A2P 10DLC

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 irrespective 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 U.S. and U.S. 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 unsolicitated messaging such as spam, fraud, or abuse is the main reason registation 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 lots 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 harder and harder to send A2P-type SMS due to high rates of SMS fraud in the US hence such a vigorous process.

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 for Low-Volume Standard Brands (organizations sending less than 6000 messages a day)
• $44 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.

A Campaign registration has a $1.50 ($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:

• 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 representatives

2. SMS Traffic Use-case and Opt-in Processes

Ensure Campaign Approval

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

As per the above best practises, campaigns can be rejected. If this happens, you will need to resubmit and you will be charged another fee for each resubmission. To ensure your campaigns are approved, you will need to:

1. Ensure data accuracy and consistency - As per the best practices linked above, ensure that your company details above are accurate. See below common mistakes that lead to campaign rejections.

2. Campaign Use-case

Use as much details as possible to describe how you use SMS in Close.

Example:

We are a real estate company so we use this to communicate with buyers and sellers who have opted in to our network of agents so that we can share with each other properties in the market to coordinate viewings, request for new listings and close on sold properties.

3. Ensure your use case involves consumer consent before sending messages
   A clear opt-in process is mandatory even if you only send trasactional messages. You must show, beyond resonable doubt that your SMS recepients are consenting to receive SMS from you.

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 campaign registration will be rejected without a proper opt-in processes. The below guidelines gives you the necesary language to make sure registration is approved without a lot of back and forth.

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

1. Sign-up through webforms
   If your leads come through sign-ups or filling webforms/surveys, you must include a way for them to know that providing a phone number means they will be receiving SMS from your brand.

Examples:

End users opt-in by visiting https://example.com/signup/ and adding their phone numbers. They then check a box agreeing to receive text messages from Close.com.

2. Booking Links
   Booking softwares such as Calendly, Savvycal etc, that provide for collection of lead data when booking a meeting are also acceptable. They must include a checkbox where a lead can explicitily consent to receiving SMS.

Example

Users share their phone numbers when booking a meeting on our Savvycal booking link https://savvycal.com/bookcall. They check a checkbox to consent to receive SMS from Close.com.

In both case 1&2, the consent message must include:

1. Program name and/or a description of the messages that will be sent
2. Organization or individual being represented in the initial message
3. Fee disclosure ("Message and data rates may apply")
4. Service delivery frequency or recurring messages disclosure ("4 messages per month", "Message frequency varies", "1 message per login", etc)
5. Customer care information (typically "Text HELP for help" or Help at XXX-XXX-XXXX).
6. Opt out instructions (typically "Text STOP to unsubscribe").
7. Link to Privacy Policy describing how end user opt-in information will be used
8. Link to Terms and Conditions describing terms of service
9. Incorporate a checkbox option that end-users must select in order to receive SMS messaging. The checkbox can not be pre-selected. The checkbox provides the end-user the ability to agree, or not agree, to receive SMS messaging.

Example of a good consent message:

By submitting this form, you agree to receive transaction messages from {{YOUR COMPANY NAME}}. Text and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies. Reply STOP to unsubscribe or HELP for help. To view our privacy policy, go to {{LINK TO YOUR PRIVACY POLICY}}.***

3. Text

If you don't have a sign up form where customers sign up to your services, then your leads will need to intiate the first message by sending the keyword "START" to your Close phone numbers.

If we use this method, your first message before starting a normal conversation must be something like:

"{{COMPANY NAME}}: Thank you for choosing us. We will use SMS to schedule your next appointment. You can reply STOP at anytime to opt out."

What happens after registation?

After a sucessful registration and your campaign use case has been approved you will be assigned a trust score. This is your company's credibility according to carriers. This will determine how many SMSs you are allowed to send per day per carrier. Exceeding this threshold will see your messages fail. To keep your trust score high, please make sure you abide by:

1. Opt-in - Only send SMS to customers who have opted in to receive SMS from you. This will make sure that your opt-out rate remains low. A high opt-out rate will indicate to carriers that you are sending cold SMS, which is illegal. If you are using SMS for cold outreach, make sure to receive consent via email or call first. If your account is ever flagged for high opt-out rates, you will be at risk of having it suspended if you don't provide proof of opt-in for a random set of contacted leads picked by the affected carrier.

2. High Failure Rate - Use third-party sites to validate your contact list before you import them to Close and start sending SMS. That way, you are not sending SMS to landlines which is another signal to carriers of spam messages without consent. As per above, a high error rate due to invalid numbers or landlines will significantly lower your trust score.

New Numbers

If your account is already approved for A2P 10DLC, any new numbers you buy will be automatically added to your approved campaign. Note however, the number needs to be registered with carriers as well. This process is taking up to 8-10 days 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.