Ready for Business Text Messaging's Campaign Registration Deadline? | RingPlan Business Phones

Carriers are launching a new text messaging ecosystem that is taking text spam out of the equation, with a new brand and campaign registration that affects all business text messaging campaigns.

The new 10DLC ecosystem being launched by the largest mobile carriers in the U.S.—including T-Mobile, Verizon,  and AT&T—consists of a new Brand Registration, a Text Campaign Registration, and a new series of fees per campaign to access their mobile users.

Why Register?

Organizations that register can take advantage of improved text message deliverability on this new verified text messaging ecosystem managed by The Campaign Registry (TCR).

All of it in an effort to deter text messaging spammers from reaching consumers and to protect text messaging as a secure medium of communication.

What does 10DLC Mean?

Short for 10-Digit Long Code, 10DLC simply refers to the 10 digit phone numbers used by cell phone users on their selected carriers. 10DLC reflects a new and safer ecosystem only accessible by verified brands.

Along with a brand registration, businesses will need to verify their text messaging campaigns per each specific use case. The deadline for registering is March 1, 2022. 

Before we go further, let us assure we are making the process fast and easy. We have provided a form for customers to fill out on the Account Settings page on my.ringplan.com. (Read Below)

How to Become a Verified Business—A2P Business Text Messaging

As opposed to the Peer-to-Peer text messaging system we use when reaching out to a friend on a mobile device, A2P refers to verified business text messaging campaigns sent to consumers.

Automated-to-Peer (A2P) Campaigns Would Include the Following Types of Use Cases:  

• Appointments - automated appointment and reservation reminders
• Purchases - automated purchase receipts for recent purchases
• Security - automated notifications for cybersecurity purposes
• Notifications - news distributed to customers and subscribers
• Promotions - marketing messages sent to customers and subscribers

+Many More - See Messaging Use Case Table Below

Seem familiar? Chances are you too are on the receiving end of automated text messaging.

But how is A2P messaging different than automated text messages of the past?

A2P No Longer Only Refers to Automated Messages, But All Business Text Messaging

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) has defined A2P messages to be any text message sent by non-consumers to consumers. 

Basically, any business text message being sent to a 10-Digit Long Code number is now an A2P message and must meet TCR requirements. 

These requirements include a brand registration, registration of all messages, a clear opt-in and opt-out for consumers, and it defines violations that can result in fees or being blocked altogether from sending text messages.

Note: Some businesses may need to subscribe to multiple use cases depending on how they plan to use text messaging.

New Carrier Fees for Business Text Messaging

Mobile carriers are increasing their per-message fees to all unregistered users sending text messages to carriers’ 10-digit phone numbers. 

All businesses sending more than 3000 text messages per month from less than 5 phone numbers must register as soon as possible to avoid penalty fees imposed by carriers.

Carriers are also adding small fees for all Text Campaigns, broken up into two categories of businesses, sole proprietorships, and standard business.  

Rules and Fees for Sole Proprietorships:

• Maximum of 5 numbers per use case. 
• Maximum of 15 msg per minute or  2000 messages per day 
• $0 brand/campaign 
• $0.75 per month per campaign 

Rules for Standard Businesses:

• $4 per brand 
• $40 “Verified & Vetted” for high volume (More than 2000 messages per day, per brand) 
• $10 per month per standard campaign with up to 49 numbers without Carrier Special Review 
• $50 per campaign (T-Mobile – Effective 3/1/22)

Businesses sending less than 3000 text messages per month will not see any fees associated with text messaging but need to be careful to not exceed that number to avoid penalties.

Brands that need to send across more than 49 numbers or need to send over 200,000 text messages per day must apply for an exemption or special business review. 

Charities and smaller businesses such as sole proprietorships can take advantage of the lowest campaign fees, along with those businesses sending low volume of text messages per month.

Vetting Brands for Better Text Messaging Deliverability

Verified brands that only pay the one-time $5 brand verification fee will be able to send messages, but with a verification score of 0, so carriers will not prioritize their text messages in their systems. 

Brands that have paid the one-time $40 “Verified & Vetted” fee along with their $4 brand registration will have a higher verification score and will have a higher message throughput. 

Brands that have paid the $4 brand registration fee but do not pass Identity Verification will not be allowed to send text messages. 

Verified brands that have paid the $4 brand registration, the $40 “Verified & Vetted” fee, and are found on the Russel 3000 list will get the highest verification score and best message throughput. 

Text Messaging Use Case Fees

Certain Use-cases that have resulted in multiple spam complaints will no longer be allowed, this includes debt-forgiveness, job postings, controlled substances, get rich quick schemes, and more. 

ALL UNREGISTERED TRAFFIC MAY BE HALTED ALTOGETHER

Additionally, over time all unregistered traffic may be halted altogether. Unregistered businesses may not be able to send text messages at all when this happens.

How to Register with TCR on RingPlan

If you are the administrator of your RingPlan account, simply log into your account by visiting my.ringplan.com and logging in. 

Click on Account Settings located on the bottom of your left-hand navigation menu. 

Now select the TCR Profile tab. If you do not have this tab in your Account Settings page, you do not have administrator permissions to submit this information.

If you are logged in you can also navigate directly to the TCR Profile tab in your Account Settings page (https://my.ringplan.com/account/tcr)

Click on the +ADD NEW BRAND button to submit your brand information. For more detailed information about what information you need to register your company brand to TCR, read this article. 

Finally, to add a new text messaging campaign, click on +ADD NEW CAMPAIGN and select from the text campaigns provided and click >SUBMIT 

Conclusion

The new 10DLC ecosystem being created by US mobile carriers is ready to launch in March 1, 2022. Users who want to send text messages to their users will need to abide by rules managed by The Campaign Registry (TCR), a reputation authority for business messaging on 10DLC.

These rules include businesses registering their brand and registering each text messaging campaign per use case, according to business needs. Registered brands will be able to send messages with a higher delivery throughput if they opt for an additional vetting & verification certification at a $40 fee. A verification score will be used to gauge user trust, assigning a score to brands and individual messages sent to the phone numbers of carriers' customers. Messages with higher scores will have higher message deliverability.

Text messaging campaigns will become available to businesses who can subscribe to individual campaigns based on their needs per use-case basis. Text Campaigns are available for a small fee and give businesses the options to communicate with end-users with carrier clearance.  Businesses that stay within a certain threshold will not be subject to campaign registration and associated fees.

RingPlan users can complete the brand registration and campaign registration process by visiting their Account Settings page or by logging in to https://my.ringplan.com and visiting the following URL: https://my.ringplan.com/account/tcr.