US SMS Compliance

US mobile carriers require all businesses sending Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS to US phone numbers to register and verify their brands and campaigns before message traffic is allowed. This guide outlines the essential compliance requirements for your business.

To ensure a flawless onboarding experience and verify that all criteria are perfectly met, the indigitall support team or your assigned Account Manager will send you a direct link to your customized registration form.

Before You Start

To register your Sender ID (10DLC Campaign or Toll-Free Number) for the US market, carriers and registries require comprehensive information about your business identity. Please ensure you have the following details ready before filling out the form provided by our team:

• Legal Entity Registration: Your official, legally registered company name and business structure (e.g., LLC, Private Corporation, Public Company, Non-Profit, or Government Entity) exactly as it appears on official tax documents.
• Tax ID (EIN or International Equivalent): A US Employer Identification Number (EIN) is strictly required for US-based companies. For international companies operating outside the US without an EIN, a valid DUNS, GIIN, or LEI number must be provided.
• Physical Address & Active Website: A verified physical business address and an active, publicly accessible website. Operators closely audit these details to confirm brand legitimacy; placeholder websites or landing pages under construction will result in immediate rejection.
• Business Vertical: Your specific industry classification, which carriers use to determine your risk profile and default throughput (sending limits).
• Opt-In & Consent Verification: Documented proof of how end-users grant explicit consent to receive SMS from your brand. This requires a live website signup flow or web form link.
  No Live Opt-In Webpage? If your website does not have a live, compliant opt-in form yet, you must submit a graphic mock-up of your planned layout. Please review the Compliant Opt-In Form Mock-Up section below for the exact design requirements.
• Customer Support Channels: A dedicated, monitored corporate customer support email address and phone number for carrier escalations and user inquiries.

Message Content & Campaign Requirements

Beyond verifying your business identity, every SMS campaign deployed in the US must strictly adhere to the following baseline rules to prevent carrier filtering, avoid heavy compliance fines, and eliminate the risk of immediate account suspension:

• Clear Brand Identification: Your exact brand name must be clearly stated at the beginning of the very first message in any conversation or campaign blast.
• Immediate Opt-Out Processing: Senders must automatically honor opt-out keywords (stopor unsubscribe) instantly. An automated opt-out confirmation text must be delivered to the user immediately.

• Rate Disclosures: The mandatory disclosure text "Msg & data rates may apply" must be explicitly included in your text message opt-in confirmation and on your website's call-to-action (CTA).
• Terms & Privacy Compliance: Your digital opt-in collection entry points must prominently link to your comprehensive Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy, explicitly detailing your SMS program rules, message frequency, and data usage.
• Prohibited Content (SHAFT & High-Risk Categories): Carriers enforce a zero-tolerance policy for certain content categories, commonly referred to as SHAFT (Sex, Hate speech, Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco/Vaping). Additionally, cannabis/CBD marketing, gambling, high-interest debt collection, payday loans, phishing, and "get rich quick" or work-from-home schemes are completely banned.

Campaign Information & Attributes

Campaign Summary

When writing your summary, the more generic and clear the information, the better. If your campaign supports multiple use cases, you must list each scenario on a separate line.

⚠️ Important: It is absolutely critical that the examples provided in your Campaign Summary directly correlate with the specific options you check under "Use Cases". Examples of compliant summaries:

• Campaign to send marketing notifications about our products and services
• Campaign to send OTP messages

Campaign Attributes

• [ ] Adult content M18+
  Shows whether the campaign will include any age-gated content, as defined by Carrier and CTIA guidelines. For this type of content you’ll need an age verification method to prevent underage people from being exposed to inappropriate content.
• [ ] Direct lending
  Shows whether the campaign will include content related to direct lending or other loan arrangements.
• [ ] Embedded phone
  Shows whether any embedded phone numbers would be used in the campaign, except the required HELP information contact phone number.
• [X] Embedded link
  Since almost all businesses include links or URLs inside their message flows, this attribute should always remain selected. Shows whether the campaign will send embedded links of any kind. Public URL shorteners (bitly, tinyurl) are not accepted.
• [ ] Number pooling request
  Check this box if you plan to use 50+ numbers. This requires a different provisioning process with the mobile carrier. This is typically used for call-centers and similar businesses.

