Glossary
10DLC registration
10DLC registration is the verification a business, and the provider that sends its texts, must pass before sending business texts from an ordinary ten-digit phone number. The business and the kinds of texts it will send are registered with The Campaign Registry.
What the registration is
The Campaign Registry describes 10DLC as an A2P, or application-to-person, messaging channel in which brands, and the campaign service providers that send messages for them, are verified before they are allowed to send. Campaigns, the kinds of messages a brand will send, are registered with the Registry by those providers, through its online system for providers, or its APIs (The Campaign Registry).
CTIA's messaging principles put business texting in its own category. A text sent by a business, or by anyone acting for one, is non-consumer messaging, the kind CTIA used to call A2P (CTIA).
Who registers you
A company that wants to text its customers is what the Registry calls a brand. Brands cannot currently register with it directly. A registered messaging provider, a campaign service provider in the Registry's terms, handles the registration on their behalf (The Campaign Registry).
So the practical step sits with whoever sends your texts. If a system you use offers to text customers, ask whether it registers your business and your campaigns, and in whose name. Since the Registry verifies brands as well as providers, expect to supply your business details (The Campaign Registry).
Consent comes first
CTIA expects a business to have a customer's consent before texting them, express written consent before sending marketing texts, and a way for customers to take their consent back. For an informational text such as an appointment reminder, CTIA says the customer needs to agree to texts for that purpose when they give you the number (CTIA).
CTIA says its principles are not legal advice. It names the TCPA, the CAN-SPAM Act and rules from the FCC and the FTC among the laws that texting may be subject to (CTIA). This page is general information, not legal advice. Ask a lawyer how those laws apply to the texts you plan to send.
Opting out, and keeping records
Tell customers how to stop, using the word STOP in your instructions, and act on plain requests too: stop, end, unsubscribe, cancel or quit. Never text a list of numbers that was rented, sold or shared, and keep a record of each customer's consent (CTIA).
An opt-in stays with the sender it was given to. CTIA says it is not transferable (CTIA), so a customer who agreed to hear from one company has not agreed to hear from another.
Review requests by text
A review request your business sends by text is a business text, so the consent rules above apply to it. Send it only to customers who agreed to receive texts from you. The rules for asking for reviews still apply on top of that, exactly as they would to a request sent by email. Our review requests go by email, and texting is not something we offer yet.
Texting is outside what the free scan reads, which is your website (what the scan reads).
Questions
Who registers my business for 10DLC?
Your messaging provider. The Campaign Registry does not take registrations from brands directly; a registered provider handles yours (The Campaign Registry). Your part is to give it accurate business details and a true description of the texts you will send.
Can I text a review request to every customer on file?
No, only to the customers who said yes to texts from you. CTIA expects consent before any business text, and a record of it (CTIA). Having a number on file does not mean the customer agreed to texts.
What should I do when a customer replies STOP?
Stop texting that number, and note it where your team will see it, so nobody sends a later message by mistake. CTIA says plain words such as end, unsubscribe, cancel or quit should be acted on in the same way (CTIA).
Where this fits in our work
This comes up in our Review management work: Review requests after every job and a drafted reply to every review, within the rules Google and the FTC set.
Related reading
Related terms
- Review gating: Asking only the customers you expect to be happy for a review, why the rules bar it, and what to do instead.
- Review replies: Answering reviews on your Business Profile, what Google and the FTC say about replies, and what a health practice must never write.
Sources
- The Campaign Registry: A New Chapter in Messaging. Checked September 26, 2026.
- CTIA: Messaging Principles and Best Practices. Checked September 26, 2026.
- The Campaign Registry: Is our service for you?. Checked September 26, 2026.