A2P 10DLC aNinja Help Center

10DLC is a new messaging standard introduced by major US carriers that requires all companies sending A2P(Application to person) SMS traffic to be registered. This is irrespective of whether you are sending a bulk sales campaign or you just use SMS for occasional transactional messages. This only applies to companies messaging in the U.S. and U.S. territories using 10-digit long code phone numbers (like your aNinja phone numbers).

It allows businesses to send Application-to-Person (A2P) type messages. Carriers in the US consider all aNinja traffic to be A2P. Registering your business provides better delivery quality currently imposed by carriers on unregistered traffic.

Why are carriers enforcing registration?

Protecting mobile subscribers from unsolicited messaging such as spam, fraud, or abuse is the main reason registration is mandatory.

Unwanted messaging is a huge issue in the messaging industry; unwanted messages can result in complaints, fines, or outright disconnection by carriers. Mobile users who receive lots of spam or other unwanted messages may decide to start opting out of or ignoring all messages from businesses, even legitimate ones who follow all rules and best practices.

US carriers (ATT/TMO/VZW – TMO being the most strict) are making it harder and harder to send A2P-type SMS due to high rates of SMS fraud in the US, hence such a vigorous process.

Registration Fees

Campaign registration carries the following one-time fees (a brand and a campaign is registered together):

• $4 for Low-Volume Standard Brands(organizations sending less than 6000 messages a day)
• $44 for Standard Brands(organizations sending more than 6000 messages a day).
• $4 – Sole Proprietor Brands without EIN
• $15 – One time Campaign verification fee for all of the 3 above.

A Campaign registration has a $1.50($2 for Sole Proprietor Brands without EIN) recurring monthly fee after being approved.

This is passed down from our telephony partner Twilio.

These fees are applied upon approval.

What information will you require from me to be registered?

1. Your business registration details including:
   
   • Business legal name
   • Business address
   • Business type (Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation, Co-operative, Limited Liability Corporation, Non-profit Corporation)
   • Business industry (pick one from here)
   • Business registration number and registration type (ex: EIN Tax ID)
   • Business regions of operations (what countries and/or continents)
   • Website URL
   • Contact data for an authorized company representatives
2. SMS Traffic Use-case and Opt-in Processes

Ensure Campaign Approval

After you have submitted your information, aNinja team will submit it to our telephony partner Twilio for approval. Your registration is approved by a 3rd party board namely Campaign Registry. For your data to be approved, certain things have to be in order. See best practices here.

As per the above best practices, campaigns can be rejected. If this happens, you will need to resubmit and you will be charged another fee for each resubmission. To ensure your campaigns are approved, you will need to:

1. Ensure data accuracy and consistency – As per the best practices linked above, ensure that your company details above are accurate. See below common mistakes that lead to campaign rejections.
2. Campaign Use-case

Use as many details as possible to describe how you use SMS in aNinja.

Example:

We are a real estate company so we use this to communicate with buyers and sellers who have opted in to our network of agents so that we can share with each other properties in the market to coordinate viewings, request for new listings and aNinja on sold properties.

• Ensure your use case involves consumer consent before sending messages. A clear opt-in process is mandatory even if you only send transactional messages. You must show, beyond reasonable doubt that your SMS recipients are consenting to receive SMS from you.

Creating an opt-in process

Before sending SMS in aNinja, you must first obtain consent from your leads. Please note that an opt-in process is mandatory and nonnegotiable.

Sending unsolicited SMS may put your account at risk of being suspended. If you don’t have an opt-in process, create one before starting your registration process.

Acceptable opt-in processes

Your campaign registration will be rejected without a proper opt-in process. The below guidelines give you the necessary language to make sure registration is approved without a lot of back and forth.

Your opt-in process may vary depending on your lead generation methods. You can go with either of the below:

1. Sign-up through webforms
   If your leads come through sign-ups or filling webforms/surveys, you must include a way for them to know that providing a phone number means they will be receiving SMS from your brand.
   Examples:End users opt-in by visiting https://example.com/signup/ and adding their phone numbers. They then check a box agreeing to receive text messages from aNinja.com.
2.  Booking Links
   Booking software’s such as Calendly, Savvycal etc, that provide for collection of lead data when booking a meeting are also acceptable. They must include a checkbox where a lead can explicitly consent to receiving SMS.
   ExampleUsers share their phone numbers when booking a meeting on our Savvycal booking link https://savvycal.com/bookcall. They check a checkbox to consent to receive SMS from aNinja.com.

