Despite the rise of various messaging apps and digital platforms, SMS remains one of the most effective and reliable channels for businesses to communicate with their customers. Here’s why:
High Open Rates: SMS messages have an astounding open rate—up to 98%—with most messages read within minutes of being received. This makes it one of the best ways to reach customers quickly.
Wide Reach: SMS doesn’t require internet access or a smartphone, making it accessible to nearly all mobile phone users, regardless of location or technology preferences.
Simplicity and Immediacy: SMS is a direct and immediate form of communication, perfect for time-sensitive updates, reminders, and notifications that need to be seen right away.
High Engagement: SMS’s brief, concise format encourages higher engagement, with a response rate often significantly higher than email, push or social media.
Low Spam Risk: SMS’s regulatory and opt-in requirements reduce spam and make it a trusted channel, especially when compared to email.
Versatility for Various Use Cases: From customer support and order tracking to marketing promotions and alerts, SMS offers a range of uses, making it a versatile tool for many business needs.
However, to fully leverage a 10-digit long code (10DLC) for Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging, you will be required to comply to carrier and government regulations. For this reason, at Notificare, we are required to collect all the necessary information for carriers, effectively helping to reduce spam and prevent fraud.
Regulatory Bundles and 10DLC Compliance
Before diving into the process, it’s essential to understand what regulatory bundles are and why they’re necessary. A regulatory bundle is a collection of information about a business (brand), required by carriers, to authorize 10DLC number provisioning and messaging. These bundles help carriers assess the legitimacy and compliance of a business, ensuring it aligns with legal requirements.
Why are Regulatory Bundles Necessary?
- To provide transparency and accountability
- To meet carrier and government requirements
- To avoid penalties or message filtering
Evaluating Requirements
At Notificare, we've streamlined how you provide us with all the information we need to comply with carriers and governments around the world. Not all local phone numbers require a regulatory bundle. In many countries, provisioning a 10DLC, only involves providing us a valid address. This is done in the Settings > Services > SMS > SMS Addresses area:
You will be requested one whenever you want to provision a 10DLC for a certain country, in Settings > Services > SMS > SMS Numbers:
But for some countries, you will need to provide us an additional regulatory bundle:
When this is the case, you can find more information about what your regulatory bundle must include, by checking the Regulatory Bundles section in the Settings > Services > SMS area:
In some cases, you will need to provide a variety of documents to be reviewed by carriers. Until this step is done, you will not be able to provision a 10DLC for that country.
As an example, for Portugal, you will need to first create a business entity:
Additionally, you must also upload 2 different documents, in order to create a regulatory bundle:
Only when you've created a business entity and uploaded all the documents required, you can create the regulatory bundle:
Whenever you successfully meet all the requirements for a bundle, you can submit your bundle for approval from carriers.
Carrier Approval
After submitting a regulatory bundle, you must wait for carrier approval. The time frame for approval may vary based on the carrier’s requirements and verification processes. You can always check the state of your bundle in our dashboard:
If a regulatory bundle is denied, carriers typically provide feedback to help correct the issue, but you will need to create a new bundle with updated information.
Provision the 10DLC Number
Once your regulatory bundle is approved, you’re ready to provision a 10DLC number, as first shown in the Settings > Services > SMS > SMS Numbers area. In this area you may select one or more 10DLC numbers for that country and choose the address and regulatory bundle you've previously created.
After this step, you are finally ready to start collecting phone numbers, categorize your audience and eventually create your first text message.
US A2P 10DLC Campaigns
If you are planning to send text messages to US recipients, you will need a US A2P 10DLC Campaign instead. Although you can provision a US phone number without any regulatory bundle, your messaging campaigns targeting US consumers, will be filtered until your business has completed this vetting process.
This process is done manually by our support team, and you will have to provide us with information about your brand and example use cases in order to be approved for A2P messaging.
Conclusion
Creating a regulatory bundle for 10DLC provisioning ensures compliance and helps reduce the risk of message filtering and penalties. By adhering to these requirements, you’ll be better positioned to send compliant, approved A2P messages through your 10DLC number, enhancing your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of customers and carriers alike.
As always, you can find us available for any question you might have via our Support Channel.