10DLC Requirements: Maintaining your Registration and Avoiding Violations

Industry Requirement: 10DLC Registration

As of 2024, registering your business for 10DLC (10-Digit Long Code) is mandatory for sending SMS to U.S. phone numbers. Without registration, your messages will be blocked by U.S. carriers.

Note that 10DLC registration only applies to SMS messages sent to U.S. mobile carriers, in particular. It is not required when texting non-U.S. numbers, such as Canada.

Your Messaging Strategy

All 10DLC Registration is ultimately enforced by major U.S. carriers, whose mobile customers you are contacting when sending SMS messages. Note that Kixie has no influence on the restrictions required by 10DLC guidelines.

Be aware that any SMS messages of yours that are reported as "junk" or "spam" by mobile customers are more likely to cause your campaign to be found in violation of 10DLC guidelines. Therefore, we highly recommend that your company is intentional about who you send SMS messages to.

It is required that you only send SMS messages to customers/clients who have opted in to receive SMS from your company. Sending SMS messages to recipients who do not have any prior contact with you will significantly increase the risk of being flagged for spam and/or your 10DLC Registration being revoked.

• For more on best practices to avoid spam blocking, see: Maximizing SMS Delivery Rates & Minimizing Carrier Blocking

Best Practices to Avoid 10DLC Violations

Brand Usage

✅ Your SMS must represent the same brand name(s) or company name(s) that were approved in your 10DLC Registration.

❌ You cannot send SMS messages representing other brand names.

• For example: Let's say your campaign was approved under the legal company "ABC Holdings," doing business as "XYZ Services." All SMS must be related to these brands. You cannot send SMS messages related to any other brand, even if it falls under the same legal company.
• If you did need to send SMS messages about a related but separate company, such as "ABC Retail," then you are required to submit an additional campaign application for ABC Retail to be 10DLC-approved, as well.

First-time Outreach

✅  Your initial message to a customer must state the name of the business you represent. It's recommended that you regularly include your brand name or company name to identify your messages.

• For example: "Hi, this is John from XYZ Services. We have a call tomorrow about..."
• "Thanks for completing your demo! I just sent an updated packet to your email. -XYZ Services"

✅  Your initial message to a customer is recommended to include reminder text on how the customer can opt-out from messages by using the keyword "STOP"

• For example: "Hello, it's Jane at ABC Retail. Your appointment has been scheduled for tomorrow, see you soon! If you want to stop receiving msgs from us, text STOP."
• "ABC Delivery notification: Your package is expected to arrive on 6/10. Reply STOP to opt out."

Message Content

✅ Your SMS must stick to the approved use-case that you had submitted in your Campaign Description.

• For example: Let's say your campaign was approved with a description that says your company uses SMS to "contact clients about follow-ups, schedule appointments, and send marketing about our services." All SMS must be related to these use-cases. You cannot send SMS messages about unrelated topics, such as suddenly collecting payment information.
• If you did need to send SMS messages about other topics, we highly recommend you use other methods of communication (such as phone calls or emails). Otherwise, you are required to submit an additional campaign application for this new use-case to be 10DLC-approved, as well.

❌ Your SMS cannot contain "prohibited content" or anything related to "prohibited industries," as defined by 10DLC. Please use other methods communication (such as phone calls or emails).

❌ Prohibited content includes...

• High-risk financial services
• Investment opportunities or investment advice
• Loans or indirect (third-party) lending
• Debt collection, debt forgiveness, or credit repair services
• Real estate marketing or sales — inc. offers to buy or sell property
• Third-party lead generation — inc. selling or sharing consumer data
• Drugs & substances that are not legal in all 50 states — inc. cannabis, CBD, vaping
• Gambling — inc. legal gambling practices

Website

✅ Your company website must remain online & accessible.

✅ Your company website's Privacy Policy page must remain online & accessible while your 10DLC campaign is in use.

• Your Privacy Policy must include a no-sharing clause, which states that your company does not share or sell customers' mobile information to third-parties for marketing/promotional purposes.

Opting Out: Customer-Initiated Block System

Any SMS recipient may opt-out by replying with the keyword "STOP" or "UNSUBSCRIBE". This triggers a compliance-required SMS block, which is enforced in two places:

• Blocked at the SMS carrier level — Your Kixie number will be unable to send further SMS messages to the same recipient who blocked you.
  • This block exists outside of Kixie, and Kixie is unable to remove it.
  • This can only be removed when the same recipient messages the same phone number using the keyword "START" or "SUBSCRIBE".
• Blocked at the Kixie account level — The recipient's phone number is automatically added to the Blocked Numbers page on your Kixie Dashboard, and internally blocks further contact to that phone number via any outbound calls and outbound texts.
  • This helps ensure that other agents or other phone numbers at your company do not continue to accidentally contact the same recipient after they have opted-out.
  • This block can be manually removed at your Blocked Numbers page. However, this is not recommended.
  • Continuing to contact a recipient who has opted-out (including contact via other agents at your company) is very likely to cause the recipient to report your company to phone carriers, leading to further consequences (see below).

Keep in mind that in order for you to send SMS messages to a recipient who has opted out, both of the above blocking mechanisms would need to be removed. The block at the SMS carrier level may only be removed voluntarily by the recipient themself.

Consequences

If your SMS usage is found to be in violation of 10DLC guidelines, as determined by phone carriers independently of Kixie, then your campaign is likely to be revoked and you may be charged additional fines. 

If your 10DLC Registration is revoked, then your company is not guaranteed to be allowed to send SMS messages on the US carrier network again, whether via Kixie or any other phone provider.

Kixie Support will contact you or the account owner if we are given prior notice. However, Kixie cannot guarantee that U.S. carriers will wait for our input before enforcing immediate action on your 10DLC Registration. For this reason, please familiarize yourself with the requirements above to avoid issues with your company's SMS operations.