This is not legal advice. It’s a general overview of how US business texting works. Federal law (including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, or TCPA), FCC rules, state laws and carrier policies all apply, they vary by situation and they change. Talk to qualified counsel and to your messaging provider about your specific use.
A plumbing company’s office manager texts a customer from the company’s business number: “Your technician, Luis, is on his way and should arrive around 2:15.” That message has to pass through rules most small teams never think about. The business number must be registered. The customer should have agreed to receive texts. The message has to arrive at a reasonable hour, and if the customer replies STOP, the texts have to stop.
This guide explains each of those layers in plain language so you know what to ask your provider and your lawyer.
The three layers of rules
US business texting sits under three overlapping sets of rules:
| Layer | Who sets it | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Law and regulation | Congress, the FCC, state legislatures | Consent, timing, revocation, penalties (TCPA and state “mini-TCPA” laws) |
| Industry guidelines | CTIA and the wireless carriers | Opt-in, opt-out, HELP, content standards, registration |
| Provider policy | Your texting provider | Their acceptable use rules, which apply the layers above |
Breaking a law can mean lawsuits or fines. Breaking carrier rules usually means your messages get filtered, blocked or your number suspended. Both are worth avoiding.
A2P 10DLC: registering to text from a local number
A2P messaging means “application-to-person”: texts sent from a business system to a consumer, as opposed to person-to-person texts between friends. When a business sends texts from software using a regular 10-digit local number, US carriers treat it as A2P traffic and require registration. This system is called 10DLC, short for “10-digit long code.”
How registration works
Registration happens through your texting provider, which submits your details to The Campaign Registry (TCR), the central database the carriers use. There are two parts.
- Brand registration. You register your business as a “brand”: legal name, EIN or tax ID, address, website, business type and contact details. The information should exactly match your official records. A mismatch between your legal name and your EIN record is a common reason for rejection.
- Campaign registration. You register each use case as a “campaign”: for example, customer care, appointment reminders, account notifications or marketing. For each campaign you describe how people opt in, give sample messages and confirm how you handle opt-outs and HELP requests.
After registration, campaigns are reviewed (often called “vetting”), and your phone numbers are attached to the approved campaign. Some brands can get additional vetting that may affect their sending limits. Your provider will explain the options and the one-time and recurring fees, which are set by TCR, carriers and providers and change over time.
What happens if you don’t register
US carriers filter and block unregistered A2P traffic on 10DLC numbers. In practice, texts sent from software on an unregistered local number may never be delivered, and you might not get a clear error explaining why. If your team is texting customers from a business system on a local number, assume registration is required and confirm it with your provider.
Tips for a smooth campaign approval
- Make sure your website is live, matches your business name and has a privacy policy.
- In your privacy policy, say that you don’t share or sell mobile numbers or opt-in consent for marketing purposes. Carriers commonly look for this.
- Describe your opt-in flow specifically: where the form is, what the consent wording says, and how you record it.
- Give sample messages that look like the texts you’ll actually send, including your business name.
- Pick the campaign type that matches your real use. Marketing in a “customer care” campaign is a common reason for rejection or later filtering.
Toll-free verification: the main alternative
Instead of a local number, some businesses text from a toll-free number (such as 800, 888 or 877). Toll-free texting doesn’t use 10DLC registration, but it has its own requirement: toll-free verification. You submit your business details, use case, opt-in process and sample messages through your provider, and the verification is reviewed before your number can send at normal volumes. Unverified toll-free numbers are restricted or blocked.
How to think about the two:
| 10DLC (local number) | Verified toll-free | |
|---|---|---|
| Looks like | A local area code | An 800-style number |
| Registration | Brand + campaign through TCR | Toll-free verification through your provider |
| Good fit | Local businesses where a familiar area code builds trust; two-way conversations | National businesses, or teams that prefer a single non-local number |
| Voice calls | Can usually take calls too | Can usually take calls too |
Short codes (five- or six-digit numbers) are a third option for very high-volume programs. They involve their own application and are usually more than a 3–25 person team needs.
Consent and opt-in
Consent is the center of US texting rules. The basic idea: get permission before you text, make sure the permission matches what you send, and be able to prove it.
Types of consent, in general terms
The TCPA and FCC rules distinguish between kinds of messages. Broadly:
- Informational or transactional texts (appointment reminders, order or service updates, replies to a customer’s question) generally need the customer’s consent, which is often given when they provide their number for that purpose.
- Marketing texts (promotions, offers, re-engagement) generally need a higher standard: prior express written consent, which can be collected electronically, for example through a web form checkbox.
The exact requirements depend on how you send messages, what they say and which state laws apply. This is one of the most important questions to put to counsel.
What good opt-in looks like
Carrier guidelines expect opt-in to be clear and specific. A typical web form consent statement includes:
- Your business name
- What kind of messages the person will receive
- That message frequency varies (or a specific frequency)
- That message and data rates may apply
- How to opt out (reply STOP) and get help (reply HELP)
- A link to your terms and privacy policy
Consent should not be a condition of purchase, and the checkbox should not be pre-checked.
By checking this box, I agree to receive text messages from Brightline Remodeling about my project, including scheduling and estimate updates. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. See our Terms and Privacy Policy.