Use Cases

Select all that apply:

• [ ] 2FA

  [ ] Account Notification

  [ ] Customer Care

  [ ] Delivery Notification

  [ ] Fraud Alert Messaging

  [ ] Higher Education

  [ ] Marketing

  [ ] Polling and Voting

  [ ] Public Service Announcement

  [ ] Security Alert

Opt-In Experience

Opt-In Methods (Select all that apply):

• [ ] Verbal consent

• [X] Online consent
  Highly recommended: select this as your primary option to avoid carrier delays. To ensure approval, use the following standardized structure for your opt-in form text.

  "I want to receive text messages from {{clientName}}
  By checking this box and submitting this form, I agree to receive recurring marketing text messages ({{useCases}}) from the "{{clientName}} SMS Service" program at the mobile number provided, including by automated means. Consent is not a condition of any purchase. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies, up to 4 messages/month. Reply stop to unsubscribe at any time, and help for help. Privacy Link: {{privacyLink}}"

• [ ] Keyword

• [ ] Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

Compliant Opt-In Form Mock-Up

If your website does not have a live opt-in webpage that includes the required legal disclosures, you must submit a graphic mock-up of your planned user interface.

To guarantee carrier approval, your draft layout must be strictly modeled after the indigitall compliance template provided below. It must explicitly include the unchecked consent box, full program details, rate disclosures, and visible links to your legal policies:

Message Flow & Mandatory Compliance Templates

(Max 320 Characters)

Please customize the templates below by replacing the bracketed fields with your official brand data. These formats are pre-screened to meet strict carrier requirements:

• Opt-In Confirmation Message

  Template: {{clientName}}: You're opted in to receive alerts, updates & marketing communications. Msg freq varies. Msg&data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.

• Example Message 1 (Transactional / Alert Use Case)

  Template: {{clientName}}: Discover our new products in the website: {{url}} . Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.

• Example Message 2 (Marketing / Promotional Use Case)

  Template: {{clientName}}: Big news! New AI-powered messaging tools just dropped 🚀 See what's new: {{url}} . Reply HELP for help, STOP to opt out.

• Help Message

  Template: {{clientName}}: For help contact {{supportEmail}} or your account manager.

• Opt-Out Message

  Template: {{clientName}}: You've been unsubscribed and will no longer receive messages from us.

Support Information (Required Fields)

• Customer Support Email Address: A monitored corporate email address (e.g., [email protected]) that strictly matches your company's web domain.
• Customer Support Phone Number: A toll-free or dedicated support phone line (e.g., 1-800-XXX-XXXX) for standard customer inquiries.
• SMS Terms and Conditions (Public URL): The direct, live link to your public SMS program terms.
• Privacy Policy (Public URL): The direct, live link to your official company privacy policy detailing exactly how consumer data is safeguarded.

  📌

  SMS Terms & Conditions Compliance

  US carriers will thoroughly audit your public SMS Terms and Conditions URL. Your page must explicitly display the following legally mandated disclosures, or your campaign registration will be instantly rejected:

  • Rate Disclosure: The exact phrase: "Message and data rates may apply."
  • Message Frequency: A clear disclosure of how often users will receive texts (e.g., "Message frequency varies" or "Up to 4 messages per month").
  • Opt-Out Instructions: Unambiguous help on how to unsubscribe (e.g., "Reply stop to opt out").

Next Steps

To ensure regulatory compliance and guarantee a frictionless carrier audit, our support team or your dedicated Account Manager will review your account setup details and email you a secure, personalized link to your official registration form. Please have your text templates and use case selections fully prepared. Additionally, you must provide a live URL to your opt-in webpage that clearly displays all mandatory conditions; if you do not have a live webpage yet, you must submit a compliant visual mock-up of your planned opt-in form.