A2P 10DLC registration is the paperwork that lets your business text customers from a regular local number without being blocked. Every HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roofing company that sends appointment reminders, on-my-way texts, estimate follow-ups or review requests through software needs it. The forms take about an hour if you prepare. The approval takes weeks. This guide walks through the brand, the campaign form field by field, sample messages written for trade businesses, the fees, and the reasons contractors' campaigns get rejected.
What A2P 10DLC is, in one paragraph
"A2P" is application-to-person: texts sent by software rather than typed on a personal phone. "10DLC" is a 10-digit long code, an ordinary local number. US carriers built the 10DLC standard so they can verify who is sending business texts and that recipients agreed to get them. Twilio, which many business texting tools run on, says anyone sending application traffic from a 10DLC number to US recipients must register, and that registered traffic gets lower filtering and higher throughput while unregistered traffic pays extra carrier fees.1 In practice, your software provider submits the registration to The Campaign Registry on your behalf; you supply the details.
Registration doesn't decide what you're legally allowed to send. Consent and quiet hours come from the FCC's rules and state laws, covered in our Field Notes post on texting customers legally. Registration is the carrier layer: it decides whether your texts arrive.
Step 1: choose the brand type
Twilio lists three brand types. For a contractor, the choice mostly comes down to whether you have an EIN and how much you'll text.
| Brand type | Who it's for | Campaigns per brand | Daily volume to T-Mobile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sole Proprietor | Businesses without a tax ID | One | 1,000 SMS segments and MMS |
| Low-Volume Standard | Businesses with a tax ID sending fewer than about 6,000 segments a day | Up to five | Up to 2,000 |
| Standard | Businesses with a tax ID and higher volume | Up to five | 2,000 to unlimited, based on trust score |
Source: Twilio's A2P 10DLC overview and registration guide.12 Twilio's guidance also says a business that has an EIN should register as Standard or Low-Volume Standard rather than sole proprietor.3
How to choose, with an example. A 6-tech HVAC shop sending reminders, on-my-way texts and review requests for about 40 jobs a day sends perhaps 150 to 250 texts a day, counting replies and follow-ups. That's well inside Low-Volume Standard. A 40-tech operation running texted estimate follow-ups and seasonal campaigns to members might pass 2,000 a day in peak weeks and belongs on Standard. If you're unsure, count your daily jobs, multiply by the texts each job triggers, and double it for replies and growth.
Step 2: gather the brand details
The registration checks your details against your tax records, and a mismatch is a frequent reason a brand stalls. Twilio's guidance says business details must match your records with your country's tax agency, which affects your trust score.2
Brand details to have ready
- Legal business name exactly as on your IRS EIN letter (not your trade name, unless that's the legal name)
- EIN
- Business type (LLC, corporation, partnership)
- Industry category
- Business address matching your tax records
- Website on your own domain
- Authorized contact: name, title, email and phone
- A brand contact email that can receive and complete a verification step
A "doing business as" name causes trouble when the website shows one name, the tax record another, and the sample messages a third. Use the legal name in the registration and make sure the website footer shows the legal name somewhere ("Acme Heating is a trade name of Acme Mechanical LLC").
Step 3: fix the website before you submit
Reviewers check that the website backs up what the campaign says. Twilio's guidance asks for a link to where customers opt in, a privacy policy and terms of service that are publicly accessible, and terms hosted on your own domain. The privacy policy should state that mobile numbers aren't shared, the message frequency, and that message and data rates may apply. If the opt-in isn't publicly visible (for example, a CSR collects consent on a call), provide hosted screenshots of how it works.3
Step 4: write the campaign, field by field
The campaign is where most contractor registrations succeed or fail. Twilio's registration guide lists these fields and limits.3
| Field | Limit | What to write for a trade business |
|---|---|---|
| Use case | Must fit the brand type | "Mixed" or "Low-Volume Mixed" if you'll send both job texts and any marketing; a narrower case only if you'll truly never promote |
| Description | 40 to 4,096 characters | Who sends (your legal name), who receives (customers and leads who gave their number), why (appointment confirmations, arrival windows, on-my-way, estimates, invoices, review requests, and marketing to customers who opted in) |
| Message flow (how people opt in) | 40 to 2,049 characters | Every place you collect a number: booking form (with the URL), phone calls (what the CSR says), signed estimates, membership signups |
| Sample messages | 2 to 5, each 20 to 1,024 characters | Real texts with your business name, variable parts in square brackets |
| Embedded links and phone numbers | Yes or no | Say yes if any text includes a booking or payment link or a phone number, and show one in a sample |
| Opt-out and help messages | 20 to 320 characters each, if you manage them | Name the business; say how to opt out (reply STOP) and how to get help |
The use-case choice matters more than it looks. Twilio notes that mixed campaigns cost more per message and low-volume campaigns carry a lower monthly fee than mixed ones.3 But a campaign registered only for account notifications that starts sending tune-up promotions is out of scope. Register for what you'll actually send this year.
