What is A2P 10DLC: Everything You Need To Know

As an American business owner, relying on US short codes is not a good choice in today’s competitive market because you must send people many messages daily. It’s time to change it to A2P 1ODLC because, unlike shortcodes, A2P 10DLC allows your business to send a large volume of SMS and MMS messages.

A2P 10DLC aids your business in providing scalable messaging solutions, enhancing user trust, and reducing costs. Registering A2P 10DLC with an appropriate carrier is required to be eligible to send messages from a 10 digit long-code local US phone number.

This blog post will discuss everything about what is A2P 1ODLC, including its definition, registration process, best practices, integration, and future trends. Let’s hop on the topic, starting with its definition. 

What is A2P 10DLC?

A2P 10 DLC stands for Application-to-Person (A2P) 10-Digit-Long-Code (10DLC). It is a system in the United States designed for business messaging via 10-digit long-code phone numbers. 

A2P 10DLC helps to build a higher level of transparency and trust among businesses and their customers. Businesses can now send a high volume of messages with a regular 10-digit long code. Before, Person-to-person (P2P) communications only allowed limited and low-volume messaging. 

Industries such as banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), healthcare, retail and eCommerce, travel and hospitality, and education are utilizing A2P 10DLC to provide a high customer experience. 

How do I register for A2P 10DLC?

Registration for A2P 10DLC is now a requirement for businesses to send huge amounts of text messages in the United States. It is a process of acquiring approval through The Campaign Registry (TCR) and becoming a registered text message sender for your business.

To register for A2P 10DLC, you must identify yourself and your business to the carrier networks and inform them what type of messages you want to send. You need to provide information such as your business name, physical address, business type, company status, business registration number and type, industry, website, and regions of operations. 

You need to follow the given steps to register for A2P 10DLC:

• Filing application form: You need to fill out an application form that provides information about your business.
• Reviewing the application form: The Campaign Registry will review your application and may request additional information if necessary. A review and scoring will be conducted on the campaign use case for your business.
• Approval:  If your application is approved, the Campaign Service Provider (CSP) will assign you to the campaign
• Cost and fees: After you get approval, you must pay fees charged by The Campaign Registry (TCR). You may need to pay setup fees and monthly recurring fees for campaigns.

Compliance and Security

A2P 10 DLC compliance and security are important to protect consumers’ information from spam and fraud. It helps to improve your customer communication, drive your business growth, and enhance your business messaging strategy.

A2P 10DLC compliance and security help your business in several ways. Some of them are given below:

1. Higher Output Rates

A2P 10DLC assures improved output rates and the overall effectiveness of business text messages you send. Carriers have built filtering systems to protect consumers’ text messages from spam and fraud. This filtering system will ignore unregistered and non-compliant messages, which ensures that your text messages will reach your customers without being flagged. 

If you comply and register your messaging campaigns with 10DLC regulations, your messages are less likely to be blocked by carriers and marked as spam, thus ensuring higher output rates. 

2. Data Privacy and Protection

It is mandatory for your business to register your messaging campaign with The Campaign Registry (TCR) in A2P 10DLC. This process acts as a verification step to confirm that your company’s message activities are legitimate. It reduces the chances of suspicious entities sending spam and fraudulent messages. 

A2P 1ODLC protects consumers from potential threats and ensures the protection of their personal information. It protects you from data breaches as it makes it difficult for suspicious entities to enter and access your business messages.

3. Reputation and Trust

A2P 1ODLC proves the identity and legitimacy of your business. Providing skeptical messages to your customers builds trust among them. This improves the trustworthiness and reputation of your business in the eyes of your customers and mobile carriers. Customers will engage positively if they know that the message they are receiving is from a verified and trusted source.

A2P 10DLC Best Practices

Businesses should follow a set of recommendations and guidelines when engaging with A2P 10DLC. These best practices ensure you meet carrier requirements and comply with industry standards. Here are some A2P 10DLC best practices:

1. Message Content Guidelines

• Avoid spam and fraudulent content: To maintain user trust and comply with carrier guidelines, ensure that A2P messages do not contain spammy or fraudulent content. 
• Respect user privacy: Ensure not to collect or use personal information without the user’s permission. 

2. Opt-in and Opt-out Mechanisms

• Opt-in: Provide simple and easy-to-understand messages to ensure users willingly subscribe to receive A2P messages
• Opt-out: Provide a clear and accessible message to allow the user to stop receiving messages at any time.

3. Monitoring and Analyzing A2P Traffic

• Monitor message traffic: Regularly monitor A2P message traffic to determine trends, address any potential issues, and measure campaign success.
• Analyze user engagement: Use analytics to gain user behavior and preferences to optimize A2P messaging strategies.

4. Deliverability and Routing Optimization

• Choose reliable routes: Choose a reputable route or carrier to increase message deliverability. 
• Optimize delivery timing: Send messages at appropriate times to increase open rates and user engagement.

A2P 10DLC Integration

Integrating A2P 10DLC messaging into an existing system allows businesses to increase message deliverability, boost user trust, and comply with carrier requirements. You can integrate A2P 10DLC through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) provided by mobile carriers to send A2P messages. 

A2P 10DLC integration helps to enhance customer engagement as you can provide personalized and timely SMS or MMS messages to your customers. You can send transactional notifications such as appointment reminders, account updates, and order confirmations, enabling seamless communication between your business and customers.

