Getting Started with 10DLC: Registering Your Brand

To send texts using ThruText, you must register your organization through the 10DLC process. This guide explains how to complete Brand Registration in ThruText. You’ll need to complete this step before registering your texting use case. Before getting started, read What is 10DLC? to understand the full scope of 10DLC registration. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Brand & Use Case Registration Page
• Brand Registration Overview
• Brand Registration Form
• Brand Registration Status and Next Steps
  • Campaign Verify Token
• Brand Information
  • How This Information is Used
    • Vetting Score
    • Tax-Exempt Status
    • T-Mobile Daily Limit
• Up Next: Use Case Registration 

Brand & Use Case Registration Page

The page will change during each step of the 10DLC registration process. There are four main elements to the page:

1. Brand Registration: This form will provide The Campaign Registry (TCR) with basic information about your organization, like your organization's legal name, legal address, and Employee Identification Number (EIN).
2. Campaign Verify Token: If you represent a political organization registered with the FEC, state, or local election authorities (a 527 tax-exempt organization), you must obtain a Campaign Verify Token. You enter the token in the bottom-right corner before applying for your use case. For more information on CV tokens, see our guide on Campaign Verify. 
3. Brand Information: Once the Brand is registered, we will display the vetting information and tax-exempt status.
4. Use Case Registration: Admins and Account Owners can add use case registration information. A Use Case defines the kind of texting your organization will do (such as political, charity, or higher education) so carriers understand your messaging purpose.

Brand Registration Overview

To add 10DLC Brand Registration information, you must expand the ThruText Tools dropdown on the navigation menu and select Brand & Use Case Registration. Once you are on the page, you will see the Brand Registration form on the left side of the page. Only Account Owners can input information into this form. 

Brand Registration Form

Below are the fields you must complete on the Brand Registration form. Review each field carefully to avoid errors when submitting. Please refer to your IRS tax filings when filling out this form.

1. Organization's Legal Name: Use the name your organization would use for tax purposes. For example, GetThru's legal name is TOSKR Inc., which we would use on our Brand Registration. Remember to double-check spelling and punctuation!
2. Employer Identification Number (EIN): All GetThru clients sending in the United States need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) to register their organization's Brand. Your EIN is the key to identifying your organization
3. Organization's Phone Number: Use the general contact number for your organization.
4. Organization's Email: Use the general contact email for your organization. Should match website domain.
5. Organization's Website: URLs are required to see that your organization has an online presence and that the website is verifiable during manual vetting. Please submit the link to your main site homepage.
6. Address: Use the address your organization uses to file taxes. Remember to double-check spelling and accuracy!
7. Organization Type: From the drop-down, choose the type that matches how your organization files taxes.
   • Government: The government entity type is exclusively for verifiable agencies/entities of the government and should not be used by political campaigns or 501 (c) organizations. 
   • Nonprofit: Organizations with a section 527 or 501(c) tax-exempt status are non-profit.
   • For-Profit (Private): Choose this if you are a private, for-profit company.
   • For-Profit (Publicly Traded): Choose this if you are a for-profit, publicly traded company.
8. Industry: Choose the industry that most closely matches the space in which your organization does work.
9. Political Entity: Political entities are organizations registered with the FEC, state, or local election authorities. Political texters must register with Campaign Verify, a nonpartisan organization that verifies the identities of 527 non-profits (US political campaigns, parties, and PACs) for texting.
   • Yes, my organization is a political entity: If you answer Yes, you must input a Campaign Verify token to complete registration.
   • No, my organization is not a political entity: An organization with 501(c) tax-exempt status is not a political entity for the purposes of this question and does not require a Campaign Verify token, so should answer No.
10. Register Brand: This will submit your registration.

