10 DLC Updates and FAQs
What is 10DLC?
10DLC is way for cell phone carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon) to push back against spam messages by requiring that all businesses that are sending text messages register their business and use case. Essentially, businesses must only send text messages to people that have opted in to receive text messages from them.
What type of phone numbers does 10DLC apply to?
10DLC only applies to local area code phone numbers. It does not apply to toll-free numbers.
Does 10DLC affect calling and/or texting?
No, 10DLC only affects outgoing text messages and does not affect incoming text messages. It also does not affecting incoming and outgoing calls.
I have not registered my 10DLC. Do I need to do it?
Yes, if you your business strategy includes sending text outgoing text messages to your leads then you must register to continue sending them text messages. If you don’t register for 10DLC then your messages will not be delivered to any customers of any US cell phone carrier.
How long does 10DLC process take?
Currently, the wait time is up to 2 months and can be longer if some information is missing. It is anticipated that this time will be drastically reduced in next couple of months once the rush of registration is behind us.
My 10DLC is not approved yet but I want to continue to send text messages to my hot leads. What should I do?
You must get a toll-free number in order to continue following up with your leads while your 10DLC is in approval process.
Once my 10DLC is approved, can I continue sending text messages without any issues?
No, I believe that there are going to some major changes to text messaging once 10DLC in is full effect. This is the information we received from our provider “Aim for a spam report rate of 1 per 8,000 messages or less (spam reports should be extremely rare if customers are properly identifying themselves and obtaining consent from recipients)” As you can imagine, we as real estate investors will have a very tough time staying under that spam report rate so I highly encourage you all to be very diligent with your text messaging usage. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting your phone numbers blocked by carriers and in worst case having your brand (company) be blocked.
How do I get my leads to opt in to receive text messages?
Do I need to include any Opt Out language in my text messages?
What if someone opts out of receiving text messages from me, do I need to maintain a database of those people so I don’t accidentally send them text messages again?
What are some other best practices related to Consent and Opt Out?
A good example of consent would be as long as the following are true:
1. The data is collected directly by your company that will be sending SMS to the end user
4. The user is not randomly cold messaged months later asking if they may want to sell their house
What happens if I receive a lot of opt out from my leads?
If you receive a high number of opt out from your leads, then your phone numbers will get blocked by carriers. For example, you receive a very high number of opt outs from your leads that are T-Mobile customers. T-Mobile will likely block your phone numbers to send any messages to their customers. If you continue to do that, your could have your brand be blocked completely by T-Mobile.
Some other best practices related to text messages
- URL shortening: Do not send links that have been shortened using shared public URL shorteners, such as TinyUrl or free Bitly links. United States carrier policies discourage the use of shared public URL shorteners, and state that your URL shortener should be both proprietary and properly branded (details here). Other countries might not totally forbid using shared public URL shorteners, but it is not advisable. If you want to include shortened URLs in your messages, we recommend using a dedicated short domain. For details, see How can I send shortened URLs (links) in my messages?
- If possible, when sending URLs/links in your messages, use domains that you control. Similar to the shortened URL guidance above, when sending links it is best to use a URL that is specific to your business. For example, if you control the domain mybusiness.net, you can be certain that only your business is using this domain, and nobody else could be sending URLs with that domain name that could link to objectionable content. Using URLs that may also be used by other services/individuals is permitted and is not guaranteed to result in filtering. However, it increases filtering risk, as another user of that same URL domain could send something spammy or objectionable and get that domain flagged by filtering systems. Obfuscated URLs are common in spoofing/phishing attempts, and will be filtered.
- Don’t use emojis, or unnecessary special characters/capitalization, and watch your grammar and spelling. Typically, these messages are structured in a way to attempt to evade detection of unwanted messaging, and your messages will be filtered.
- Your website should not contain any of the negative verbiage stated below. 10DLC registrations are getting rejected if your website uses “cash” keywords.
– We buy houses for cash
– cash offers
– get your cash offer
– get your fast cash
– sell your house quick
– get your cash in 24 hours
Note: If your page does contain any of this negative verbiage it may get declined by the TCR as it is deemed as non-compliant.
If text messaging is getting so regulated, what should I do?
I would be very careful about only sending text messages to people that have opted in to receive text messages. I would also start looking into more inbound marketing like Direct Mail, PPC, Radio, TV, etc. As text messaging gets more regulated, I would expect to see a lot of investors especially newbie investors doing more cold calling to get started. But the more you care about protecting the integrity of your reputation with cell phone carriers, the more opportunities it will create for you as a lot of spammy investors will be weeded out.