Sample messages for trade businesses
Here are five samples covering the texts most contractors send. Edit the wording to match yours; reviewers check that samples name the business and match the use case.
- 1
Booking confirmation
[Company]: You're booked for [service] on [date], arrival between [window start] and [window end]. Reply C to confirm or call [phone]. Reply STOP to opt out.
- 2
On-my-way
[Company]: [Tech first name] is on the way and should arrive around [time]. Reply here if anything has changed.
- 3
Missed call reply
[Company]: Sorry we missed your call. Reply here and we'll get right back to you, or book online: [link]
- 4
Estimate follow-up
[Company]: Following up on the [system] options [Tech] went over on [date]. Questions? Reply here or call [phone]. Reply STOP to opt out.
- 5
Promotion (only for customers who opted in)
[Company]: Fall furnace checks are open for [month]. Book a time: [link]. Msg and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out.
The missed call reply is worth registering even if you don't use it yet; see our missed call text back guide for the setup and scripts.
Fees and timelines
Fees come from The Campaign Registry and the carriers, and providers pass them through in different ways. Twilio's brand documentation lists a $4.50 one-time brand registration fee and a $41.50 one-time vetting fee charged during Standard brand registration, plus an $11 appeal fee if a Standard brand's vetting is rejected and you ask for a re-review.4 Campaigns carry their own vetting and monthly fees, which vary by use case, and carriers charge per-message fees on top. We haven't listed campaign amounts here because they change; your provider's pricing page has the current figures.
On timing, Twilio's registration guide says brand review typically takes a few minutes but can take seven business days or more for manual review, and campaign review currently takes 10 to 15 days, with its approval section allowing two to three weeks.2
Plan backward from your first text
For an HVAC shop that wants texted tune-up reminders out by mid-March, that means starting the paperwork in mid-February at the latest.
In TradesWork, the phones setup collects your business profile once and submits the carrier registration for you, showing each review step. Until it's approved, texting shows as Limited and texts aren't sent; TradesWork offers to share links from your own phone instead of pretending a text went out.
Why contractor campaigns get rejected
Check these before you submit, and again after a rejection
- Legal name, EIN and address match your IRS records exactly
- Website is live on your own domain, with a public privacy policy and terms
- Privacy policy says mobile numbers aren't shared, gives message frequency and says msg and data rates may apply
- Every form that collects a mobile number shows consent language; the marketing box is separate and unchecked
- The message flow describes the opt-in exactly as a customer would see it, with the URL
- Every sample message names the business and matches the use case
- If samples contain links or phone numbers, the embedded link and phone fields say yes
- Use case covers marketing if you'll ever send a promotion
If a brand fails, Twilio's guidance is to find the failure reason in the console, correct it and resubmit.2 Don't resubmit unchanged and hope for a different reviewer.
How to measure it once you're approved
Registration is a one-time project, but its effects show up in your numbers every week. Three metrics tell you whether your texts are arriving and welcome.
Metric
Delivery failure rate
Texts the carriers didn't deliver. A sudden rise usually means filtering, a registration issue or a content problem.
texts failed or undelivered ÷ texts sent
Where the numbers come from: Your texting provider's message log, by week.
Metric
Opt-out rate per campaign
How many recipients replied STOP or asked to stop. Carriers watch complaints; so should you.
opt-outs ÷ texts delivered, per message type
Where the numbers come from: Opt-out flags on customer records, split by the text that prompted them.
Metric
Text-to-book rate
Whether texting books work, not just whether it sends.
jobs booked from a text thread ÷ customers texted
Where the numbers come from: Text threads linked to customers, and jobs booked in the period.
If you work with an agency or TradesForce on your marketing, share these three numbers with them, not just message counts. Texts that fail to deliver or draw opt-outs cost the whole channel. Our text message marketing hub covers the job-triggered texts that usually earn the most, and the glossary entry on speed to lead explains why the first reply matters so much.
Free download · ExcelField Service KPI ScorecardTrack the 12 numbers that run a service business, week by week, with formulas already built in.This guide is general information, not legal advice. Registration requirements and fees change; check your provider's current documentation before you submit.
Footnotes
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A2P 10DLC, Twilio documentation, accessed October 15, 2026. ↩ ↩2
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Direct Standard and Low-Volume Standard registration overview, Twilio documentation, accessed October 15, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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Gather business information for A2P 10DLC registration, Twilio documentation, accessed October 15, 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
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A2P 10DLC Brand registration, Twilio documentation, accessed October 15, 2026. ↩