Get approved to text (10DLC)

Before US carriers deliver texts from a business number, they want to know who is texting, what the texts are about, and how people agreed to get them. Once they approve your business, your texts get delivered instead of filtered or blocked. This approval is called 10DLC registration (10DLC stands for “10-digit long code”, which is just a regular local phone number).

You fill in one short form in the Dial Raven texting app at sms.dialraven.com. We write the hard parts for you, check everything, and send it to the carriers.

Who needs it

Anyone who texts customers from a Dial Raven business number. That includes:

• one-to-one texting in the ConnectUC app (Business texting), and
• SMS Blast, if you send texts to whole lists.

One approval covers both. Texting is included with every Dial Raven phone plan.

Cost and timing

• It’s free. Dial Raven doesn’t charge to register you.
• It usually takes 7 to 10 business days after we send it to the carriers. We check your answers first, usually within one business day.

How you get in

• New orders: if you answered Yes, we’ll text when you ordered on dialraven.com, we email you a link to set up your sms.dialraven.com sign-in. Your business name and contact details are already filled in on the form.
• Already a customer: sign in at sms.dialraven.com and click Get approved in the menu on the left. No sign-in yet? Contact support and we’ll send you one.

Only the account owner can fill in and send the form. Other team members can see the status.

Have this ready

• Your legal business name, exactly as it is on your IRS records (your EIN confirmation letter), including “LLC” or “Inc.”
• Your EIN (Employer Identification Number), like 12-3456789. Sole proprietors without an EIN can skip it (see Sole proprietors).
• Your business address, phone and email.
• Your website, if you have one.
• A contact person, usually the owner or office manager: name, job title, email and phone.

Click Start. The form has four steps. Every step is saved as a draft when you click Save draft or Save and continue, so you can stop and come back any time.

Step 1: Your business

1. Type your Legal business name exactly as the IRS has it. This is the most common reason carriers reject a registration: “Sunrise Bakery” won’t match if the IRS has “Sunrise Bakery LLC”.
2. If customers know you by a different name, type it under Brand or DBA name. Your texts will use it.
3. Pick your Type of business and type your EIN.
4. Pick your Industry. You can add one sentence about what you do; it shows on your free business page.
5. Fill in your address, business phone and business email.
6. Type your Website, or tick I don’t have a website (see below).
7. Add the Person we can contact. Carriers may contact them.

Tip: If you have an email address at your own website’s domain (like hello@yourbusiness.com), use it. Carriers trust it more than a free email address.

No website? Use your free company page

Tick I don’t have a website. Use my free Dial Raven business page. We give your business a simple public page, like sms.dialraven.com/c/your-business, with your business name, what you do, how to reach you, and your sign-up form. Carriers can review that instead of a website.

To be upfront: approval can take longer without your own website, because some carrier reviewers look harder at businesses without one. It still works, and you can add your website later.

If you do have a website, make sure it loads, is public (not “coming soon” or behind a login), and shows the same business name and a way to contact you.

Step 2: What you’ll text

1. Tick everything you’ll text people about: Appointment reminders, Customer service, Account and service updates, Offers and promotions, or A bit of everything.
2. We write the rest for you: a short Description for the carriers, two or three Example texts, the Welcome text new subscribers get, and the replies people get when they text HELP or STOP.
3. Read them and change anything that doesn’t sound like you. If you want our version back, click Start over with our wording.

Tips that keep you from being rejected:

• Every example text starts with your business name and ends with “Reply STOP to opt out.” Ours already do. Keep both if you edit them.
• Make examples look like real texts you’ll send, not a sentence about texting.
• Don’t use public link shorteners like bit.ly or tinyurl in your examples or your real texts. Carriers block them. Use your full website address.
• Only tick what you’ll really send. If you only send reminders, don’t tick offers. You can register another kind of texts later.
• The welcome text must say how to get HELP and how to STOP.
• Never put private health details, Social Security numbers, card numbers or passwords in texts. Texts aren’t a secure channel.

Step 3: How people agree

Carriers want to see how people agree to get your texts. You don’t have to build anything for this: your sign-up form, SMS Terms and Privacy Policy are always included, and we host them for you (see What we set up for you).

If people also agree in other ways, tick them:

• Paper or in-person forms: people sign a form at your office or counter that says they agree to get texts. You can say where.
• They agree out loud: on the phone or in person, you read a short script and they say yes. We suggest a script; read it every time and note the date and who said yes.
• They text us first: customers text your business number, and you reply about what they asked.

Then tick I confirm we only text people who agreed to get texts from us.

Heads up: Only text people who agreed to get texts from you. Don’t text bought or rented lists, or old customers who never agreed. Having done business with someone isn’t the same as permission to text them. Carriers block businesses that do this, and the law allows fines for every text.

