Understanding A2P 10DLC

As business texting continues to grow, mobile carriers have implemented a new registration requirement for companies sending application-to-person (A2P) messages using standard 10-digit phone numbers (10DLC). This process ensures that your messages reach your customers without being filtered or blocked.

What is A2P 10DLC?

A2P 10DLC is a messaging framework that allows businesses to send texts from regular 10-digit phone numbers. Registration involves verifying your business and outlining your messaging campaigns via a centralized registry. This step is critical to maintain uninterrupted text messaging services.

What is the Campaign Registry?

The Campaign Registry serves as the central verification hub for A2P 10DLC messaging campaigns. It confirms your business’s identity and the intended purpose of your messages, ensuring that carriers recognize your communications as legitimate. This verification helps protect both your business and your customers from spam.

Why is 10DLC Registration Required?

Carriers now require 10DLC registration to reduce spam and fraudulent messaging. By confirming your business details and message purpose, carriers can ensure a more reliable and secure communication channel. Starting February 1, 2025, messages from unregistered 10DLC numbers will no longer be delivered.

 

How to Register with Shop Boss

Who Needs to Register?

All Shop Boss users sending text messages to U.S. phone numbers must complete the 10DLC registration. If you’re using a Canadian number, registration is only necessary when sending texts to U.S. recipients. To prevent service interruptions, we recommend submitting your registration as early as possible.

Steps to Submit Your Registration

1. Settings: Log into your Shop Boss dashboard and navigate to Settings -> Integrations -> Text Messaging.
2. Register: Click on the Register for 10DLC button within your Shop Boss Messaging section.
3. Fill Out the Registration Form: Provide the required business details as outlined below.
4. Await Approval: Once submitted, your registration will undergo a verification process with the central registry and downstream providers. Approval typically takes about two weeks.

 

 

Required Information for Registration

When filling out your registration form, you will need to supply the following details:

 

• Legal Company Name: Enter your company’s full legal name exactly as it appears on your official records.
• Doing Business As (DBA): Provide the name under which your business operates and is recognized by your customers.
• Tax ID/EIN: Input your valid 9-digit Employer Identification Number (US) or Business Number (Canada). Note that a DUNS number is not acceptable.
• Company Address: Use your official business address. Avoid using branch or alternative addresses to prevent mismatches.
• Business Email: Provide a reliable business email address.
• Website Link: A link to your website or online presence. This could be a Facebook Company Page. 

 

Additional Registration Details

Is a Tax ID Mandatory?

Yes. A valid Tax ID (EIN for U.S. businesses or BN for Canadian companies) is required to verify your business as part of the 10DLC registration process.

 

Finding Your Tax ID/EIN (for U.S. Businesses)

If you are a US business, you're required to provide your 9 digit EIN and your legal company name that is consistent with your IRS registration. 

 

• IRS Confirmation Letter: When you first received your EIN, the IRS sent a confirmation letter, which includes your EIN, legal name, and business address. Please enter only the first line as the legal name for the business. 
• Business Tax Returns: Your EIN is typically listed on your federal tax return or any correspondence with the IRS.
• Bank Account: If you opened a business bank account, the bank would have required your EIN at the time of opening. You can check your bank documents.
• Payroll Documents: If you use payroll for employees, the EIN is often on payroll tax filings or related forms.

 

Example IRS Letter

 

 

Finding Your Tax ID/BN (for Canadian Businesses)

 

• CRA Correspondence: When you registered with the CRA, you received a confirmation that included your BN.
• Business Tax Returns: Your BN will be listed on any tax returns or documents you’ve filed with the CRA.
• Bank Documents: If you opened a business bank account in Canada, your bank might have your BN on record.
• My Business Account on CRA: If you have a CRA My Business Account, you can log in to view your business registration information, including the BN.

• Please only enter the first 9 numeric digits

 

⚠️ Note: Only the first 9 numeric digits  are required.

 

Tips to Avoid Registration Delays

At times, your online presence may also be evaluated during the business verification process. Addressing the following aspects can help prevent rejections and delays.

 

To ensure a smooth registration process, please verify the following:

 

• Accuracy: Double-check that all submitted information exactly matches your official records.
• Website Link: Confirm that your website link is active and not broken.
   