In both case 1&2, the consent message must include:

1. Program name and/or a description of the messages that will be sent
2. Organization or individual being represented in the initial message
3. Fee disclosure (“Message and data rates may apply”)
4. Service delivery frequency or recurring messages disclosure (“4 messages per month”, “Message frequency varies”, “1 message per login”, etc)
5. Customer care information (typically “Text HELP for help” or Help at XXX-XXX-XXXX).
6. Opt out instructions (typically “Text STOP to unsubscribe”).
7. Link to Privacy Policy describing how end user opt-in information will be used
8. Link to Terms and Conditions describing terms of service
9. Incorporate a checkbox option that end-users must select in order to receive SMS messaging. The checkbox can not be pre-selected. The checkbox provides the end-user the ability to agree, or not agree, to receive SMS messaging.

Example of a good consent message:

By submitting this form, you agree to receive transaction messages from {{YOUR COMPANY NAME}}. Text and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies. Reply STOP to unsubscribe or HELP for help. To view our privacy policy, go to {{LINK TO YOUR PRIVACY POLICY}}.

1. Cold Emailing and Calling
   If you buy your leads or use a lead generation tool, SMS shouldn’t be your first method of outreach. First reach out to your leads via other methods such as emailing and calling. You should include the email template or call script used to gather consent. If using calling, make sure the call recording is stored as you may need this proof later if customer disputes giving consent.
   Example of a cold email/email opt-in language:
   We first send them an email requesting to send them periodic SMS with promotional offers, to which they reply with a phone number to consent.orWe first call them and request to send them periodic SMS with important or time-sensitive information about their account, such as upcoming renewals, and obtain consent during the call.Include an email template or call script when we ask you for registration details to ensure approval.

Email email template:

Dear [Contact’s Name],

As a valued member of our community, we would like to ensure that you stay up-to-date with important information and exclusive offers. In order to provide you with the best possible experience, we would like to seek your consent to send you SMS updates on your mobile phone.

By opting in to receive SMS updates, you will have the advantage of being among the first to receive important announcements, event notifications, and other relevant content.

Please reply to this email with your phone number to grant consent.

You can reply to our SMS messages with STOP at any time to opt out.

Thanks,

aNinja username

Plain text Copy

Example of a cold call script:

Chris: Hi, is Steli available?

Steli: Yes, speaking.

Chris: Hi Steli, I’m Chris from aNinja. We’re offering SMS updates for valuable information and exclusive offers. Are you interested?

Steli: SMS updates? Tell me more.

Chris: It’s a convenient way to receive important updates and limited time offers directly to your mobile phone. Can I add your mobile number to our SMS updates list?

Steli: Sounds interesting. How can I give my consent?

Chris: This call is recorded so you can give your consent here.

Steli: Alright, please add me to your SMS list.

Chris: Great! Consider it done. Thank you, have a wonderful day!

Plain text Copy

What happens after registration?

After a successful registration and your campaign use case has been approved, you will be assigned a trust score. This is your company’s credibility according to carriers. This will determine how many SMSs you are allowed to send per day per carrier. Exceeding this threshold will see your messages fail. To keep your trust score high, please make sure you abide by:

1. Opt-in – Only send SMS to customers who have opted in to receive SMS from you. This will make sure that your opt-out rate remains low. A high opt-out rate will indicate to carriers that you are sending cold SMS, which is illegal. If you are using SMS for cold outreach, make sure to receive consent via email or call first. If your account is ever flagged for high opt-out rates, you will be at risk of having it suspended if you don’t provide proof of opt-in for a random set of contacted leads picked by the affected carrier.
2. High Failure Rate – Use third-party sites to validate your contact list before you import them to aNinja and start sending SMS. That way, you are not sending SMS to landlines which is another signal to carriers of spam messages without consent. As per above, a high error rate due to invalid numbers or landlines will significantly lower your trust score.

OPT-OUT

Twilio, our telephony partner handles opt-out automatically if a lead responds to your messages with any of STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, or QUIT,

Any of these STOP keyword replies will prevent a customer from receiving new messages from the specific aNinja phone number they’re responding to. When Twilio receives one of these replies, they will create a “block list” entry on their side. Once they have a block list entry for a particular recipient phone number, any future attempts to message them will fail with Error Code 21610 – Message cannot be sent to the ‘To’ number because the customer has replied with STOP.

Recipients can disable this and resume receiving messages with the START, YES, or UNSTOP commands as outlined below.

Only single-word messages will trigger the block. So, for example, replying STOP will stop the customer from receiving messages from that particular aNinja number, but replying “STOP PLEASE” or “PLEASE CANCEL” will not.

Please note that these STOP keyword replies only apply to the most recent number that messaged the recipient. If you are using more than one Toll-Free number or Long Code for sending messages, you must take additional action separate from Twilio to prevent these customers from receiving messages from your other numbers. We recommend deleting the contact’s numbers on your side when one of these message responses is received.