Help & Support

SMS compliance (10DLC)

What 10DLC is and why it matters

In the United States, businesses that send text messages from standard 10-digit phone numbers must register with carriers through a program called 10DLC (10-digit long code). Registration has two parts:

  1. Brand — who your business is (legal name, tax ID, address).
  2. Campaign — what you'll send (use case, sample messages, how people opt in).

Carriers use this registration to decide whether to deliver your messages. Unregistered or unapproved traffic can be blocked or filtered. In Call Helm, SMS Broadcasts require an approved campaign, and you should complete registration before relying on one-to-one texting too.

Call Helm submits your registration to The Campaign Registry through Telnyx. Only Organization Admins can register.

Step 1 — Register your brand

Go to Settings → Phone Numbers → SMS Brands and click Create Brand. Provide:

  • Brand Name and Legal Company Name
  • EIN / Tax ID (stored encrypted)
  • Business Type — Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation, LLC or Non-Profit
  • Industry
  • Website URL (optional but recommended)
  • Business Phone Number, Email Address and full address

All details must match your official business registration — inaccurate information can lead to permanent rejection.

Brand status shows as Pending → Under Review → Approved (or Rejected / Suspended). Brand approval typically takes 3–5 business days. Status is refreshed each time you open the SMS Brands tab.

Step 2 — Register a campaign

Once your brand is Approved, go to SMS Campaigns and click Create Campaign:

  • Select Brand (approved brands only) and enter a Campaign Name.
  • Use Case — Customer Care, Account Notifications, Delivery Notifications, Appointment Reminders, Marketing, Two-Factor Authentication, Alerts & Notifications, Surveys & Polls, Mixed or Other.
  • Monthly Message Volume (1,000 to 100,000).
  • Use Case Description and 1–5 Message Samples that represent what you'll actually send.
  • Opt-in Method (Web Form, Mobile App, Point of Sale, Paper Form, Phone Call, Retail Store, Other), an optional Opt-in Confirmation Message, and an Opt-in Process Description.
  • Content flags: age gating (18+), direct lending, messages contain links, messages contain phone numbers.

Approval times vary by use case: customer care and notifications are usually 1–3 business days; marketing campaigns typically take longer (5–10 business days, sometimes more).

Standard keywords are set up for you: STOP / UNSUBSCRIBE / CANCEL / END / QUIT opt out, START / YES / JOIN opt in, HELP / INFO returns help text.

Step 3 — Link your number to the campaign

For Broadcasts, the sending number must be linked to your approved campaign — the Broadcast wizard shows a 10DLC badge on linked numbers and No 10DLC Campaign on the rest. There is no self-service control for this step yet; once your campaign shows Approved, email hello@callhelm.com with your organization name and the number to use and we'll complete the link.

While you wait

  • One-to-one texting from a purchased or ported number is not blocked by Call Helm during review, but carriers may filter unregistered traffic. Keep early volumes low.
  • Verified caller-ID numbers can never send SMS, registered or not.
  • If a brand or campaign is rejected, the app shows the registry's reason, and an Organization Admin can correct the flagged details and use Edit & resubmit right from Settings → Phone Numbers. A rejected brand is re-verified as the same brand. A rejected campaign cannot be edited at the carriers — Edit & resubmit sends it as a new campaign submission (tracked on the same record), and each new submission carries a $15 registry vetting fee that is passed through at cost; that fee is not being collected yet. Stuck or unsure? Email hello@callhelm.com.

Your obligations

Get consent before texting, identify your business in messages, honour opt-outs immediately, and only send the kind of content your campaign describes. Call Helm records opt-ins and opt-outs, blocks messages to opted-out contacts, and skips them in broadcasts — but responsibility for consent and content rests with you.