Registration Process Timeline and Status Updates

The overall verification and approval process usually takes around two weeks. However, any inaccuracies in your submission can lead to delays. Once submitted, you can monitor the status of your registration directly on your Shop Boss dashboard within the Integrations section. If any issues arise, you will receive an error notification along with instructions to correct and resubmit your details.

 

Here is the workflow and statuses:

 

Below is the typical workflow for registration statuses:
 

1. Registration Required -> 2. Brand Submitted -> 3. Brand Verified -> 4. Campaign Pending -> 5. Campaign Approved -> 6. Number Assigned to Campaign -> 7. Number Provisioned -> 8. Approved

 

⚠️Once your company brand is approved, it takes approximately 10 business days to get the campaign approved by the carriers. Please understand that this timeframe is out of our hands and rely on the carriers approving the campaigns. 

Status Definitions

 

1. Registration Required – Indicates that no 10DLC registration process has been started or completed. You must initiate registration to continue sending business text messages.
2. Brand Submitted – Your brand details have been sent for review. The system is now waiting for verification from the appropriate registry or carrier.
3. Brand Verified – The submitted brand has been successfully validated. You can move forward with setting up or submitting your messaging campaign.
4. Campaign Pending – Your campaign has been created but is still under review. Final approval is needed before you can assign a phone number.
5. Campaign Approved – Your campaign has passed the review process. You can now proceed to assign a phone number for messaging.
6. Number Assigned to Campaign – A phone number has been linked to the approved campaign. The number is not yet fully provisioned but is in the queue for activation.
7. Number Provisioned – The assigned phone number is now provisioned and recognized by carriers. You’re almost ready to start sending messages.
8. Approved – All steps (brand, campaign, and number) have been verified and activated. You are fully set up to send and receive text messages under 10DLC.

 

Checking the Status of Your Registration

As your 10DLC registration progresses through the approval stage, you can monitor its status on your Text Messages card within the Integrations section. Should any issues arise, an error message will be displayed, allowing you to correct the details and resubmit your form.

Troubleshooting

When a shop owner’s brand registration is rejected in integrations page when attempting to get text messaging approved, the Shop Boss integrations page will display a “Brand Verified Error” status.

 

This means that The Campaign Registry (TCR) could not verify your business information during the registration process . In other words, the details submitted for your brand (such as business name or tax ID) did not match what The Campaign Registry expected, so the brand was not approved. Below explains why this might happen and guides you through fixing the issue by resubmitting your brand information.

 

Identifying the Issue

 

Most brand verification rejections are due to a mismatch in the information provided.

Here are common reasons your brand may have been marked Unverified  or Brand Verified Error:

 

• Legal Business Name Mismatch: The legal company name you entered did not exactly match the name on file with the IRS for your EIN. This is the number one cause of brand rejections. The Campaign Registry requires an exact match of your business’s legal name as shown on the IRS CP-575 EIN confirmation letter . Even a minor difference – like missing a word, using a nickname, or adding extra punctuation – can lead to rejection. (For example, if your IRS document says “ACME Widgets LLC”, entering “Acme Widgets” or “ACME Widgets, LLC.” with a comma/period would not match.
• Recently Issued EIN: If your EIN (Employer Identification Number) was issued very recently (within the last 90 days), the IRS might not have updated their public records yet. In such cases, even if you entered everything correctly, The Campaign Registry could fail to verify the brand because the EIN and business name aren’t in its database yet . New businesses often encounter this delay.
• Website Link is Invalid: The url you provided for your website link goes to a page with an error. You must provide a link to a working website. This can be a Facebook Business Page. 
• Other Data Errors: Less commonly, other issues like a typo in the EIN number, selecting the wrong business entity type, or an incorrect address can cause verification to fail. However, legal name discrepancies are by far the most frequent culprit. It’s best to double-check all fields for accuracy before resubmitting.

 

Understanding these reasons will help you correct the information and successfully verify your brand on the next attempt.

 

Step-by-Step Resubmission Instructions

 

Follow the steps below to correct your brand information and resubmit your registration for verification:

 

1. Open the Shop Boss Integrations Page: Log in to your Shop Boss account and navigate to the Settings->Integrations section . Find the area for Text Messaging card.

