If you plan to send promotional messages, you need a webform or booking link.

Option 4: Keyword Opt-In (Text “START”)

If you don’t use forms:

• The customer must send the first message with the "START" keyword
• Your first reply must confirm consent and explain usage

Example:

Privacy Policy Requirements

Your Privacy Policy must clearly state:

• A compliant Privacy Policy must state that no mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes.
• Information sharing to subcontractors in support services, such as customer service is permitted.

If you mention third-party data sharing, include this disclaimer:

Terms of Service Requirements

Your Terms of Service must be publicly accessible (no login required) and linked on the signup form.

Include an SMS-specific section covering:

• Program name
• Product description
• Customer care contact information
• Opt-out instructions
• Message and data rates may apply pricing disclosure
• Message frequency disclosure (for recurring programs)
• Make your Terms publicly accessible without login requirements
• Create a specific section for SMS/messaging if not already present

Here is a copy of the boilerplate terms of service that cover minimum requirements from the carriers: Industry standards for US Short Code Terms of Service from our phone provider.

Every Opt-In Message or Form Must Include

Whether it’s a web form, booking page, text message, or verbal script, your opt-in must include:

• Company or program name
• Description of message purpose (transactional or promotional)
• Message frequency (e.g. “Message frequency varies”)
• Pricing disclosure: “Message & data rates may apply”
• Opt-out instructions: “Reply STOP to unsubscribe”
• Help instructions: “Reply HELP for help”
• Link to Privacy Policy
• Link to Terms & Conditions
• An unchecked checkbox for SMS consent, separate for transactional and promotional SMS (if applicable)

Example of Compliant Consent Language

What happens after registration?

You will be able to send SMS messages up to your daily limit. Low-volume registrations can send up to 6,000 SMS segments a day, and a standard sender can send up to 200,000 segments per day.

Even with an approved A2P SMS registration, you need to respect these guidelines; otherwise, your message might be filtered out with this error message: "The content of your message was flagged as going against carrier guidelines."
Best practices on how to stay compliant are A2P 10DLC - Stay Compliant.

New Numbers

If your account is already approved for A2P 10DLC, any new numbers you buy will be automatically added to your approved campaign. Keep in mind that the number needs to be registered with carriers as well. This process can take up to 24 hours, as the change has to propagate across several stakeholders/carriers.

OPT-OUT

Twilio, our telephony partner handles opt-out automatically if a lead responds to your messages with any of STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, or QUIT,

Any of these STOP keyword replies will prevent a customer from receiving new messages from the specific Close phone number they're responding to. When Twilio receives one of these replies, they will create a "block list" entry on their side. Once they have a block list entry for a particular recipient phone number, any future attempts to message them will fail with Error Code 21610 - Message cannot be sent to the 'To' number because the customer has replied with STOP.

Recipients can disable this and resume receiving messages with the START, YES, or UNSTOP commands as outlined below.

Only single-word messages will trigger the block. So, for example, replying STOP will stop the customer from receiving messages from that particular Close number, but replying "STOP PLEASE" or "PLEASE CANCEL" will not.

Please note that these STOP keyword replies only apply to the most recent number that messaged the recipient. If you are using more than one Toll-Free number or Long Code for sending messages, you must take additional action separate from Twilio to prevent these customers from receiving messages from your other numbers. We recommend deleting the contact's numbers on your side when one of these message responses is received.

For more info, see full Twilio Messaging Policy and Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).

See how to stay compliant after approval here.