A2P 10DLC

With technology rapidly advancing, businesses find new and easier ways to communicate with potential customers. One way that has become increasingly popular is text messaging, so a user can chat with an agent at a business more easily than having to initiate a phone call.

How are texts sent now?

The prior standard for text messaging was using either short codes, toll free numbers, or long codes, however - here are some limitations to each of those.

Short code messaging is when a business can send out mass amounts of text messages to phone numbers using a short code number, usually a 5 or 6 digit number. An example of this is receiving a mass text message from 345-345 to remind you that you have a coupon for your next purchase. Short codes can often be shared between businesses so you may receive coupons for different companies from the same number.
While short codes can send messages at a high volume, it isn’t a true phone number and you can’t send things like images or videos in the message.
Toll free number messaging is utilizing a toll free number to send messages to end users. Toll free numbers can send messages at a higher volume also, but it’s not a personalized experience like local numbers.
Long code messaging is the sending of a text from one local number to another. When working within a business case, this one hasn’t been used much as you cannot send a high volume of messages and it can be very expensive for each text message.

What is 10DLC?

10DLC is short for “Ten digit long codes,” essentially allowing someone to send text messages from a 10-digit local phone number in the United States. The difference between regular Long code messaging and 10DLC, is that 10DLC allows for a higher volume of messages to be sent and isn’t as expensive as the regular carrier to carrier messaging because it was specifically designed to be used for A2P (application to person) messaging.

What is A2P?

As text messaging has become more widely used, businesses have turned to using A2P, or “application to person” messaging. Basically, this means that a business can make the most of their agent’s time by allowing a system to help facilitate messaging their potential clients using a centralized application instead of individual phones and phone lines.

Instead of having your sales rep individually text customers, we’ve provided a platform called ‘Message Center’ at AutoID where all text messages come into a centralized area and your sales reps can interact with potential customers and other agents using a computer, tablet, or phone.

Why make the switch?

Recently, the industry has collectively decided that 10DLC is the standard for which companies should now operate, due to a multitude of reasons including:

Protection from Spam
- With short codes being shared by businesses, sometimes spam bots will steal a valid short code and start sending spam messages from it. When a person blocks this short code, they are now unfortunately also blocking the short code that a valid business uses which means the business can lose out.
Supporting higher messaging volume
- The current method of sending text messages from one local number to another only allows for a small number of messages to be sent per minute. This new method of using A2P 10DLC will allow for a higher volume of messages to be sent per minute for businesses who use text frequently with their potential customers.
Helping to lower overall messaging costs
- Typically, text messages between two normal local numbers can be quite expensive, but the switch to 10DLC will allow for mass sending of messages with a lower cost.
Personalize your customer’s experience by using a local number
- A business can send text messages from a specific (to them) local number which makes the customer experience more personal, and messaging can be enabled on an existing business line to better brand the overall consumer journey.

What does this mean for me?

If you currently use a local number on your website that’s text enabled, people will still be able to text your phone line.
In order for you to be able to send outbound messages (using 10DLC), you will need to register as a Brand. A Brand is who (what business) will be sending the text messages.
You will also need to register your campaign in order to begin sending text messages.

10DLC SETUP

Your first step in setting up your 10DLC for outbound messages is to set up your 10DLC Partner in a Group.
Next, register a 10DLC Brand in any of the locations within the Group that has a 10DLC Partner setup.
Finally, now you can enable Outbound Text Messages in a Campaign by setting up a 10DLC Campaign.

Partner Setup

Navigate to Manage Group and search for the group you need to set up your 10DLC Partner. Then go to the Messaging Tab and select 10DLC.

Click "Start Now" to begin setting up the 10DLC Partner for this Group.

Brand Registration

Navigate to Manage Locations and search for the location you need to register.

Click on the ‘Advanced Tab’ which will default to the MESSAGE CENTER settings. The first thing you’ll see (if the business isn’t registered yet) is a blue box instructing you to register your Brand.

Click on ‘Register Brand’ in the 10DLC section of the page to begin the process.

Once the Brand has been registered, you will need to set up a 10DLC campaign.

Campaign Registration

Enable Outbound Text Messages in a campaign by setting up a 10DLC Campaign. This can be done in a Campaign under Edit Location, after you have set up that Campaign with active "Texting Enabled". See here to setup a new Campaign ->

Now to enable Outbound Text Message in an existing Campaign:

Navigate to the Campaigns Tab under Edit Location
Select the campaign to enable outbound text messages and click Edit

In Edit Campaign,

The "Texting Enabled" toggle should be active, then
Select the toggle to activate "Outbound Texting Enabled," and
Click the button "Add 10DLC Campaign" to setup the 10DLC Campaign for outbound texting.