2. Click the “Update & Resubmit” Button: Located below the Brand Unverified Error status..

 

3. Enter the Correct Legal Business Name: In the brand registration form, find the field for Business Name (or Legal Company Name). Update this field with your exact legal name as shown on your IRS CP-575 letter (the EIN confirmation letter). It’s critical that this name matches exactly with IRS records . Use the guidelines below when entering your name:

 

• Match the IRS Letter: Type the business name exactly as it appears on the CP-575 EIN Confirmation letter (or IRS 147C letter if you have that). Include wording, capitalization, and abbreviations exactly as on the letter . For example, if the letter says “John Doe Enterprises Inc”, do not shorten it to “John Doe Enterprises” or “John Doe Ent.” – enter the full name “John Doe Enterprises Inc”. See screenshot above. 
• Omit Most Punctuation: Do not include special characters like commas (,) periods (.), asterisks, etc., even if they might appear on some documents. The IRS typically records names without punctuation. The only special characters you should use (if they are part of your official name) are hyphens (-) or ampersands (&) . All other characters should be left out.
• Include All Name Lines: If your IRS letter shows your legal name on two lines (for example, a business name on line 1 and a continuation or DBA on line 2), enter both lines in the name field. Generally, you can just concatenate them with a space. For instance, if line 1 is “ABC Company” and line 2 is “John Doe Sole MBR”, enter “ABC Company John Doe Sole MBR” as the business name, exactly as it appears.
• No Nicknames or Variations: Make sure you’re using the official registered name, not a trade name or nickname. For example, don’t use “ACME Co.” if the legal name is “ACME Corporation”. Even an abbreviation vs. the full word can matter (e.g., “Co” vs “Company”). The goal is an identical match with IRS records.
• Double-check your entered business name character by character. This is the most important field to get right for verification.

 

4. Review Other Details: While the legal name is often the issue, it’s wise to confirm all other fields are correct before resubmitting. Verify that your EIN/Tax ID number is typed correctly (9 digits), the company type (LLC, corporation, non-profit, etc.) is correctly selected, and your business address matches official records. Any discrepancy could cause another failure, so take a moment to review each field on the form.

 

5. Submit the Brand for Verification: Once you have corrected the necessary information (especially the legal name), click the Submit button on the form to send your brand information for verification again. The Shop Boss system will forward the updated details to The Campaign Registry for a new verification check.

 

 

6. Await Confirmation: After resubmitting, the status will update to indicate that verification is in progress. Your status will be updated to “Submitted - Pending Approval”.  At this point, you just need to wait for The Campaign Registry to process the information. This typically takes only a few minutes.

Note: If your EIN was issued within the last ~90 days, automated verification might still fail even with the correct information. This is because newly issued EINs can take some time (often a few weeks) to appear in the databases that The Campaign Registry checks . If you suspect this is the case, you have two options: wait until your EIN is older (The Campaign Registry may succeed if you try again in a few weeks), or proceed with the appeal process (described below) where you can provide documentation to prove your information.

 

 

Expected Processing Time & Next Steps

 

Once you resubmit your brand, verification usually happens quickly. In most cases, The Campaign Registry will verify a corrected brand within 10–15 minutes if all the details are entered correctly . It’s a near-real-time automated check against official records. Here’s what to expect and do next:

7. Refresh the Status: After about 10-15 minutes, refresh your Shop Boss integrations page (or navigate away and back) to see the updated status. If your corrections were successful, the Status should change from “Submitted - Pending Approval” to “Campaign Pending” 

 

 

By following the steps above you should be able to resolve a “Brand Verified - Error” issue. Correcting the legal name or providing documentation usually gets your brand verified on the second try. Once Verified, this indicates your brand is now verified with The Campaign Registry and you’re all set. Your brand has been verified and a campaign has been submitted and is pending approval. 

 

Conclusion

Ensuring your registration details are meticulously accurate is crucial for a smooth 10DLC activation process. By verifying that your legal company name, tax ID, and address exactly match your official records and following the step-by-step guidelines, you can avoid unnecessary delays and service interruptions. Accurate registration not only meets carrier compliance requirements but also safeguards your communication channels, ensuring that your text messaging campaigns effectively reach your customers.