How to Complete 10DLC Registration for Your Local Service Business in 2027
How to Prepare Your Business Information for 10DLC
A homeowner fills out your form at 7pm. Your system fires a text back. It never arrives. The carrier filtered it, the lead goes cold, and you never find out why. That's what unregistered business texting looks like from the inside.
10DLC — Application-to-Person 10-Digit Long Code — is the standard carriers use to approve business-to-consumer texting sent from a local 10-digit number. Americans exchanged 2.2 trillion text messages in 2024, and that volume is exactly why carriers now demand to know who's sending what before a message reaches a phone.
Before you start, gather:
Your EIN (Tax ID) — a Social Security number won't register a standard brand. Sole proprietors operating without an EIN should obtain one first.
Your legal business name and address exactly as filed with the IRS, character for character.
Your brand type — solo operators and small crews typically register as a low-volume standard brand.
A live, professional website with a visible privacy policy. Carriers vet it manually.
We cover the cost of the 10DLC registration and take care of the hassles.
Step 1: Update Your Website Privacy Policy and Opt-In Flow
Ensure your website is compliant before you submit anything. The most common rejection reason isn't paperwork — it's a privacy policy that doesn't say what carriers require it to say.
Add this clause to your privacy policy, verbatim:
No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All other categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.
Then work through these three items:
Add an unchecked opt-in checkbox to every lead form. Label it plainly: "I agree to receive text messages from [Your Company] about my service request."
Place the disclosure next to the checkbox. "Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency varies. Reply STOP to opt out, HELP for help."
Script verbal consent for the field. Train your crew to ask on site: "Can I text you the estimate and scheduling updates at this number?" Log the yes in the lead record.
Reviewers will check the exact URL you submit. Make sure the policy is reachable in one click from your homepage footer.
Step 2: Register Your Brand and Campaign via Janus
With your site compliant, submit the registration itself. Janus acts as your Campaign Service Provider (CSP), so you're filling out a form, not negotiating with carriers.
Log into your Janus dashboard and open the Trust Center.
Enter your brand details — legal name, EIN, address, and support contact. Match your IRS filing exactly; a single abbreviation mismatch triggers a rejection.
Submit your brand to The Campaign Registry (TCR). You'll get a brand status back, typically within a business day.
Select your campaign use case. Most contractors need Customer Care for appointment confirmations, missed-call text-back, and job updates, or Marketing for promotions and seasonal offers. Pick Customer Care if you're only responding to inbound leads.
Paste your sample messages and opt-in description. Use real text your business would actually send, including your company name and a STOP reference.
Submit and monitor the campaign status in the Trust Center.
What Janus handles: the CSP relationship, the TCR submission, and the cost of registration. You supply accurate business details; we deal with the vetting process.
Step 3: Verify Your 10DLC Compliance and Deliverability
Approval on paper doesn't guarantee delivery. Confirm messages are actually landing before you rely on them for lead follow-up.
Look for a Verified brand status and an Approved campaign status in the Trust Center. Then send a test text to a personal phone on a different carrier than your own, and reply STOP and HELP to confirm both auto-responses fire.
| Error | Likely Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| EIN Mismatch | Business name doesn't match IRS records exactly | Resubmit using the name on your EIN confirmation letter — no DBAs, no abbreviations |
| URL redirection | Submitted site redirects to a different domain or a social profile | Submit the final destination URL on your own domain |
| Opt-in evidence insufficient | Form screenshot shows no checkbox or disclosure | Add the checkbox and rate disclosure, then resubmit with a fresh screenshot |
| Messages approved but filtered | Sample content doesn't match what you're sending, or contains shortened links | Match live message content to your submitted samples; use full-domain links |
Check deliverability again after any change to your number or your website.
How to Maintain 10DLC Compliance in 2027
10DLC compliance isn't a one-time filing. It's an operating standard you maintain alongside your license and insurance.
Key takeaways:
Register every new local number you add. Opening a second branch means a second registration — an unregistered number inherits nothing from your approved one.
Never text purchased lead lists. Consent has to come from the customer, through your form or a logged verbal yes on site.
Review your privacy policy whenever carrier rules shift, and keep the no-third-party-sharing clause intact.
Keep your sample messages honest. If your messaging changes, update the campaign.
If you ever leave: your number and your registration
A registered number is worth something, so it’s fair to ask what happens to it if you change providers.
Your Janus number. If your plan ends, we keep your number for 30 days before it goes back to the carrier. That gives you time to move it to another provider, or to come back and find it still there. Tell us you’re moving it and we’ll give your new provider what it needs to make the transfer.
Your registration. A 10DLC registration belongs to your business, but it’s filed through a provider, and it doesn’t travel with the number. When you move a number, your new provider attaches it to a registration on their side. Most small businesses simply register again there. Until that’s done, texts from the number may pause. Calls aren’t affected.
Your own business line. If customers call the number you’ve always had and it forwards to Janus when you can’t pick up, that number never left your carrier. Turn off forwarding and nothing changes for your callers.
Your records. You can export your contacts, requests and jobs at any time, and for 30 days after your plan ends.
The key takeaway is simple: a registered number is the difference between a missed call that disappears and a missed call that turns into a booked job. Janus catches, captures, and scores every lead that comes in, ensuring the missed-call text-back is sent from a number that carriers trust. Setting up forwarding takes a few minutes — here's the walkthrough.