Challenges and Solutions

Integration of A2P 10DLC with other systems has many advantages, but it also brings some challenges you should consider looking at. Some of these challenges are discussed below, along with their solutions:

• Compliance challenge: You need to provide accurate and up-to-date information while integrating A2P 10DLC. Ensuring your information is 100% true and that no mistaken information is provided is essential. 

Solution: Carefully review carrier guidelines and provide all the required information. Recheck the provided information to ensure there is no mistake in your details.

• Opt-in and Opt-out mechanisms: You may need to make adjustments to databases, and user interfaces to integrate opt-in and opt-out mechanisms into the existing system.

Solution: Develop clear, easy, and user-friendly opt-in and opt-out mechanisms to manage messages effectively. 

• Analytics and monitoring: Getting insights from A2P message traffic and analyzing customer behavior can be challenging without the right monitoring tool. You may need reliable tools to get accurate data.

Solution: Integrate with proper analytics and monitoring tools to track user interactions, message performance, and campaign success.

Future Trends of A2P 10DLC

The future trend of A2P 10 DLC is likely going to increase. It is going to be influenced by the advancements in A2P messaging technology, the use of IoT and 5G technology, and a focus on enhanced customer engagement strategies. Let’s discuss them in more detail:

1. Advancements in A2P Messaging Technology

A2P messaging technology is constantly improving its features and providing high-customer value. It is going to make more advancements in the coming years. Advancements in rich media content will allow businesses to send interactive messages with videos, images, graphics, and other multimedia content to engage users more effectively.

Conversational AI and chatbots will play a huge role in providing automated and interactive user interactions. Businesses can handle customer inquiries more efficiently and provide real-time support with the help of chatbots. 

2. Importance of IoT and 5G

Integration of IoT devices with A2P 10DLC could play an important role in enabling communication between IoT devices and users. A2P messaging can provide notifications and alerts from smart devices, which enables seamless communication with users.

The use of 5G networks with A2P 10 DLC lets you deliver messages faster. It allows reliable data transmission as 5G technology can deliver high-quality, real-time messages with low latency. Both IoT and 5G technology assist in improving user engagement. 

3. Enhanced Customer Engagement Strategies

Customer engagement is crucial for businesses to get customer behavior and preference data. Businesses will focus on providing personalized A2P messages based on their taste and behavior patterns. 

A tailored message drives higher customer engagement and increases customer satisfaction. Businesses will integrate A2P 10DLC with multiple channels, like social media, email, and messaging apps, to improve customer engagement. 

Interactive marketing campaigns will likely get more attention because they are one of the best ways users can actively participate and engage with a business. It will foster a strong connection between the company and the customer.

Conclusion

In conclusion, A2P 10DLC helps businesses send more texts quickly and optimize engagement, open rates, and response. You can build trust and credibility by providing spam-free and trustworthy messages. 

You need to register your business to send bulk messages. The registration process typically includes steps like filling out an application form, reviewing it, approving it, and paying fees. However, sometimes more additional steps might be required, depending on the requirements of the carrier network and your business type.

A2P 1ODLC is changing messaging technology. It is going to provide high customer value with advanced messaging features, the integration of IoT and 5G technology, and new and enhanced customer engagement strategies.

FAQs

What is A2P registration?

A2P registration is the process of acquiring approval through The Campaign Registry (TCR) and becoming a registered text message sender for your business. It is a requirement for your business to send huge amounts of text messages.

What is A2P compliance?

A2P compliance is to make sure that your business follows the rules and regulations set by the mobile carriers and industry bodies when messaging in A2P.

What is the 10 DLC number?

10 DLC stands for 10 digit long code. It is a long code that is registered with carriers to support high-volume text messages using the 10-digit phone number. 

What are the requirements for A2P 10 DLC?

There are two requirements for the A2P 10 DLC. First, you must identify your business to the carrier network, also known as brand registration. Second, you must register the type of messages you are sending, which is called campaign registration.

Do I need to register for A2P 10DLC?

If you are sending messages to US numbers, you need to register your number for A2P 10DLC. Otherwise, if you are sending messages to other countries, you don’t need to register. 

What happens if I don’t register?

Unregistered numbers will be blocked with a 30034 error. 

How do I prevent Twilio from blocking my unregistered traffic?

You need to register for A2P 10DLC as soon as possible to prevent Twilio from blocking your unregistered traffic. You won’t be able to prevent your traffic once it is registered on the full block.

How do I register for A2P 10DLC?

The easiest way to register for A2P 10DLC is through the Twilio console or API. To register for A2P 10DLC, you need to follow certain steps, which include filling out an application form, reviewing, approving, and paying fees. 

I completed registration but am still experiencing blocked messages. What should I do?

After registration, make sure to move your number into the Messaging Service within your campaign. If you see the ‘30035’ error, your number is pending final configuration on the Twilio side. If you continue to see this error, you must contact the Support team.

My registration was rejected and is ineligible for resubmission – What can I do?

If your registration was rejected, you may need to use another Twilio product. The Twilio Sendgrid Email API is one option for you.

What other options do I have to send messages to the US?

You can use toll-free numbers, shortcodes, and WhatsApp messaging to send messages to the US.