Step 4: Review and submit

The review page shows all your answers. Click Edit next to any section to change it. If something still needs fixing, it’s listed at the top in plain words, and Submit to Dial Raven stays grey until it’s fixed.

When everything looks right, click Submit to Dial Raven.

What we set up for you

Every account gets these pages, free, worded the way carriers look for:

Page	Example link
Your sign-up form	sms.dialraven.com/c/your-business/join
Your SMS Terms	sms.dialraven.com/c/your-business/sms-terms
Your Privacy Policy	sms.dialraven.com/c/your-business/privacy
Your business page	sms.dialraven.com/c/your-business

Your real links are on the How people agree step and under Sign-ups → Sign-up form. The sign-up form has an unticked box people tick to agree, with links to your SMS Terms and Privacy Policy right next to it. If you send offers, it has a second, separate box for those. A quick “I’m human” check keeps spam sign-ups out.

Your form works right away, even before you’re approved. People who sign up are saved with their consent, and they get your welcome text once texting turns on. See Sign-ups: let people join your text list.

You don’t need to change your own website. If you’d still like carriers to see the wording on your own site, Get your website ready for texting approval has copy-ready text.

After you submit

The Get approved page and your dashboard show where your request is:

1. Draft: you’re still filling in the form.
2. Waiting for Dial Raven review: we’re checking your answers, usually within one business day. If something needs fixing, we send it back with a note, and you’ll see it on this page with a Continue button.
3. Submitted to carriers: the carriers are reviewing your business. This usually takes 7 to 10 business days. Nothing to do.
4. Approved: you’re done. Texting turns on by itself.

You can’t change your answers while a request is with us or the carriers. If you need to, contact support.

If the carriers ask for changes

Sometimes carriers send a registration back. The status shows Needs changes, and What the carriers said lists their reasons in plain words, like a legal name that doesn’t match IRS records or a website that doesn’t load.

1. Go to Get approved and read the reasons.
2. Click Fix and resubmit. The form opens with your previous answers.
3. Fix what they asked for, then submit again from the review step.

Your earlier request is kept as history. If the carriers didn’t give a reason, check your legal name, website and example texts first, or book a call and we’ll go through it with you.

Already approved? Add another campaign

Once you’re approved, Get approved shows Your approved texting registrations: your business, the kind of texts you’re approved for, the description and example texts the carriers have on file, and which of your numbers are on it.

To send a different kind of texts (say you’re approved for reminders and now want to send offers), click Register another campaign and choose:

• Use my approved business: skips the business questions. You only fill in what you’ll text and how people agree. Your current approval isn’t changed.
• Register a different business: the full form, for another business you run.

You can have one new request in progress at a time.

Sole proprietors

If you don’t have an EIN, pick Sole proprietor (no EIN) as your type of business. You don’t need an EIN, but there’s one extra step:

• After we send your registration, the carriers text a code to the contact person’s mobile phone. Reply to that text as it asks within 24 hours. If nobody replies, the carriers can’t approve you.
• So put a mobile number you can reply from as the contact phone, not an office line.

Sole proprietor registrations are limited to one texting number and lower volume. If you text a lot, an EIN is worth getting (it’s free from the IRS).

After approval

• Texting turns on automatically. We attach your number to your approval for you.
• Welcome texts go out. Everyone who signed up on your form while you waited gets your welcome text, and from now on new sign-ups get it right away. Replies to STOP and HELP are sent automatically.
• Replies still go to ConnectUC. Customers’ replies keep arriving in ConnectUC like before. If you also have SMS Blast, they show in its Inbox too.

Common questions

Do I need this if I only reply to customers in ConnectUC?

Yes. Carriers filter texts from business numbers that aren’t registered, even one-to-one replies.

How much does it cost?

Nothing. Registration is free with every Dial Raven phone plan. SMS Blast (texting whole lists) is a separate, paid add-on.

Can I text while I wait?

Texts sent before approval are likely to be filtered or blocked, so wait for Approved. You can share your sign-up form and collect sign-ups in the meantime.

What’s the most common reason for rejection?

A legal name or EIN that doesn’t exactly match IRS records. Next are a website that doesn’t load or doesn’t show the business name, and example texts without the business name or STOP.

Can I edit my answers after I submit?

Not while we or the carriers are reviewing them. If we or the carriers send it back, you can change everything. Otherwise, contact support.

Who can fill in the form?

Only the account owner. Other team members can see the status.

I need help filling it in.

Book a call and we’ll fill it in with you. In the app, you can also click your name at the bottom of the menu (Signed in as …), then Book a call or Help center.

Related

• Sign-ups: let people join your text list
• Opt-outs, consent and texting rules
• Business texting (SMS and MMS) in ConnectUC
• Get your website ready for texting approval
• SMS Blast overview and first sign-in