Customers who text you first
When a customer texts your business first, they’ve started the conversation, and replying to their question is generally expected. That doesn’t mean they’ve agreed to marketing. Keep conversational replies and promotional messages separate in your thinking and in your records. Learn more on our SMS opt-in glossary page.
STOP and HELP handling
Opt-outs
Carriers expect your number to recognize standard opt-out keywords. The common set is STOP, STOPALL, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END and QUIT. Many providers handle these automatically and send a single confirmation:
You’ve been unsubscribed from Brightline Remodeling texts and won’t receive further messages. Reply START to resubscribe.
After that confirmation, send nothing else unless the person opts back in.
The FCC has also updated its rules on revoking consent, including that people can revoke consent through any reasonable means, not only the exact keywords. In practice that means messages like “please stop texting me” or “take me off your list” should be treated as opt-outs. Train your team to recognize these and make sure your process records them. Ask counsel how current rules apply to you, including how quickly opt-outs must be honored.
HELP
When someone texts HELP, reply with your business name and how to reach you:
Brightline Remodeling: For help, call (555) 010-0199 or email [email protected]. Reply STOP to opt out.
Process checklist
- Opt-out keywords handled automatically by your provider or system
- One confirmation sent, then no further messages
- Informal opt-outs (“don’t text me”) recognized and recorded by staff
- Opt-out status visible to everyone who might message that contact
- Opt-outs synced across every number and tool your team uses
- HELP reply configured with business name and contact details
The second-to-last item matters on teams. If one rep’s opt-out list doesn’t carry over to another rep’s number, you’ll text someone who said stop.
Quiet hours
Federal rules restrict telemarketing contacts before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. in the recipient’s local time. Several states set narrower windows, limit weekend or holiday contact, or cap how many messages you can send in a period. Since your customers may be in a different time zone from you, base the window on the recipient’s location.
A conservative approach many teams use:
- Schedule marketing and non-urgent texts for business hours in the recipient’s time zone.
- Don’t schedule anything late in the evening or early in the morning.
- Treat replies to a customer who just texted you differently from outbound campaigns, but still use judgment.
- Check state rules for every state you text into.
Content rules: SHAFT and beyond
Carriers restrict certain content categories, often summarized as SHAFT: sex, hate, alcohol, firearms and tobacco. Cannabis and vaping are commonly restricted as well. Some of these categories can be sent with age gating and approval; others are prohibited outright. Other content that tends to cause filtering or rejection includes:
- Debt collection, loans and some financial offers
- Third-party lead generation, or sharing numbers between businesses
- Public link shorteners (use a branded domain instead)
- Misleading urgency, or messages that don’t identify the sender
Every message should identify your business. “Hi, it’s Brightline Remodeling” in the first line is enough.
Also watch message length. Long texts split into multiple segments, and some characters (like emoji or curly quotes) reduce how many characters fit in each segment. Our SMS segment calculator shows how a message will be split before you send it.
Record keeping
If someone claims you texted them without permission, records are how you show what happened. Keep:
- Consent records: the date and time, the method (form, keyword, verbal), the exact consent wording shown and the source page or form
- Opt-out records: when and how each opt-out was received and when it was processed
- Message logs: what was sent, to whom and when
- Registration details: your brand and campaign information, and any changes
Ask counsel how long to keep these. Many businesses keep consent records for several years, in part because federal TCPA claims can be brought years after a message is sent.
Records are much easier to keep when conversations live in a shared system rather than on individual phones. If your team still texts from personal devices, a shared business number is the usual fix.
Compliance readiness checklist
Before you text customers from a business number:
- Number type chosen: 10DLC, verified toll-free or short code
- Brand and campaigns registered (10DLC) or toll-free verification approved
- Website live, with a privacy policy that covers texting and number sharing
- Opt-in language on every form and flow that collects numbers
- Separate consent captured for marketing if you send it
- STOP, HELP and informal opt-outs handled and synced across the team
- Quiet hours set based on recipient time zone and state rules
- Message content reviewed against carrier content restrictions
- Consent, opt-out and message records retained
- Counsel has reviewed your consent language and use cases
Questions to ask your provider and counsel
Your texting provider:
- Which number types do you support, and how do you handle 10DLC or toll-free registration?
- What are the current registration, vetting and per-message fees?
- Do you handle STOP and HELP automatically, and can we customize the replies?
- How do we see delivery failures and filtering?
Your counsel:
- Does our consent language cover the messages we plan to send?
- Which state laws apply to the customers we text?
- How long should we keep consent and opt-out records?
- What do we need for marketing messages specifically?
How this connects to your team’s process
Compliance isn’t only a setup task. It depends on every person who texts customers: recognizing an informal opt-out, not sending a promotion at 9:45 p.m., not texting from their personal phone. That’s why the channel and the team process belong in the same place.
SMS through US business texting (10DLC) is a planned launch channel for inChat, which is in development. You can read how it’s designed to work on the SMS channel page or the SMS integration page. For appointment and service messages that fit the rules above, start with our SMS appointment reminder templates, and if you’re deciding between channels, read SMS vs. WhatsApp for business.