Sending political texts is an art that requires precision, timing, and compliance. If the term “10-digit long code” or 10DLC is giving you nightmares, then you’ve probably already encountered some roadblocks as a result of the changing regulations.
Making the 10DLC process as easy for our customers as possible has been a big focus for the Plivo team — we’ve even won some awards to prove it. Here’s a guide for 10DLC specific to political campaigns including how Plivo can help streamline the process for you.
Why political campaigns need 10DLC
Engaging voters via text is one of the most direct methods to get your message across. However, with the increasing scrutiny over unsolicited messages and the need for carrier compliance, it’s crucial to get on the 10DLC bandwagon to send bulk SMS in a compliant way.
The carriers introduced 10DLC to combat spam and maintain trust in the SMS channel. With higher throughput rates and better delivery reliability, 10DLC ensures your message doesn’t get flagged or blocked, which is essential in the fast-paced world of politics. Before you send your first message, however, you must register the long codes you use as 10DLC numbers.
A different kind of campaign
10DLC terminology refers to brands and campaigns — just keep in mind it’s a different kind of campaign.
- A brand is a business entity that a 10DLC number represents. In this case it’s the political organization, such as a political party, the campaign committees for candidates for federal, state or local office or a political action committee.
- A campaign represents the type of messages the brand intends to send. The terms “campaign” and “use case” are often used interchangeably. Brands may run campaigns of several types, including fundraising, volunteer recruitment, or event update texts.
How to get started with 10DLC at Plivo
It’s important to note that Plivo doesn’t have a way for you to register political campaigns from our console so you’ll need to take a few steps on your own first to get your political campaign registered.
Start with The Campaign Registry
An organization called The Campaign Registry (TCR) vets and approves 10DLC requests on behalf of carriers.
- Visit The Campaign Registry’s site. Refer to their FAQ page to create a TCR account, then create a brand for your 10DLC campaign.
- Next, obtain a token from Campaign Verify, the political vetting partner for The Campaign Registry, and import it to your brand on TCR. Campaign Verify validates that campaigns are what they say they are, then creates authorization tokens that signal to The Campaign Registry, wireless carriers, and service providers that the campaigns have been verified. See the Campaign Verify FAQ page for more information.
- Once you’ve done that, create a political campaign on TCR, making sure to follow our 10DLC campaign registration guidelines so that telecom carriers don’t reject your campaigns.
Let Plivo take it from there
Submit a Plivo support ticket that includes your brand and 10DLC campaigns and ask us to import those campaigns to Plivo. When we do so, we’ll submit your SMS campaigns to the carriers. We’ll let you know when the carriers approve them, and then you can link numbers to your 10DLC campaigns and send messages using our SMS API. If a 10DLC campaign is rejected by a carrier, Plivo will share with you the reasons and our feedback; you can resubmit after addressing the issues. (Plivo can help if a messaging campaign is rejected for minor issues such as the phrasing of sample text messages, but not if you fail a carrier review for more substantive reasons, such previous violations on the part of your brand.)
The registration process can take two to three weeks, so plan accordingly. It’s also worth noting that Plivo customers on our discounted pricing agreements receive customized rates, guided onboarding, premium support, and a dedicated customer success manager assigned to your account.
Additional resources
Here’s a few additional resources that you may find helpful.
- 10DLC fee overview — Visit the fee section of our 10DLC product page for more information. Fees include a one-time setup fee and ongoing monthly recurring fees for every 10DLC campaign registered in addition to standard messaging costs and carrier surcharge fees.
- Consent requirements — Visit the consent section of our political texting guide for an overview on gaining consent and requirements for what to include in your messages.
- Best practices — Visit our blog to learn more about examples and best practices to drive engagement with political texting.
In addition to 10DLC, Plivo also offers toll free and short code numbers, MMS, and voice call options for political use cases. Contact our sales team and include “political campaign” in the Detailed Requirements field along with your campaign website’s URL. Be sure to also indicate your expected monthly volume, so we can discuss our discounted pricing agreements with you if you’ll be sending a million or more messages a month.
Happy campaigning!