Brand Registration Status and Next Steps

After you submit your Brand Registration, we’ll send it to The Campaign Registry (TCR) for review. A pop-up will let you know you have successfully submitted your registration. The Brand Registration form will be viewable, but not editable while under review. A status indication will be above the Brand Registration form. TCR verifies your registration by comparing the information you submitted on the Brand Registration form to your organization's tax filing information. There are three status types for Brand Registration: 

• Pending: Once you submit your Brand Registration, your status will be Pending until TCR reviews it. Account Owners will be notified by email when the Brand Registration status changes. 
• Registered Verified: If your submission is verified, your status will change to Registered Verified.
• Registration Unverified: If TCR has encountered any discrepancies, it will change to Registration Unverified. If TCR has returned your registration as "Registration Unverified," the registration form will be editable again so you can update the information and resubmit.  You will want to double-check your organization's information. Make sure to check the following:
  • The EIN matches what is on your organization's tax filings.
  • The name of your organization is spelled correctly, without any unofficial abbreviations.
  • Only 527's should select Yes for Is your organization a political entity.
  • The correct Organization Type is chosen. 
    • The Government organization type should only be used by government branches. 
    • Entities with a section 527 and 501(c) tax-exempt status are both Non-Profit. I
    • If you are running for elected office, register as Non-Profit and select Yes for Is your organization a political entity?
      

Campaign Verify Token

If your organization is a political entity registered with the FEC, a state, or a local election authority (a 527 tax-exempt group), you’ll need to register with Campaign Verify to get a Campaign Verify Token. After generating your token on the Campaign Verify website, return to the Brand & Use Case Registration page in ThruText. If you selected Yes for Is your organization a political entity?, a new field will appear where you can enter your token. Once your token is submitted, the Brand Information section will become visible, and you’ll be able to proceed with Use Case Registration.

Brand Information

The Brand Information section displays the information about your brand as received from our vetting partner, TCR. This section appears only after submitting the brand registration.

This section includes the following:

1. Vetting Score: A 0-100 score that determines the throughput level for some carriers. This score is based on the accuracy of information submitted, company size, years in business, business reputation, financial history, civil and criminal legal history, regulatory history, official registration and standing, and business messaging integrity record. 75-100 is a high-tier, 50-74 is an upper-mid tier, 25-49 is a lower-mid tier, and 0-24 is a low-tier score. 
2. Tax-Exempt Status: Indicates whether your organization qualifies for tax-exempt use case
3. T-Mobile Daily Limit: The maximum number of message segments that an organization can send to T-Mobile users per day.

The Vetting Score and Tax-Exempt Status will appear after your Brand Registration has been submitted, while the T-Mobile Daily Limit will only appear after a use case has been approved.

How This Information is Used

Vetting Score

Since the vetting score determines throughput for your use case, it's important to get the highest score possible. The most common reasons for a lower score include:

• Mismatched Business Information: A mismatch in information submitted (e.g. mailing address) against official records in government or business sources
• Company Size or Age: Company years in operation less than 1 year or company size less than 5 people as reported by government or business sources 
• Address: The address is a commercial mailing receiving agency or PO box.
• Email Domain Mismatch: The e-mail address domain submitted does not match the company website domain
• Business Not Found: The company information is not found in government business registration or global business sources, such as the IRS, SEC, or state business registries.

For more information about vetting score tiers and how the throughput levels are determined, please see our guide Throughput and Queuing Post-10DLC.

Tax-Exempt Status

The tax-exempt status helps determine which use case you are eligible to register for. It's important to provide accurate company details in the brand registration to help the vetting partner identify your organization type correctly.

T-Mobile Daily Limit

This limit is enforced per EIN, which means that entities, or brands, that share an EIN will share this limit. We recommend using a different EIN whenever applicable to avoid sharing a limit between multiple accounts. This limit can also be shared between different texting vendors if the same EIN is used to create brands on different vendors.

Using a CV Token?

If you are using a Campaign Verify token, the Vetting Score will display as Active CV Token. If the token has expired, it will instead show Expired CV Token. The Tax-Exempt Status will display as N/A. Lastly, the T-Mobile Daily Limit, which only shows after the use case has been approved, will display Uncapped, as organizations with CV tokens have no daily limit on how many messages they can send to T-Mobile users.

Up Next: Use Case Registration 

After you complete your Brand Registration, you can register for a Use Case. For the next step, see our guide to Use Case Registration. Use case registration has both an automated and manual approval process. After applying for a use case, your use case will now have a color-coded status next to it. Only use cases marked "Approved" can be used to send messages.